Chennai, Sept 9:
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to drop the proposed “Open-Column Method” for recording caste details during the second phase of Census 2027 and instead use verified, pre-loaded official lists of Backward Classes (BCs), Most Backward Classes (MBCs) and Denotified Communities (DNCs) to ensure accurate enumeration.
The resolution, moved by Backward Classes Welfare Minister V. Sampathkumar on the concluding day of the Budget Session, called for BCs, MBCs, OBCs and DNCs to be enumerated through a standardised system similar to the procedure followed for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Under the proposal sought by the State, the official State and Union lists of eligible communities should be directly incorporated into the Census enumeration portal or application. Enumerators should then be provided with a standardised drop-down menu from which the community name can be selected, instead of manually entering caste names.
The resolution said such a system was necessary to prevent errors and discrepancies in the collection of caste-wise data. It pointed out that caste-wise details of Other Backward Classes had not been collected in the Census conducted after Independence and argued that the 2027 exercise provided an opportunity to obtain reliable data on BCs, MBCs and DNCs.
The State Assembly expressed particular concern over the proposed method under which individuals would declare their caste and enumerators would manually enter the details. The government and several political parties have argued that such a process could result in multiple spellings, variations and inconsistencies for the same community.
The resolution maintained that caste details should be collected on the basis of officially notified lists issued by the State and Union governments. This, it said, would ensure uniformity and make the data more reliable for future policy decisions.
The Assembly resolution also linked accurate caste enumeration with the larger objective of ensuring social justice. It urged the Centre to ensure that BCs, MBCs and DNCs are covered through a standardised mechanism rather than being left to an open-ended system of self-declaration and manual data entry.
Members of several parties, including the AIADMK, Congress, VCK, Left parties and PMK, participated in the discussion and supported the resolution. It was subsequently put to a voice vote, following which Speaker JCD Prabhakar announced that it had been adopted unanimously.
However, the principal Opposition DMK members were not present in the House when the resolution was moved. They had been evicted en masse earlier in the day following disruptions and protests that led to a major ruckus in the Assembly.
Despite the absence of the DMK members during the vote, the resolution received the support of the parties present in the House.
The resolution noted that obtaining accurate caste-wise data was important for framing policies aimed at social justice and equitable distribution of welfare benefits and opportunities.
The State government argued that the existing official lists notified by the respective governments should form the basis for enumeration. Pre-loading these lists into the Census application would, according to the resolution, allow citizens and enumerators to identify communities through a common and standardised system.
The proposed menu-driven mechanism would also reduce the possibility of different spellings or names being entered for the same community, a concern that has been raised in the context of manual enumeration.
The issue of caste enumeration has emerged as a major political subject in Tamil Nadu, with parties across the political spectrum demanding reliable caste data to support reservation policies and social justice measures.
The resolution adopted by the Assembly now puts on record the State’s demand that the Centre make changes to the proposed enumeration mechanism before the second phase of Census 2027.
The State has specifically sought that the “Open-Column Method” be completely dispensed with for BCs, MBCs and DNCs and replaced with a verified database-driven approach.
The resolution also urged the Union government to collect caste details of these communities in the same standardised manner as SC and ST details are traditionally recorded.
With Census 2027 approaching, the demand is expected to remain a key issue in Centre-State discussions, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where caste data has long been linked to debates over reservation, representation and social justice.