Rajasthan Government orders caste survey

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, October 7

In a major pre-poll move, the Congress regime in Rajasthan on Saturday night issued official orders to commission a caste-based survey in the state.

The orders, approved by CM Ashok Gehlot, were issued by the Social Justice Department. The orders state that the Rajasthan Government would conduct online caste-based survey with its own resources and the Department of Planning and Statistics would be the nodal department for the purpose. “At the district level, the district collector will be the nodal officer for the caste survey and he will arrange for online feeding of all answers at the level of villages, blocks and districts,” the orders accessed by The Tribune show.

The survey will assess and quantify “social, economic and educational status of the state’s population”. Rajasthan is the second Congress-ruled state to commission a caste survey after Karnataka.

The election time move, the Congress hopes, would reap dividends for the party. On the eve of Karnataka and HP polls, the Congress had promised the restoration of the OPS. The party won both states.

Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh may likewise commission a survey. A Congress star campaigner had yesterday said in Kanker, Chhattisgarh, that the party would conduct a survey, if re-elected. The Assembly polls in Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram are due for announcement any time now.

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