Overview

• The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification on June 16 confirming that the forthcoming two-phase national census will include caste enumeration.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah and an MHA press release have affirmed that 34 lakh field workers will collect caste data alongside demographic and socioeconomic information.
• Congress leaders including Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera raised concerns over the absence of the term "caste census" in the notification and questioned the government’s intent.
• BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi accused the opposition of deliberately misrepresenting the notification and insisted the government’s pledge for social justice remains intact.
• Caste data collection seeks to address longstanding demands from marginalized communities and will guide future reservation policies, following similar surveys in Telangana and Karnataka.