He said since Article 17 of the Constitution contains a provision to abolish the caste system, there have been obstacles before governments on how to conduct a caste-based census.
Union Minister Athawale calls for caste census
New Delhi: Union Minister Ramdas Athawale has said that his Republican Party of India (A) supports holding a caste census in the country and believes that some way must be found to achieve this.
Speaking to reporters in Indore city, Madhya Pradesh, on Sunday, Athawale also said that there should be no malpractices in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) and that the Education Ministry was taking all possible measures to stop exam malpractices in future.
He said since Article 17 of the Constitution contains a provision to abolish the caste system, there have been obstacles before governments on how to conduct a caste-based census.
“My party demands that some way be found because once the caste-based census is conducted, we will know the percentage of each caste in the population,” the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said.
Athawale further said that if future decisions include extending the benefits of reservation to each caste based on their population proportion, his party would not object, recognizing the existence of poverty in all castes.
Orientation Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, Athawale said, “I want to ask Gandhi that when the Congress was in power at the Centre, why was the caste census not carried out?” The RPI(A) leader claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win 170-180 seats out of 288 in the Maharashtra assembly elections, scheduled for October this year.
“It will not be the question of the Constitution but the question of development that will work in the future. Elections in Maharastra. We will rectify the mistakes committed (in the Lok Sabha elections) and enter the electoral fray,” he added.
