OBC groups seek mandatory caste coding in census, warn of ‘unscientific’ enumeration

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) distribute census forms to residents during a house-to-house visit as part of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. | Photo credit: Ramakrishna. G

The OBC National Conference on Sunday (August 30, 2026) demanded that the central government make enumeration of caste mandatory in the national census and assign a separate “unique code” to each caste. Conducting the census without these measures would be a waste of public money and the exercise should be stopped until a national consensus is reached on the issue, OBC leaders said.

Former IAS officer and Chairman of Intellectual Forum Backwards Classes T. Chiranjeevulu and President of All India OBC Students Association G. Kiran Kumar presided over the conference.

Without assigning a unique code to each caste, the speakers said, the census could not be scientifically based. “Just as there are separate columns for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, separate columns should also be created for OBCs and general category,” several speakers at the conference said.

DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson and Professor Yogendra Yadav, among others, warned that around ₹12,800 crore to be spent by the Census Center would be wasted if the exercise was conducted as a mere formality without proper scientific planning. The speakers also warned the government that a nationwide movement could follow if their demand was ignored.

The Congress and other opposition parties also objected to the proposed open-ended format for recording caste details, arguing that the same caste could be known by different names, sub-castes and linguistic variants in different parts of the country.

Published – 30 Aug 2026 21:30 IST