'What is wrong with it?' On caste census, SC says govt should know number of people in backward class

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challeging the Centre's decision to hold caste enumeration as a part of the upcoming Census saying that there was "nothing wrong with it."

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, justice Joymalya Bagchi and justice Vipul Pancholi was hearing a PIL which argued that "plenty of information and figures were available with the government on caste details," PTI reported.

The SC dismissed the PIL saying that "government must know how many people are backward class, what kind of welfare measures are to be taken for them".

"These are all policy matters, whether the Census should be caste-based or not. What is wrong with it? … the government must know as to how many people are in the backward class, what kind of welfare measures are to be taken for them. It is within the policy domain," PTI quoted the CJI saying.

The 2027 Census, officially India’s 16th national Census, will be the first since 1931 to include a comprehensive caste enumeration and the country’s first fully digital population count.