Farmers Movement Archive

Include Sarna code in Census: JMM urges Union govt

Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday made an open demand to the Centre and sought the inclusion of Sarna religion in the upcoming national census and also demanded that the census should also be held on caste lines. Speaking to reporters at the party’s headquarters in Bariatu, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya claimed that the Centre was moving in a planned manner to abolish reservation entirely. “Our party welcomes the passage of the recent amendment to the Constitution which enables states to identify different castes living within their geographical borders. But at the same time, there is no caste-based census in the upcoming exercise. This implies that even if the states identified different backward castes, they will be deprived of the benefits of reservations in jobs, studies and in social welfare schemes,” Bhattacharya said. Ajsu Party, the BJP’s ally in the NDA, had sought a caste based census. Its chief Sudesh Mahto wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that a caste based census was necessary to evaluate the situation on the ground and help plan social welfare schemes. Bhattacharya also claimed that even though the national census was conducted in 2011, its findings were not tabled before the Parliament after the BJP-led NDA government assumed office in 2014. “In 2015, Arun Jaitley had assured the House that the findings will be tabled. Three years later, Union minister Rajnath Singh also made the same assurance, but the findings are yet to be tabled,” he said. JMM said it suspected that the Centre’s ignorance towards initiating a caste-based census was aimed at facilitating the smooth handover of public sector undertakings to corporate houses. “Much ahead of the passage of the farm laws, several corporate houses had invested hundreds of crores of rupees and set up their cold chains and godowns. This is suggestive,” Bhattacharya added.

The Times of India

2021-08-12

Ranchi