Commencement Of Caste Census In Andhra Pradesh

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.

Caste Census in Andhra Pradesh

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

Difference	Census	Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC)
Legal Basis	Census Conducted under the Census Act, 1948	Not conducted under any specific Act
Confidentiality of Data	Individual data is confidential	Personal information is open for use by government departments for benefits allocation/restriction to households
Duration	Conducted every 10 years (e.g., 2011)	Last SECC conducted in 2011
Historical Background	First synchronous census in India was held in 1881, evolving since 1885 to 1872 in different parts	First SECC conducted in 1931 and later in 2011