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Gazi Abbas Shahid
Starting as a ground reporter back in his home UT of Jammu and Kashmir, Gazi has been a part of the news industry for well over a decade. While he finds every type of news engrossing, politics, partic ... Read More
Jharkhand caste census: Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren Sunday gave the go-ahead for a caste-based census in the state and directed officials to prepare a draft to be placed before the cabinet for approval.
“Jiski Jitni Sankhya Bhari, Uski Utni Hissedari (Bigger the population, bigger the share). Jharkhand is ready,” CM Soren wrote on X, in a not-so-subtle hint at the caste-based survey in the state.
A senior official said that the chief minister has given the go-ahead for the caste census in Jharkhand on the the lines of neighbouring Bihar. He said the CM has directed the personnel department to prepare a draft (SoP for conducting the survey) and place it before the cabinet for approval.
“The personnel department will prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) to conduct the survey in Jharkhand. It will be placed before the cabinet for approval,” Vinay Kumar Choubey, principal secretary to the CM Champai Soren, told news agency PTI.
Choubey said the will be conducted on the pattern of neighbouring Bihar, where data collection was conducted between January 7 and October 2 last year. “If everything goes according to the plan, the exercise will begin after the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
The senior official said that several departments, including rural and welfare, were considered but the personnel department was finalised for carrying out the survey, adding that if everything goes according to the plan, the caste survey would commence just after the Lok Sabha elections.
Legislators of the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD government in Jharkhand have been demanding a caste-based survey in the state. They also raised the demand several times in the state assembly.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during his Jharkhand leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in the first week of this month, also advocated for the caste census.
Gandhi had promised a nationwide caste census and the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation if the opposition INDIA bloc formed the government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.
Recently, the Telangana government also announced a caste-based survey in the Congress-ruled state. A resolution to conduct a door-to-door household caste survey was passed in the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Friday.
The resolution, moved by Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, was adopted after a debate in the House.
A caste-based census was one of the pre-poll promises made by Rahul Gandhi while campaigning for the Telangana Assembly polls late last year.
(With PTI inputs)
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