New Delhi: AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday said the JD(U)’s demand for review of Agnipath scheme is “100 per cent correct” and stressed that the scheme should have been withdrawn earlier. Earlier in the day, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi told reporters here that the party has demanded a review of the Agnipath scheme, and will “pursue” the caste census issue. Speaking to PTI Videos, Singh said, “Agniveer is betrayal with Mother India and the Army. The prime minister should have withdrawn it earlier.” “Earlier a jawan was trained for a year but under this scheme (Agnipath), you reduced the training period to six months. Every youth is ready to sacrifice his or her life for the country. But you are weakening the army. This demand from JDU is 100 per cent correct,” the AAP leader added. In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme for short-term induction of personnel with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three armed services. AllUttar PradeshMaharashtraTamil NaduWest BengalBiharKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTelanganaKeralaMadhya PradeshRajasthanDelhiOther States The scheme provides for recruiting youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
Tag: Census
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States within rights to do caste survey: Experts
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: As questions are being raised over the legal validity of states conducting caste surveys after the Patna High Court stayed an ongoing survey, legal and constitutional experts argue that states are well within their rights to hold caste surveys to collect data on the social and economically disadvantaged population.
While passing the interim order over the Bihar government’s caste survey, the court said that the survey amounted to a census operation, which comes under the Union list. Speaking to this paper, Constitutional expert PDT Achary points out that though the decennial census is conducted by the Union government, states can conduct surveys to collect statistics or data on the socially and economically disadvantaged segment to implement welfare schemes.
“High Court staying the survey cannot be considered as a setback. Under the Concurrent List, states have the power to conduct caste surveys. The High Court has stayed the process because it wants to know whether it is a census or not. The census can only be undertaken by the Centre. If the state government wants to implement schemes for a certain section of the population, they can do the headcount of that particular section,” said Achary. The Bihar government launched the caste survey early this year, to tabulate the socio-economic data for a population of 12.70 crore in the 38 districts of the state. The survey was scheduled to end on May 15.
While passing the interim order to stay the Bihar survey, the two judge bench said, “Prima facie, we are of the opinion that the State has no power to carry out a caste survey in the manner in which it is fashioned now, which would amount to a census, it said. However, speaking to this paper, RJD MP Manoj Jha said that the state has been undertaking a caste survey and not ‘Census’. “The state Cabinet has passed a unanimous resolution in 2020 in this regard,” he said.
While the demand for a nationwide caste census has become a hot-button issue for several Opposition parties in the run-up to the 2024 general election, states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh have initiated the process to tabulate social and educational conditions of people belonging to backward castes in the states.Karnataka is a case in point which conducted a caste survey under the Siddaramaiah government in 2015. Speaking to this paper, former Chief Minister and ex-Union Minister Veerappa Moily said that the state conducted the caste survey through the state commission for backward classes, set up in the direction of the Supreme Court.
“In Karnataka, we conducted the caste survey through the state backward class commission… Through state commissions, states are entitled to conduct surveys to count caste and other socio-economic indicators,” says Moily.
NEW DELHI: As questions are being raised over the legal validity of states conducting caste surveys after the Patna High Court stayed an ongoing survey, legal and constitutional experts argue that states are well within their rights to hold caste surveys to collect data on the social and economically disadvantaged population.
While passing the interim order over the Bihar government’s caste survey, the court said that the survey amounted to a census operation, which comes under the Union list. Speaking to this paper, Constitutional expert PDT Achary points out that though the decennial census is conducted by the Union government, states can conduct surveys to collect statistics or data on the socially and economically disadvantaged segment to implement welfare schemes.
“High Court staying the survey cannot be considered as a setback. Under the Concurrent List, states have the power to conduct caste surveys. The High Court has stayed the process because it wants to know whether it is a census or not. The census can only be undertaken by the Centre. If the state government wants to implement schemes for a certain section of the population, they can do the headcount of that particular section,” said Achary. The Bihar government launched the caste survey early this year, to tabulate the socio-economic data for a population of 12.70 crore in the 38 districts of the state. The survey was scheduled to end on May 15.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
While passing the interim order to stay the Bihar survey, the two judge bench said, “Prima facie, we are of the opinion that the State has no power to carry out a caste survey in the manner in which it is fashioned now, which would amount to a census, it said. However, speaking to this paper, RJD MP Manoj Jha said that the state has been undertaking a caste survey and not ‘Census’. “The state Cabinet has passed a unanimous resolution in 2020 in this regard,” he said.
While the demand for a nationwide caste census has become a hot-button issue for several Opposition parties in the run-up to the 2024 general election, states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh have initiated the process to tabulate social and educational conditions of people belonging to backward castes in the states.
Karnataka is a case in point which conducted a caste survey under the Siddaramaiah government in 2015. Speaking to this paper, former Chief Minister and ex-Union Minister Veerappa Moily said that the state conducted the caste survey through the state commission for backward classes, set up in the direction of the Supreme Court.“In Karnataka, we conducted the caste survey through the state backward class commission… Through state commissions, states are entitled to conduct surveys to count caste and other socio-economic indicators,” says Moily.
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India’s next census to be digital, app-based exercise: Centre
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: India is gearing up for its first digital census and the government has already made several technological advancements on the platform on which the exact headcount, class, gender, age, employment and other socio-economic data of over 130 crore Indian citizens would be captured and categorised.
Nityanad Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, informed the Parliament on Tuesday that the next census will be an app-based exercise, adding, “the forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration.”
Rai further said that “Mobile apps for the collection of data and a census portal for the management and monitoring of various census-related activities have been developed.”
The Minister was responding to a question in Lok Sabha on the status of the decennial census, which was slated to be conducted in 2021. Several Parliamentarians sought to know from the Ministry of Home Affairs as to when the census would be completed.
“The intent of the Government for conducting Census 2021 was notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census 2021 and the related field activities have been postponed until further orders,” Rai said, adding that the next census would be done on a digital platform.
The last decennial or decadal population census exercise of India, conducted by the Directors of Census Operations who coordinate the work of census taking in the respective States and Union Territories, was undertaken during Feb 9–28, 2011, with a revisional round during March 1-5, 2011. The next Census was due in 2021 but the same has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Rai said, “the population projection for India and States and Union Territories for 2011-2036, based on Census 2011 data, were available in the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections published by the National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.”
Population Census provides basic statistics on the state of human resources, demography, culture and economic structure at the local, regional and national levels. The information and data are vital to guide and shape the future development projects of the country.
NEW DELHI: India is gearing up for its first digital census and the government has already made several technological advancements on the platform on which the exact headcount, class, gender, age, employment and other socio-economic data of over 130 crore Indian citizens would be captured and categorised.
Nityanad Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, informed the Parliament on Tuesday that the next census will be an app-based exercise, adding, “the forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration.”
Rai further said that “Mobile apps for the collection of data and a census portal for the management and monitoring of various census-related activities have been developed.”
The Minister was responding to a question in Lok Sabha on the status of the decennial census, which was slated to be conducted in 2021. Several Parliamentarians sought to know from the Ministry of Home Affairs as to when the census would be completed.
“The intent of the Government for conducting Census 2021 was notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census 2021 and the related field activities have been postponed until further orders,” Rai said, adding that the next census would be done on a digital platform.
The last decennial or decadal population census exercise of India, conducted by the Directors of Census Operations who coordinate the work of census taking in the respective States and Union Territories, was undertaken during Feb 9–28, 2011, with a revisional round during March 1-5, 2011. The next Census was due in 2021 but the same has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Rai said, “the population projection for India and States and Union Territories for 2011-2036, based on Census 2011 data, were available in the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections published by the National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.”
Population Census provides basic statistics on the state of human resources, demography, culture and economic structure at the local, regional and national levels. The information and data are vital to guide and shape the future development projects of the country.
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Jharkhand records country’s highest percentage of child marriage among girls
By PTI
RANCHI: Infamous for witchcraft killings, Jharkhand has earned the disrepute of having the highest percentage of underage girls getting married, according to the latest demographic sample survey by the Union Home Ministry.
The percentage of girls getting married before attaining majority is as high as 5.8 in Jharkhand, according to the survey brought out by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The percentage of females who got effectively married before reaching 18 years of age is 1.9 at the national level and varies from 0.0 in Kerala to 5.8 in Jharkhand,” the survey said.
In Jharkhand, child marriages accounted for 7.3 per cent of marriages in rural areas and three per cent in urban areas, it said.
The Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report contains estimates of various demographic, fertility and mortality indicators based on the data collected through one of the largest demographic surveys in the world covering about 8.4 million sample population.
The survey was conducted in 2020 and the report was published late last month.
Jharkhand and West Bengal are the only two states in the country where more than half of the women are married before attaining the age of 21 years.
The survey said that while 54.9 per cent of girls are married in West Bengal before attaining the age of 21 years, the figure for Jharkhand is 54.6 per cent as against the national average of 29.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 32 people were killed on allegations of practising witchcraft in Jharkhand in 2015, 27 in 2016, 19 in 2017, 18 in 2018, and 15 each in 2019 and 2020.
Jharkhand was in the limelight recently after a minor girl was set ablaze for spurning the advances of a man.
The main accused had allegedly poured petrol on the girl from outside the window of her room when she was sleeping and set her on fire on August 23.
The teenager succumbed to her injuries four days later and the accused and the man who had supplied petrol to him were arrested.
Another 14-year-old tribal girl, allegedly sexually exploited by a man on the pretext of marriage, was found hanging from a tree in Dumka on September 2.
Her mother had claimed that she was raped and killed and the accused has been arrested.
The two incidents are being probed by the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
A teenage girl fell victim to an acid attack and was sent to AIIMS in New Delhi by the state government for better treatment.
RANCHI: Infamous for witchcraft killings, Jharkhand has earned the disrepute of having the highest percentage of underage girls getting married, according to the latest demographic sample survey by the Union Home Ministry.
The percentage of girls getting married before attaining majority is as high as 5.8 in Jharkhand, according to the survey brought out by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The percentage of females who got effectively married before reaching 18 years of age is 1.9 at the national level and varies from 0.0 in Kerala to 5.8 in Jharkhand,” the survey said.
In Jharkhand, child marriages accounted for 7.3 per cent of marriages in rural areas and three per cent in urban areas, it said.
The Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report contains estimates of various demographic, fertility and mortality indicators based on the data collected through one of the largest demographic surveys in the world covering about 8.4 million sample population.
The survey was conducted in 2020 and the report was published late last month.
Jharkhand and West Bengal are the only two states in the country where more than half of the women are married before attaining the age of 21 years.
The survey said that while 54.9 per cent of girls are married in West Bengal before attaining the age of 21 years, the figure for Jharkhand is 54.6 per cent as against the national average of 29.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 32 people were killed on allegations of practising witchcraft in Jharkhand in 2015, 27 in 2016, 19 in 2017, 18 in 2018, and 15 each in 2019 and 2020.
Jharkhand was in the limelight recently after a minor girl was set ablaze for spurning the advances of a man.
The main accused had allegedly poured petrol on the girl from outside the window of her room when she was sleeping and set her on fire on August 23.
The teenager succumbed to her injuries four days later and the accused and the man who had supplied petrol to him were arrested.
Another 14-year-old tribal girl, allegedly sexually exploited by a man on the pretext of marriage, was found hanging from a tree in Dumka on September 2.
Her mother had claimed that she was raped and killed and the accused has been arrested.
The two incidents are being probed by the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
A teenage girl fell victim to an acid attack and was sent to AIIMS in New Delhi by the state government for better treatment.
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‘Life expectancy of females in India shows healthy improvement’: Report
By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The life expectancy of females in India has registered a healthy improvement by 0.4 years from 70.7 years in 2014-18 to 71.1 years in 2015-19, according to the latest report by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.
Significantly, according to the report, ‘SRS (Sample Registration System) Based Abridged Life Tables, 2015-19’, female life expectancy is higher than that of male (68.4 years). The increase in life expectancy for males is 0.2 years.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner’s office issues ‘abridged life tables’ annually. A life table summarises the mortality experience of a population during the period of study.
The latest report contains data by sex and residence nationally and for bigger states and Union Territories (with population of 10 million and above. It is presented up to the age group of 85+ to “appropriately reflect the mortality pattern and to facilitate comparison with life tables released by other countries and United Nations.
Pointing out that life expectancy at birth for India has “undergone a significant change” from 49.7 in 1970-75 to 69.7 in 2015-19 — an increase of 20 years in the last four decades — the report says that life expectancy at birth for females was 49.7 in 1970-75 compared to 50.5 for males in the same period. Life expectancy at birth measures the average number of years a person is expected to live under prevailing mortality conditions.
Female life expectancy at age one year has also improved significantly for the period 2015-19. Female life expectancy at age one year, after surviving through the first year of life, is 72.9 years, which is three years more than for males (69.9).
“Almost all the States/UTs have recorded a higher life expectancy for females in 2015-19 both across the rural and urban areas, except for Bihar and Jharkhand…Even at age 70 years, this difference is favourable towards females by about one year,” according to the report.
Kerala has recorded the highest life expectancy at birth for males and females in rural areas, while Jammu & Kashmir has recorded the highest for males in urban areas and Himachal Pradesh has recorded the highest life expectancy for females in urban areas.
The expectancy of life at age one in rural areas for females has surpassed that of males from 1987-91. Since then, the gap between the life expectancy of male and female in rural areas has been growing in favour of females from 0.2 years in 1987-91 to 3 years in 2015-19. In urban areas, the gap in the life expectancy of males and females has increased from 0.4 years in 1970-75 to 2.7 years in 2015-19, according to the report.
In 2015-19, the highest life expectancy at birth has been estimated for NCT of Delhi with 75.9 years, while Chhattisgarh with 65.3 years, has the lowest life expectancy at birth. The expectation of life is the highest in Delhi at 74.3 years for males and in Kerala (78.0 years) for females, while it is the lowest in Chhattisgarh (63.7 years) for males and Uttar Pradesh (66.2 years) for females.
The NCT of Delhi has recorded the highest expectation of life for age till 50 years, while Punjab has the highest life expectancy for ages between 70 to 80 years. At the age of 85+ years, Uttarakhand scores the highest life expectancy. The minimum expectancy of life is in Chhattisgarh till age 75 years, beyond which Bihar has the lowest life expectancy.
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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar calls all-party meeting on caste-based census on May 27
Express News Service
PATNA: The wait for an all-party meeting on caste-based census in Bihar is now over. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has convened an all-party meeting on the issue on May 27.
The office of the chief minister has started contacting senior leaders of political parties in the state. Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi confirmed that he has received information about all-party meeting on caste census.
Manjh, who is currently in New Delhi, said that he received information about the proposed meeting on May 27 over phone on Monday. “I think this has been conveyed to leaders of other political parties as well,” he added.
Last week, Nitish had said that an all-party meeting on caste bases census will be convened soon. “Ab jyada der nahi lagegi. Jald hin meeting bulaee jayegi (There will be no delay. The meeting will be convened soon),” he had told reporters.
Nitish’s reaction came soon after leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav called on him at his official residence recently on the issue. The meeting will discuss the modalities of the proposed caste based census in the state. The demand for holding caste count has been raised by political parties for long.
However, the centre has turned down Bihar government’s request for holding caste based census. A delegation of leaders of 10 political parties had also met Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh on the issue.
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Students’ body serves 15-day deadline on Arunachal government to resume census of Chakmas, Hajongs
By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Against the backdrop of the charge of racial profiling of Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) served a 15-day deadline on the state’s BJP government demanding the resumption of the census of the “refugees”.
The students’ body claimed the government had stopped the exercise after receiving a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
AAPSU general secretary Tobom Dai said the PMO had on December 7 sought a response from the state government after the Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) petitioned it, alleging racial profiling of the people belonging to the two communities. Dai dismissed the charge.
“It was a regular administrative exercise, aimed at maintaining the data of the refugees for safeguarding the interests of the indigenous people. The state government must not buckle under any external pressure,” he said.
On December 1, the extra assistant commissioner of Diyun circle in Changlang district of eastern Arunachal held a meeting with Chakma and Hajong leaders days after, what the CDFI claimed, the district magistrate had notified the “Census of Chakmas and Hajongs 2021” at all Chakma and Hajong-inhabited areas of the district “for a report to be submitted to the government on or before December 31, 2021”.
The CDFI said the census had sought personal information such as bank account and employment details and pending criminal cases.
“This exclusive census is an act of racial profiling as only the Chakmas and Hajongs are being singled out. Arunachal shares its borders with China and Myanmar from where illegal migration has been taking place since independence,” CDFI chairman Suhas Chakma said.
But Changlang DM, Devansh Yadav had said the December 1 meeting was convened not to start a census but inform the villagers how the process would be executed if at all approved.
There are about 65,000 Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunachal. After being displaced by a dam in the then East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh), they were resettled in Arunachal during 1964-69 by the central government.
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Samajwadi Party to initiate caste census if voted to power in UP Assembly polls
By PTI
LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party on Monday said it will initiate a caste-based census if voted to power in the next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
The statement by the party came hours after a delegation of 10 parties from Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of a caste-based census.
National spokesperson of SP Ashutosh Verma on Monday told PTI that from the very beginning, the party has been backing a caste-based census.
“Which scheme should be implemented and in which manner so that best results can be obtained, for this a caste-based census has to be done. Otherwise, implementing schemes will be more or less shooting in the dark, which has been happening till now,” he said, reiterating the demand for it.
Stressing on taking development schemes to the last man in society, Verma said, ”If voted to power in UP, the SP will conduct a caste-based census at its own cost.”
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has himself announced this.
“The stand of the SP on the caste-based census is absolutely clear. And, we believe in ‘jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, utni uski hissedaari’ — (partnership in government should be proportional to the numbers of a community),” Verma said.
He also said the ruling BJP is not giving encouraging indications for the caste-based census.
Earlier in the day, a delegation of 10 parties headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday in support of the demand.
Kumar asserted that statistics about different castes will help in formulating development schemes effectively as many of them have not benefited so far in line with their actual population.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who was part of the delegation, said such a census was in national interest and will be a historic measure and help the poor and the most deprived sections of the society.
If animals and trees can be counted, so can people, he said.
Kumar was joined by representatives of all major parties, including the BJP and Congress, as they submitted their demand to Modi.
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Will accept caste-based census if all parties agree: Mamata Banerjee
By PTI
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she will accept a nationwide caste-based census if all political parties reach a consensus on the matter.
Banerjee’s statement came at the backdrop of a 10-party delegation from Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to push for a caste-based census.
“When there will be a discussion and if a consensus is reached, I will not have any problem accepting it. I will not fight if all political parties and states reach a consensus. Let political parties, the CMs and the Central government reach a consensus,” Banerjee said.
She declined to say much on the issue, saying that sentiments differ from one state to the other.
Banerjee said, “Nitish-ji has put up his questions on this issue. Let’s see how others react to it.”
Statistics about different castes will help in formulating development schemes effectively as many of them have not benefitted so far in line with their actual population, the Bihar CM has said.
The BJP leadership has so far not taken a categorical stand on the issue which has been lapped up by a number of regional parties, many of them its rivals in different states.
With census being the Union’s prerogative, it is now up to the Centre to take a call on the demand.
There is a view that a caste census will bring the Mandal politics to the centre stage of politics and can be an effective weapon in the hands of regional parties to counter the BJP’s Hindutva and welfare planks, the twin issues used by the saffron party to make inroads into the OBC vote bank at the expense of state-based parties.
The caste-based census has not taken place in the country since British rule.
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Hope Centre will reconsider its decision to hold caste-based census: Ex-Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi
By ANI
NEW DELHI: Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) President Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday expressed hope that the Central government will reconsider its decision to hold the caste-based census.
Manjhi is part of the delegation of 11 parties led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar which is going to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today over the caste-based census. “There has been a long-standing demand for the caste-based census in Bihar. Bihar Assembly has unanimously sent a proposal for the census to the Central government twice. But since there was no response from PM Modi, we decided to meet him personally,” the HAM president told ANI.
“The last caste-based census was done in 1931 in Bihar. This census is important to know the caste demography in the society and will help the government to work for the welfare of the minorities,” he added.
On being asked about the refusal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct a caste-based census, Manjhi said: “I hope the government will reconsider its decision.” “The government even keeps a count of the animals in the country. These are the people of the country. I hope PM Modi will understand this and give us a positive answer,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav, who is also in Delhi to attend the meeting with the Prime Minister said: “Twice resolutions have been passed in Bihar Assembly for caste census in the state. With such a census we can get data that can help in preparing relevant benefit schemes for people from different sections of society.”