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Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reiterating the party's long-standing demand for a caste census and laying out three specific suggestions to be considered in the process.
In his letter, Kharge criticized the government for not responding to his earlier communication in April 2023 and accused the BJP leadership of attacking the Congress for raising what he called a legitimate and necessary demand. "I wrote to you on 16 April 2023 and placed before you the demand of the Indian National Congress to conduct a caste census. Unfortunately, I did not receive any reply to that letter. Thereafter, your party leaders and you yourself continuously attacked the Congress Party and the Congress leadership for raising this legitimate demand. Today, you yourself are admitting that this demand is in the interest of profound social justice and empowerment," Kharge stated in the letter. Outlining his proposals, Kharge stressed that the design of the census questionnaire is crucial and recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs adopt the Telangana model for framing questions to be used in the caste census. Secondly, Kharge urged the government to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) through a constitutional amendment, citing the anticipated outcomes of the caste census that may necessitate expanded quotas. Thirdly, he called for the implementation of Article 15(5) of the Constitution, which was introduced on January 20, 2006, to provide reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs in private educational institutions. Earlier, Congress party passed a resolution demanding the immediate implementation of clause 5 of Article 15 of the Indian Constitution to enable reservations for Other Backwards Classes (OBCS), Dalits, and Adivasis in private educational institutions. The resolution also said that updated caste data must be used to strengthen reservation policies. Ahead of this, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census. (ANI)
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