Bhubaneswar: The Centre has rejected Odisha Government’s request to mark a special column for OBC (Other Backward Class) category in the upcoming Census 2020-21. This was informed by Union MoS Nityananda Rai of MHA in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Responding to a question by V Vijayasai Reddy on the Registrar General’s decision to exclude data collection of OBCs in the 2021 Census, the MoS of Home Affairs said, “The census schedule is designed in consultation with all stakeholders including Central ministries. The intent of the Government for conducting the 2021 Census has been notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019.”
“In Census, castes and tribes, which are specifically notified as scheduled castes/scheduled tribes as per Presidential order under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) order, 1950 amended from time to time are enumerated,” he clarified.
Rai denied including a separate column in the Census questionnaire to collect data on OBCs. This came as a shocker for the BJD as its leaders have been asking the Centre to include the same.
OBCs are a major group in Odisha. Both the BJP and BJD have been eyeing this precious vote bank. BJD Parliamentarians in Delhi have been raising this issue in both the houses for the last two days.
Earlier, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had slammed the state government’s move to include OBCs in the Census. In a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Pradhan termed the move to pass a resolution in the Assembly “a dilatory and dichotomous step trying to mask the extant policies of the State Government denying state-wide reservation for OBC and SEBC categories.”
Meanwhile, the State Government is gearing up to facilitate the Census process in Odisha following Registrar General and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi’s letter on January 7, 2020 announcing the date for house listing operations for the Census as April 1, 2020 which will continue up to September 30, 2020.
