Last Update: January 09, 2023, 18:34 IST
In Bihar, the government on Saturday launched an ambitious survey of castes. (File Twitter photo)
Bhujbal made this demand in a letter sent to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and cited the example of Bihar, where caste-based counting has started.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday demanded an independent caste-based census in Maharashtra on the lines of Bihar, saying citizens have benefited from such an exercise in other states.
Bhujbal made this demand in a letter sent to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and cited the example of Bihar, where caste-based counting has started.
The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government in Bihar on Saturday launched an ambitious survey of castes in the eastern state with the chief minister. Nitish Kumar Stating that this exercise would prove helpful for the upliftment of all sections of the society.
Bhujbal has said in the letter that the demand for caste-based census in Maharashtra is long pending.
Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have also undertaken similar exercises which are benefitting the residents of these states, he said in an apparent reference to welfare schemes launched on the basis of the survey.
A prominent leader of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the former minister said Members of Parliament Sameer Bhujbal, Gopinath Munde and 100 other MPs had moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha in 2010, demanding a national-level caste-based census .
Accordingly, a census on the economic and social status of rural and urban households was conducted between 2011 and 2014, but the Center is yet to disclose its findings, the NCP leader said.
“Therefore, like the Bihar government, the state (Maharashtra) should conduct an independent (caste-based) census,” he said.
The census of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes has been taking place for the last 150 years and these sections have separate budgetary allocations for welfare schemes, Bhujbal said, stressing the need to have accurate data on castes.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)