In view of the assembly elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh next year BJPThe Apna Dal (S) on Sunday demanded a separate Union ministry for the welfare of OBCs and a caste-based census across the country to ascertain the exact population of the community.
Apna Dal (S), the Uttar Pradesh-based party, the second ally of the ruling BJP after the JD(U), has raised the demand for a caste-based census.
The demand assumes significance a few months before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the largest segment of voters is from the OBC category.
The caste-based census to ascertain the exact population of each class, especially the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is the need of the hour,” Apna Dal (S) working president Ashish Patel told PTI.
He said that in all the post-independence census, the population of SCs and STs has been counted but not of OBCs.
“As a result, there is no proper estimate of the OBC population. Therefore, I request the government that the next census should be caste-based so that the exact population of each section, especially the OBCs, can be ascertained.
“This will ensure that the share of a particular caste class is based on their population,” said Ashish Patel, husband of Union minister Anupriya Patel.
He said the party also demands that there should be a separate ministry for the welfare of OBCs.
Ashish Patel said, “There should be a separate and dedicated ministry for the welfare of OBCs on the lines of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs.”
Apna Dal (S) has been a constituent of NDA since 2014. Anupriya Patel, daughter of party founder Late Sonelal Patel, was made a Union minister in the recent cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government.
She comes from Kurmi caste which comes under OBC category. His party has influence in about 50 assembly seats, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from various political parties, the National Commission for Backward Classes had in April this year urged the government to collect data on the population of OBCs as part of the Census of India 2021 exercise.
The Union Home Ministry had in 2018 envisaged collecting data on OBCs for the first time in the 2021 census.
However, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 10 this year that after independence, India decided as a policy that caste-wise population count would not be done in addition. SC and ST’s
In the census, specifically notified castes and tribes are enumerated as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in accordance with the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
Census 2021 was supposed to start from April last year, but could not be done due to this COVID-19 pandemic pandemic.
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