Save your citizenship through Census 2011

Says Federation of Minorities’ NGOs in its appeal to the Muslims

Mumbai: While addressing a press conference, yesterday at Marathi Patrakar Sang (Mumbai Press Club), the leaders of the Federation of Minorities NGOs (FMN) – Maul. Mahmood Daryabadi, Dr. Azimuddin, Maul. Burhanuddin Qasmi, Salim Alware, Dr. SK Abdullah and Iqbal Memon, have urged all NGO activists, especially those from Muslim NGOs to fully volunteer their skill and time to the ongoing census 2011 in India.

The leaders have requested all members of the community to note the followings and take part in the census process.

They said, an enrolment in the census enables an individual to be 'the citizens' of the country. The census 2011 will help decide numbers of BPL people in 2013. Moreover, this census is collecting Photos of above 15 age-group along with Biometric Identity and the databank collected by the census will be used by the Unified Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). If any once fails to get into the data-Bank he will be out of UIDAI which is an indirect proof of 'Citizenship' for every individual. Furthermore, all the future 'Planning' and Budget allocations against particular, community or caste will be based on this databank

The FMN is launching a statewide awareness campaign in Maharashtra from today itself through its 100 plus member NGOs to educate common people to ensure their complete and correct entries during the census, the leaders said in the press conference. Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi said that the census authority of India should train its enumerators through effective workshops to minimize common mistakes like wrong spellings of Muslim names and filling in wrong religion, language or caste etc.

The Federation of Muslims NGOs believes that for effective planning precise information about religious, social and economic conditions is essential. Our nation can effectively plan political, educational, social and economic development on the basis of correct information. Therefore, social activists must ensure detail entries of the data correctly.

Every educated Indian must cooperate in this massive task so that we may know ourselves correctly. Precise data is more important for minorities and marginalized sections. Caste based census was done last time in 1931. That is why there is a growing need for it now to reassure all statistics. If we update caste figures greater justice can be provided for marginalised people.

Every citizen should be alert about information which is being recorded. He/she must check and verify the forms which are being filled by enumerators. No room should be given to dishonest manipulators who are doing a disservice to nation and truth by incorrect data entry. The Maharashtra Federation of Minorities NGOs requests all not for profit activists, through this press conference to offer their services during 1st May to 15th June for 2011 census in Maharashtra.

OBC census: SC seeks govt response

NEW DELHI: A PIL in the Supreme Court on Monday made a strong pitch for utilising the elaborate ‘Census 2011’ mechanism to end the 80 long years of speculation about the exact population of other backward classes (OBC), which had been the basis for 27% reservation in jobs and educational institutions.

PIL petitioner Kishore Govind Kanhere through counsel D K Garg said that while the Mandal Commission estimated that OBCs constituted 52% of the total population, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in its 61st round of survey (2004-05) had pegged it at 41% in its report on employment and unemployment situation amongst various social groups in India.

Arguing before a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan, the counsel said if the census took steps to identify the numbers of SCs and STs, why should the OBCs be left out of the purview of exact enumeration of their numbers.

When the Bench looked up to Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam for a response, the law officer immediately assured the court that there was no need for the Bench to issue notice to the Centre and that he would get the response of the government on this issue within three weeks. The PIL said that the last caste-based census was held in the year 1931, wherein the OBCs were covered and complained that despite a large number of representations to the home ministry for inclusion of OBCs in Census 2011, there had been no positive response.

It said the social justice and empowerment ministry had conceded that it had been fixing targets under various scheme for upliftment of OBC population without having the data about their numbers. Even this ministry had written to the census authorities for finding out the exact number of OBC population, but the request had been turned down, the petitioner said.

The PIL referred to the law relating to 27% reservation for OBCs in central educational institutions and the subsequent challenge to its constitutional validity in the Supreme Court.

“In order to provide reservations for backward classes among citizens in public educational institutions and for providing equal opportunity in public employment, it is necessary that census should cover OBCs as envisaged under Article 340 of the Constitution,” the petitioner said.

NGOs work to include nomadic tribes in 2011 census

Sarang Dastane

PUNE: Despite being Indian citizens by birth, nomadic and denotified communities in the country do not have any constitutional rights. But all this may change with the 2011 population census as a city-based NGO is trying to spread awareness among tribe members of the benefits of joining the "mainstream".

A large section of these communities has remained out of census list for last 60 years as they are not registered as primary residents. However, if all goes as planned, the nomadic and denotified communities of the state may enrol their names in the population census after the 1931 census.
City-based NGO ECONET took a step ahead in this regard on Saturday when it conducted a workshop for representatives of nomadic and denotified communities. The workshop was organised to guide these communities towards making a conscious and well-informed decision and make them aware of the census procedures.

The workshop was organised jointly by the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and ECONET.

"Representatives from as many as 12 districts of the state participated in the workshop and will now educate the members of their respective communities. We hope that such workshops will help these communities become a part of the mainstream and enable them to enjoy their constitutional rights," said Krishna Srinivasan of ECONET.

Elaborating on the need for the members of these communities to enrol themselves as primary residents, Krishna said, "Nomadic and denotified communities have been facing peculiar problems because they are not a part of the census and hence have no identity cards or citizenship rights. They have no ration cards, voters' identity cards and caste certificates. Also, the NT-DNT communities are not included in our constitutional schedules. Therefore, we, and various other NGOs and forums, are working towards ensuring that all these communities enrol for the 2011 census." He added that the participating community members have been briefed to give proper information about their mother tongue at the time of census. "This will help in identifying areas with nomadic and denotified tribes," he said.

"The last community-wise census of these tribes was done in 1931, and since then only projections have been used to arrive at an estimate of their population. There are 42-44 different nomadic tribes in Maharashtra, with a lot of diversity even within the community. These communities constitute 9 to 12 per cent of the state's population," added Krishna.
An official from the census department said, "We request people to remain present at their houses during the census time period. It will be difficult for the officials to register people, if they remain absent from their homes."

The word Nomadic Tribes refers to the people, who were forced to live a wandering life by the Indian Caste System. The Nomadic and Denotified Tribes constitutes of about 60 million in India, out of which about five million lives in Maharashtra. There are 313 Nomadic Tribes and 198 Denotified Tribes.

Tribals Demand for Adivasi Religion Code in Census

Ranchi, July 17:

Tribals, who have so far been counted as Hindus in the census, have united to press the Centre for an Adivasi Religion Code.

They have threatened non co-operation with census survey, conducted by the Centre after every two years, if their demand is not met.

Under the leadership of tribal ideologue and former vice-chancellor of Ranchi University Ram Dayal Munda, tribal organisations of the state had held several meetings with their counterparts in the northeast to come to a consensus that could describe their religious practice. They have decided to name their religion Adivasi Dharam.

They have decided to stage a demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan on July 21 and a similar dharna near Parliament in New Delhi on July 29.

“Not only the tribals of the state but across the country have joined hands demanding a separate column for us in the census. When Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, whose individual population in the country is not more than 2.5 crore, have different columns in the census then tribals with over 10 crore population deserve a separate identity,” said Deo Kumar Dhan, the co-ordinator of Jharkhand Paharaja Mahasamiti. Hitherto, the tribals have been counted under the Hindu column.

“We have been asking for it for the past three years,” said Shiva Kachchap, the vice president of Ranchi Mahanagar Prarthana Sabha.

He said the tribals could not be counted in the Census as Hindus as had been done by the government in last decades because they follow a different religion from the Hindus.