Mrunal Manmay Dash

Bhubaneswar: No special column for OBC (Other Backward Class) category will be marked in the upcoming census 2020-21 as requested by the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, informed Union MoS Nityananda Rai of MHA in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

Responding to a question by V Vijayasai Reddy on the Registrar General’s decision to exclude data collection of OBCs in the 2021 census, the MoS of Home Affairs said, “The census schedule is designed in consultation with all stakeholders including central ministries. The intent of the Government for conducting 2021 census has been notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019.”

“In census, the castes and tribes which are specifically notified as scheduled castes/scheduled tribes as per Presidential order under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) order, 1950 amended from time to time are enumerated,” he clarified.

With such a statement, Rai categorically denied to include any separate column in the Census questionnaire to collect data on OBCs, which came as a shocker for the BJD as its leaders here in Odisha and Delhi have been vehemently asking the Centre to include the same.

If reports are anything to go by, the OBCs in Odisha are a major group by its sheer number in the state and both BJP and BJD has been in loggerheads to lure this group and garner their precious votes in their banks. Moreover, the BJD Parliamentarians in Delhi have been raising this issue in both the houses for the last two days.

Earlier, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had slammed the move by the state government to include OBCs in the Census. In a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Pradhan termed the move to pass a resolution in the assembly as “a dilatory and dichotomous step trying to mask the extant policies of the State Government denying State-wide reservation for OBC and SEBC categories.”

Meanwhile, the State Government is gearing up to facilitate the Census process in Odisha following Registrar General and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi’s letter on January 7, 2020 announcing the date for house listing operations for the Census as April 1, 2020 which will continue up to September 30, 2020.

In lieu of the letter from the Registrar General, the Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Department has republished the letter as a fresh notice for general information.

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