Census Again Ignores Caste

New Delhi: Enumeration of caste, which was discontinued after the 1931 census, will not be done in the present census (except that of scheduled caste or scheduled tribes which is mandatory under the constitution) despite the controversy of the Mandal commission. According to an official of the census office, a demand from some backward class organization was made for the inclusion of the caste component but as the questionnaire is finalized a year in advance, “it was operationally not possible to incorporate caste at this late stage.”