Jharkhand

• 19 Feb 2024

Caste Census in Jharkhand

Why in News?

Jharkhand will soon see a Caste Census in the state on the lines of neighbouring Bihar.

Key Points

• The CM has directed the personnel department to prepare a draft (SoP for conducting the survey) and place it before the cabinet for approval.
• The caste-based survey will be conducted in Jharkhand based on data collected between 7^th January and 2nd October 2023.

Census

• The origin of the Census in India goes back to the colonial exercise of 1881.
  • Census has evolved and been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others to capture the Indian population, access resources, map social change, delimitation exercise, etc.
• First Caste Census as SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census):
  • SECC was conducted for the first time in 1931.
  • SECC is meant to canvass every Indian family, both in rural and urban India, and ask about their:
    • Economic status, so as to allow Central and State authorities to come up with a range of indicators of deprivation, permutations, and combinations of which could be used by each authority to define a poor or deprived person.
    • It is also meant to ask every person their specific caste name to allow the government to re-evaluate which caste groups were economically worse off and which were better off.
• Difference Between Census & SECC:
  • The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
  • Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas according to the SECC website, “all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.”