Why Caste Census A Major Talking Point In Women Reservation Bill Debate (image: twitter.com/Dr Nimo Yadav)

As Women’s Reservation Bill or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam introduced on Tuesday, despite its acceptance, importance, and praises, its fruition in totality necessitates lots of debates, decision making, and requirements.

The Congress and Opposition backed the Bill, and earlier, in 2010, Congress has passed the said Bill in the Rajya Sabha. But, the then Manmohan Singh-led UPA failed to see the Bill through Lok Sabha, and it eventually lapsed. The major interrupters of the bill at the time was Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and their insistence for “quota within the quota” for Other Backward Classes (OBC) caused the delay of the Bill.

Therefore, as part of criticism on the Bill, the opposition, the inclusive INDIA bloc decided to raise the need for quotas for the representation of women from marginalised communities. Congress President, and Rajya Sabha’s Leader of Opposition set the background for the upcoming discussions by raising the question in his speech on Tuesday itself. “The backward classes may suffer in this because unless the Constitutional amendment provides one-third quota to the OBCs, their women will not benefit from it. If you don’t do that, it will amount to injustice to the backward classes,” Mr. Kharge said on the Sabha.

Following, on Wednesday, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi while heading the debate on the legislation, after expressing her support, sought for the implementation of sub-quota, and caste census. “We are happy for the Bill. Women have waited 13 years for their rights. Now they are being told to wait for more time, how many years? Two, four, eight? What? Is this conduct appropriate? The bill should be immediately implemented. Caste census should be commissioned and OBC reservation granted to women,” said Ms. Gandhi.

LIVE: Smt Sonia Gandhi ji speaks on the Women”s Reservation Bill in Parliament. https://t.co/5hvzwf9LL4

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 20, 2023

Caste Census denotes caste-wise categorisation of Indian population in the Census enumeration activity. In the context of Women’s Reservation Bill, the caste census enables to obtain data in need for reservation purposes, and also helps to understand the number of people at backward communities.

Similar to Congress, the parties such as Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party have echoed their demand for sub-quotas for the Other Backward Classes and minorities in the Bill.