Bhubaneswar: Noting that no formal census including the caste details of the population has been undertaken since 1931, Odisha Cabinet on Saturday resolved to impress upon the Central Government to go for a Socio-Economic Caste Enumeration along with the 2021 general census.
As per the resolution passed by the Odisha Cabinet today, the State government decided to move the Government of India so that an enumeration of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes/Castes (SEBC) be conducted simultaneously along-with the General Census.
The cabinet’s resolution further stated that the exercise can be done, either by inserting suitable columns in the 2021 General Census format or by prescribing a separate format for a simultaneous enumeration of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes/Castes.
Panchayati Raj department Minister Pratap Jena informed that due to unavailability of reliable and authentic data about the exact numbers of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes/Castes, geographical areas of their spread and density, ensuring focussed and outcome-specific planning is becoming a challenging task.
The Cabinet highlighted there is no provision to capture the details of the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes/Castes despite having done such exercise in the SECC 2011, the full data from which is yet to be released.