While a group of ministers has been constituted to discuss the issue of listing castes in Census 2011, the ongoing demographic exercise is throwing up a complex problem. At present, even legitimate Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are not being bracketed in their respective categories if they live outside their home state and do not figure in the list of STs and SCs notified by the state in which they reside.
“Bansis” and “Dagis” from Himachal Pradesh settled in Delhi are being considered in the general category in the national capital. However, both are notified SCs in Himachal.
Some enumerators in Delhi said such people start arguing when they are not considered SCs. “We are helpless,” said one enumerator, adding that only those castes will be considered SCs which have been notified in Delhi. There are 36 notified SCs in the national capital. “Apart from these 36, no other castes will be considered as SCs in Delhi as far as the Census is concerned,” he added.
Another said two families belonging to the “Gagra” and “Sanhal” castes, both of which are notified SCs in Punjab but not in Delhi, argued when they were put in the general category. “They asked why their caste was not notified in the capital when it was the case even in Uttarakhand. I did not have any reply,” he said. A family belonging to the “Banmanus” caste took two hours of convincing when bracketed in the general category though it is a notified SC in Uttarakhand.