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Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.
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This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Caste census | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Country |  India |
| Topics | Census topics
|
| Authority | Ministry of Home Affairs, |
| Results | |
| Proposed and Announced on | 30 April 2025 |
| Part of | Upcoming decadal census in India (due since 2021) |
Caste census is a census to be conducted in India by the Central Government of India. The proposed census was decided under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the cabinet committee of political affairs (CCPA) on 30 April 2025. It has been decided that a caste enumeration should be included with the forthcoming census. The exact time has not been declared yet. It is unclear that when the next census will be held.
The decision of the cabinet was announced by the Central Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. It has been seen as a step that would help in drafting "equitable and targeted" policies by the present Central Government of India led by the Bhartiya Janta Party in India. The Central Home Minister Amit Shah has described the decision as a "historic decision". He has also described that the historic decision as “committed to social justice”.[1][2]
The caste census is a systematic recording of individuals’ caste identities during the nationwide census in the country.[3] The Central minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed his view on the proposed census and said that it would "strengthen the social and economic structure of our society while the nation continues to progress”.[2]
The Caste census will happen for the first time in 100 years by the Central Government of India. It will be the part of the upcoming census in India.[4]
According to Peabody, the first systematic caste-wise enumeration of households in the Indian subcontinent was conducted between 1658 and 1664 across seven districts of the then Marwar Kingdom, including Jodhpur city which was its capital. It was conducted by the then home minister Munhata Nainsi of the kingdom for the purpose of tax documentation. It was not to for classification of society or creation of social hierarchies but solving a tax related problem.[5] During the period of the British rule in India, caste census was included in the decadal censuses to categorise the population by caste, religion and occupation. In 1871–72, the first detailed caste census was conducted by the government of British Raj in India.[6] It was practiced between the period 1881 to 1931. The last caste census was conducted in the year 1931 in which 4,147 castes were recorded.[7] After the independence of India, the caste enumeration was stopped by the newly independent Government of India led by the prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951. The caste enumeration was stopped to avoid reinforcing social divisions in the Indian society. But, there was an exception made for the enumeration of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the decadal censuses. Therefore, the enumeration of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes is being conducted in every census since 1951. In 1961, the Government of India permitted states for conducting their own surveys to compile OBC lists, but national caste census was not conducted.[8][9]
In 2010, the Bhartiya Janata Party supported caste-based census.[10]
By 2022, a number of political parties including Janata Dal United, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) demanded caste-based census.[11][12][13]
In 2025, Indian government announced it will conduct caste census after nearly a century.[2][14] The leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi has welcomed the decision. He said "We have shown we can pressure govt" He has demanded a clear timeline for its completion. He has called it "The first step towards deep social reform".[15]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Caste census is a census to be conducted in India by the Central Government of India. The proposed census was decided under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the cabinet committee of political affairs (CCPA) on 30 April 2025. It has been decided that a caste enumeration should be included with the forthcoming census. The exact time has not been declared yet. It is unclear that when the next census will be held. The decision of the cabinet was announced by the Central Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. It has been seen as a step that would help in drafting "equitable and targeted" policies by the present Central Government of India led by the Bhartiya Janta Party in India. The Central Home Minister Amit Shah has described the decision as a "historic decision". He has also described that the historic decision as “committed to social justice”.
The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted for the Census of India by the Ministry of Rural Development from 2011—2015. The Manmohan Singh government approved the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 to be carried out after discussion in both houses of Parliament in 2010. SECC-2011 was not done under the 1948 Census of India Act and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India was not entrusted to do the same. The SECC was conducted in all states and union territories of India and some of its findings were revealed on 3 July 2015 by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. SECC 2011 is also the first paperless census in India conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government in 640 districts. The rural development ministry has taken a decision to use the SECC data in all its programmes such as MGNREGA, National Food Security Act, and the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana. SECC 2011 was the first caste-based census since 1931 Census of India, and it was launched on 29 June 2011 from the Sankhola village of Hazemara block in West Tripura district. In 2021, the central government informed that census was outdated and inaccurate following the alleged refusal to release caste data.
The 2011 census of India or the 15th Indian census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information for National Population Register (NPR) was also collected in the first phase, which will be used to issue a 12-digit unique identification number to all registered Indian residents by Unique Identification Authority of India. The second population enumeration phase was conducted between 9 and 28 February 2011. Census has been conducted in India since 1872 and 2011 marks the first time biometric information was collected. According to the provisional reports released on 31 March 2011, the Indian population increased to 1.21 billion with a decadal growth of 17.70%. Adult literacy rate increased to 74.04% with a decadal growth of 9.21%. The motto of the census was Our Census, Our Future. Spread across 28 states and 8 union territories, the census covered 640 districts, 5,924 sub-districts, 7,935 towns and more than 600,000 villages. A total of 2.7 million officials visited households in 7,935 towns and 600,000 villages, classifying the population according to gender, religion, education and occupation. The cost of the exercise was approximately ₹2,200 crore (US$230 million) – this comes to less than US$0.50 per person, well below the estimated world average of US$4.60 per person. Information on castes was included in the census following demands from several ruling coalition leaders including Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Mulayam Singh Yadav supported by opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Information on caste was last collected during the British Raj in 1931. During the early census, people often exaggerated their caste status to garner social status and it is expected that people downgrade it now in the expectation of gaining government benefits. Earlier, there was speculation that there would be a caste-based census conducted in 2011, the first time in 80 years (last was in 1931), to find the exact population of the "Other Backward Classes" (OBCs) in India. This was later accepted and the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 was conducted whose first findings were revealed on 3 July 2015 by Central Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Mandal Commission report of 1980 quoted OBC population at 52%, though National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey of 2006 quoted OBC population at 41%. There is only one other instance of a caste count in post-independence India. It was conducted in Kerala in 1968 by the Government of Kerala under E. M. S. Namboodiripad to assess the social and economic backwardness of various lower castes. The census was termed Socio-Economic Survey of 1968 and the results were published in the Gazetteer of Kerala, 1971.
According to the 2023 Bihar Caste Census, Bihar had a total population of 130,725,310, nearly 83% of it rural. It was also India's most densely populated state, with 1,388 persons per square kilometre. 82% of Bihar's population practiced Hinduism, while 17.7% followed Islam. As of 2011, the sex ratio was 1112 females per 1000 males. Almost 50% of Bihar's population was below 25 years age as of new report of 2026, which is yet again highest in India. At 17%, Bihar has one of the lowest urbanisation rate in India. Most of Bihar's population belongs to a collection of ethnic groups speaking indic languages, the most prominent ones being Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magahi. It also attracted Punjabi Hindu refugees during the Partition of British India in 1947. Bihar has a total literacy rate of 70.70% (79.70% for males and 60.5 % for females), recording a growth of 20% in female literacy over the preceding decade. According to the 2011 census, 82.7% of Bihar's population practised Hinduism, while 16.9% followed Islam. As of 2026, Bihar has highest fertility rate of 2.7 in comparison to the other states of India but it had declined very rapidly in last 15 years. According to new NFHS - 6 report Population of people under 15 is 35.6 % of total population.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
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