Dasoju Sravan urges Centre to include OBC category in 2027 Census notification

BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan has urged the Centre to explicitly include OBCs in Question 10 of the 2027 Census notification. He also sought standardised caste lists, digital coding and scientific guidelines to ensure accurate and reliable caste enumeration.

Hyderabad: BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan urged the Central government to amend Question 10 of the 2027 Census notification by explicitly including the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and introducing standardised caste lists and digital drop-down coding. He welcomed the Centre’s decision to conduct a caste census as part of the 2027 Census.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, Sravan expressed concern over Question 10, which currently refers to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and caste without a specific OBC category. He said an open-ended caste entry without standardised coding could result in fragmented and unreliable data.

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He cited the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), for which he said Rs 4,893.60 crore was spent and more than 46 lakh caste, sub-caste, clan and surname entries were generated due to the absence of proper coding.

Sravan said the Centre had allocated Rs 11,718.24 crore for the 2027 Census and warned that the exercise could again produce unusable data unless scientific coding was adopted. He also referred to the Centre’s 2021 affidavit before the Supreme Court in the Maharashtra government case, where it identified the absence of an official caste registry as a major shortcoming of the 2011 exercise and said a digital drop-down menu would be an ideal method for caste enumeration.

The BRS MLC demanded that Question 10 be amended to include OBCs alongside SCs and STs, prepare State-wise official caste lists, and make standardised coding and digital drop-down systems mandatory. He sought scientific guidelines for synonyms, regional variations and sub-castes, besides transparency in classification rules and comprehensive training for enumerators. He said accurate caste data was essential for ensuring social justice in education, employment, reservations, welfare and political representation.