Open‑Ended Queries Threaten Accurate Caste Count, Say Opposition

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi have jointly penned a letter to Prime Minister Modi, highlighting the pitfalls of using open‑ended questions to capture caste data in the upcoming national census.

Both leaders caution that allowing respondents to write any caste name will result in a proliferation of spellings, sub‑caste identifiers and regional aliases. Consequently, a single community could be recorded under thousands of different labels, rendering the data unusable for policy formulation.

The opposition demands the immediate cancellation of the present questionnaire. They propose a replacement built on a validated list of castes—mirroring the methodology adopted in the Telangana and Bihar caste surveys, which relied on pre‑approved lists to ensure consistency.

Accurate caste statistics, they assert, are the backbone of any social‑justice strategy. Without reliable numbers, the government cannot correctly gauge the socio‑economic conditions of OBCs, Extremely Backward Classes, and other marginalized groups, leading to misallocation of welfare benefits and skewed development planning.

Kharge and Gandhi suggest a drop‑down selection system, similar to that used for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This system would draw from official compilations such as the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes register and the Indian Human Development Survey. They also call for extensive dialogue with political parties, experts and citizens to craft a questionnaire that delivers precise, actionable caste data.