Conduct Caste Census immediately: VHR to Centre

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao on Wednesday demanded the Centre to immediately take measures to conduct the caste census in the country.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here, Hanumantha Rao stated that the lack of data had led to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) not getting their due in reservations in education, jobs and schemes. He alleged that the Centre has no interest in the caste census or to formulate a national policy document on OBCs.

The senior Congress leader stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that he was committed toward the welfare of OBC, but had not done anything for them so far. "Except for including 27 OBC MPs in his cabinet, the PM has done nothing for people belonging to the OBC category. OBC MPs got cabinet berths. What about the common man?" he asked.

Hanumantha Rao demanded that the Centre provide reservations in promotions to backward class communities, remove the creamy layer, lift current 50 percent cap on reservations and increase reservations for BCs as per the size of their population.