Overview

• The Union cabinet has approved caste enumeration in the upcoming census, requiring all citizens, including Muslims, to declare their caste.
• Karnataka has begun a state-level survey of Scheduled Caste sub-castes to feed granular data into the national exercise.
• Officials intend to use the findings to reassess reservation quotas for SC, ST and OBC communities under Article 341.
• Major parties and community groups lobbied for the measure, citing its impact on social justice and electoral strategy.
• Experts warn that collecting and classifying extensive sub-caste data will present significant logistical and political challenges.