NRKs are a ‘caste’ away lot!
When the current Caste Census will be over, about 22 lakh Malayalis will be left out of the count, they being non-resident Keralites (NRKs), raising doubts about the credibility of the whole exercise.
According to Census officials, people who reside in a place for the last six months continuously are being counted.
Families can state NRK members for which there is a separate column, but they are not taken into account for the head-to-head count.
The Census, apart from taking the count of the people on the basis of caste or community, is also considered as the biggest social and economic survey the country has ever undertaken.
According to Muslim Jama-Ath Council state general secretary A. Pookunju, the Caste Census figure would give a distorted count as a majority of the NRKs are from the minority community. “This is the first Caste Census ever since the last one conducted by the British rulers in 1931.
But, if it cannot give a clear picture about the caste/community count, it will not be useful for any meaningful purpose,” he said.
Pookunju claimed that some 2.5 crore Indian emigrants would be left out of the count country-wide for the same reason.
“The Union government is expected to incur a cost of `2,000 crore for the exercise and it is a waste if it ends up giving wrong figures.”
Pookunju has taken up the matter with Union minister Kapil Sibal, but he is yet to get a reply.
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