Kerala Nair outfit opposes caste census, caste reservation

Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation of Kerala's forward Nair community, on Tuesday came out against the caste census and caste reservation.

Kottayam: Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation of Kerala‘s forward Nair community, on Tuesday came out against the caste census and caste reservation, saying that the equality stipulated by the Constitution should be made available to all, irrespective of caste and creed.

In a statement, NSS General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair said that caste reservation and caste census were part of the “appeasement policy” adopted by various political parties by yielding to the pressure tactics of caste groups, which are vote banks.

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The statement of the outfit, which is known for its proximity to Congress, came a day after the party’s Working Committee (CWC) passed a resolution promising that a government led by it would conduct a nationwide caste census.

Nair said India is a secular democratic nation, and secularism does not promote or discourage any religion, caste, class, or sect.

“The equality stipulated by the Constitution should be made available to all, irrespective of caste and creed. That was the aim of the framers of the Constitution”, he said.

Nair called caste reservation “unhealthy” and said it poses a challenge to the integrity of the country itself.

Terming the reservation policy as “unscientific,” he claimed that the reservation, which was started for 10 years after independence, could not achieve the goal even after 76 years.

He said it is necessary to end the caste reservation system, which, according to him, divides people.

“The Supreme Court itself has ruled that caste reservation is violative of Article 15(1) of the Constitution”, he said, accusing the governments of taking the approach of overriding such court judgements from time to time.

In its resolution on Monday, the Congress Working Committee welcomed the Bihar government for releasing the findings of a caste survey in the state.

The disparity between representation and share in population revealed by the final figures of the survey highlights the urgent need to take effective steps to ensure social justice, the CWC had said.

The resolution of the Congress’s top decision-making body also alleged that the Narendra Modi government has “cheated” the OBC community and other deprived sections of the country by not releasing the data of the 2011 socio-economic and caste census and not carrying out a fresh caste census.