New Delhi, December 13: Three state governments -- Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha -- and a few organisations have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming census, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said the central government has not enumerated caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in census since independence.

"Three state governments, namely, Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha and a few organisations have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming census," he said in a written reply to a question. Congress is in Favour of Caste Census, It's Necessary to Get It Done.

Rai said in census, the castes and tribes which are specifically notified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) according to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended from time to time, are enumerated.

He said the intent of the government for conducting Census 2021 was notified in Gazette of India on March 28, 2019. However, due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the conduct of Census 2021 and the related field activities have been postponed until further orders. Bihar Political Crisis: Caste Census & Eye on 2024 Lead to Frictions Between JDU, BJP.

The minister said in census, data is collected on demographic and various socioeconomic parameters like education, SC and ST, religion, language, marriage, fertility, disability, occupation and migration of the individuals. The questionnaire for the first phase of census was notified in the Gazette of India, he said.

Rai said the forthcoming census is to be the first digital census and there is a provision for self-enumeration. A mobile app for collection of data and a census portal for management and monitoring of various census-related activities have been developed.