New Delhi, 09 September 2010: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the inclusion of caste in census from 2011. It will be a full caste census separate from the census count going on now. The caste census will be taken up once the current round of population enumeration ends. The new census will collect names, addresses and castes of all citizens.
"The Cabinet has given the go ahead for a full fledged caste census from 2011. The caste enumeration will differ from state to state depending on conditions like monsoon. After considering various options, based on the responses of various political parties a separate house to house enumeration of caste will be done from June 2011 to September 2011," said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi.
The Cabinet meeting was chaired by chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. According to sources said the inclusion of caste would cost the exchequer about Rs 2,000 crore. The ongoing census, too, is going to cost about Rs 2,200 crore.