Govt announces caste enumeration in next census exercise

Sugarcane price hiked by 4.41 pc

NEW DELHI, Apr 30:

In a major decision, the Government on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a “transparent” manner and slammed the opposition parties for using caste survey as a “political tool”.
Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys “non-transparently” which has created doubts in the society.

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Noting that caste was not included in all census operations conducted since Independence, Vaishnaw alleged that the Congress Governments have always opposed caste census and the party had used the issue as a political tool.
“Considering all these facts and to ensure that the social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included in the Census instead of surveys,” he said, adding that this will strengthen the social and economic structure of our society while the nation continues to progress.
The Minister alleged that the States ruled by opposition parties have done caste surveys for political reasons and emphasised that the Modi Government has resolved to transparently include caste enumeration in the forthcoming pan-India census exercise.
The Congress and the opposition INDIA bloc had made caste census a major poll plank in the previous elections, with Rahul Gandhi promising representation to people based on their population.
The census exercise was to commence in April 2020 but got delayed due to the Covid pandemic.
Vaishnaw said in 2010, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured the Lok Sabha that the matter of caste census should be considered in the Cabinet. A Group of Ministers was formed to consider this after most of the political parties had recommended a caste census.
“Despite this, the Congress government decided to conduct only a survey instead of a caste census. That survey is known as SECC.
“It is well understood that the Congress and its INDI alliance partners have used Caste Census only as a political tool,” the Minister alleged.
He said that under Article 246 of the Constitution, the subject ‘census’ is listed in the Union list under entry 69 and according to the Constitution, the Census is a Union subject.
Vaishnaw said some states have conducted surveys to enumerate castes.
Some States have done this well, while some others have conducted such surveys purely from a political angle in a non-transparent way. Such surveys have created doubts in the society, he said.
“Considering all these facts and to ensure that the social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included in the Census instead of surveys,” he said, adding that this will strengthen the social and economic structure of our society while the nation continues to progress.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided today (30th April 2025) that caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming Census,” the Minister said.
“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,” Vaishnaw said at the briefing.
Meanwhile, the Government decided to increase the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by 4.41 per cent to Rs 355 per quintal for the upcoming 2025-26 season beginning October.
A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
For the current 2024-25 season, the sugarcane FRP has been fixed at Rs 340 per quintal.
FRP is the minimum price mandated by the Government of India that sugar mills are legally obligated to pay sugarcane farmers for their produce.
Vaishnaw said the FRP of Rs 355 per quintal has been approved for a basic recovery rate of 10.25 per cent.
“The FRP for sugar season 2025-26 is 4.41 per cent higher than current sugar season 2024-25,” the statement said.
A premium of Rs 3.46 per quintal for each 0.1 per cent increase in sugar recovery over and above 10.25 per cent will be provided to farmers. A reduction in FRP by Rs 3.46 per quintal will be for every 0.1 per cent decrease in recovery rate.
The Government has also decided that there will not be any deduction in case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5 per cent. Such farmers will get Rs 329.05 per cent for sugarcane in the ensuing 2025-26 season.
The Cabinet also approved the development of a 166.80 km greenfield high-speed corridor from Mawlyngkhung in Meghalaya to Panchgram in Assam on hybrid annuity mode at a total cost of Rs 22,864 crore.
According to an official statement, the project length of 166.80 km (NH-6) lies in Meghalaya (144.80 km) and Assam (22 km).
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal for the development, maintenance and management of four-lane greenfield access-controlled 166.80 km of National Highway No 06 from Mawlyngkhung (near Shillong) in Meghalaya to Panchgram (near Silchar) in Assam on hybrid annuity mode…at a total capital cost of Rs 22,864 crore,” it added.
The proposed greenfield high-speed corridor will improve the service level for the traffic moving between Guwahati to Silchar, the statement noted.
“The development of this corridor will improve the connectivity to Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the Barak Valley region of Assam from mainland and Guwahati with substantially reduced travel distance and travel time,” it said, adding that this will, in turn, contribute to the enhancement of logistics efficiency of the nation. (PTI)

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