The Centre's decision to include caste-based data in the upcoming national census is "unprecedented" and in the interest of 140 crore citizens, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday.
Mr Adityanath said the initiative will recognise the deprived, backward and neglected classes and ensure their fair participation in government schemes.
His remarks, in a post in Hindi on X, came hours after Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Union government has decided to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.
The last nationwide census was completed in 2011 and the next decadal one was to commence in April 2020 but got delayed due to the Covid pandemic.
"The decision of CCPA under the leadership of Honorable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji to include caste census in the upcoming census in the overall interest of 140 crore countrymen is unprecedented and welcome. This is a decisive initiative towards giving the deprived, backward and neglected classes their proper recognition and fair participation in government schemes," Mr Adityanath said.
"Heartfelt gratitude to the respected Prime Minister, under whose leadership the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has taken this historic decision to transform social justice and data-based good governance into reality," he added.
140 करोड़ देशवासियों के समग्र हित में आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी के नेतृत्व में CCPA द्वारा जाति जनगणना को आगामी जनगणना में शामिल किए जाने का निर्णय अभूतपूर्व एवं स्वागत योग्य है।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 30, 2025
वंचित, पिछड़े और उपेक्षित वर्गों को सही पहचान और सरकारी योजनाओं में उनकी उचित…
Addressing reporters earlier in the day, Mr Vaishnaw said the caste census would empower the marginalised sections and help them become self-reliant. "This demonstrates that our government is committed to the values and interests of our society and country, like in the past when our government had introduced 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections of the society without causing stress in any section of the society," he said.
He also said the census comes under the purview of the Centre but some states - in an apparent reference to Karnataka, Telangana and Bihar - have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys for "political reasons".
Later in a post on X, he said: "Ensuring social justice, the considerate Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a historic step by approving the caste census in the Union Cabinet meeting today," the minister said in a post in Hindi on X.
Opposition parties, however, said it is a victory for their long-standing demand and sought time-bound implementation. They claimed the ruling BJP at the Centre has been compelled to "bow" to the will of the majority and demanded that the Centre now work towards increasing reservation.
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