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Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole demanded on Wednesday that the central government clarify its stance on the caste-based census. He also urged the Centre to immediately carry out a decennial census, which has not been done since 2021.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Nana Patole said, "It was our demand that a caste-based census be done. The Maharashtra Assembly passed a resolution that the central government should do a caste-based census. But due to COVID-19, the census could not take place. It should have been done in 2022. As far as the state census is concerned, until the central government does not do the census, it (the state census) will not be valid. The central government should clear its stand." He further added that if Congress comes to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections then caste-based census will be carried out in the nation. Days after the Bihar government released caste survey data, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav asserted that caste census should be carried out throughout the country. The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar was released on Monday by the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government. The Congress is an ally of the government in Bihar. "We have conducted a caste census in Bihar, it should be carried out throughout the country. Poor people and Dalits of the country will benefit from this," Lalu Yadav said. The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar revealed that the extremely backward class is 36.01 per cent, the general category is 15.52 per cent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 per cent. According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent of the population of the state. The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent, and other religions 0.12 per cent. (ANI)
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