Context:

Caste Census in Andhra Pradesh: The Andhra Pradesh government has started a 10-day-long “caste survey”, to create a comprehensive caste-based database of people.

Caste Census in Andhra Pradesh 

• Methodology and Verification Process: Volunteers will visit every home to collect caste details, emphasizing the role of the village secretariat system in verifying and correcting the information.
• Second State to Undertake Caste Census: Andhra Pradesh is the second state after Bihar to undertake the caste census.
• Scale and Coverage of the Census: Details on the extensive coverage, involving volunteers, village secretariat employees, and covering millions of families in both rural and urban areas. 
• Purpose and Welfare Goals: Focusing on addressing the welfare needs of castes that have not received government schemes. The significance of the census in ensuring inclusive governance and social justice.

About Caste Census

• Caste census means inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India’s population in the Census exercise.
• India has counted and published caste data from 1951 to 2011 of the schedules castes and schedules tribes only.

Demand for Caste Census

• Earlier it did not include information about the population of lower and intermediate castes, known as Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which make up about 52% of the population. 
• This has led to calls for a separate census to gather data about the OBC population.

Earlier Caste Census

• The last caste census was conducted in 1931. It became the basis for quota caps under the Mandal formula.
• Caste data were collected for the 2011 census but the data were never made public.

Difference Between Census and Socio-Economic Caste Census

Also Read: Caste Survey in Bihar

News Source: LiveMint

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