Speakers advocate for caste census at Vizag symposium

Speakers at a Vizag symposium advocate for caste census to improve policies and empower backward classes.

Former Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member K. S. Chalam has advocated for caste enumeration in the population census.

Mr. Chalam was speaking at the ‘caste census - implications - impact on caste system’ symposium held by Comrade Y Vijaykumar Marxist Study Centre at the Public Library in the city on Monday. Speaking on the subject of `Indian Society - Caste Census,’ Mr Chalam said that no section of society will lose from the excercise. Though the population of SCs and STs is enumerated, there is no exact figure on the population of BCs, he added.

Mr. Chalam said caste census will help government’s formulate policies in a scientific manner. “It should be taken up for the developmetn and empowerment of BCs,” he said and advocated for social and cultural agitations in support of caste census.

Osmania University Political Science department professor K. Srinivasulu said population census is not just about counting the people but it is a study to ascertain the social and economic conditions of the people. He maintained that with modernisation the caste system has not been erased. Those who are benefitting from the existing sytem are opposing caste census, he added.