“Exercise not being done under provisions of the Census Act”
Demanding immediate termination of the caste census launched on
Wednesday, Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav not only
accused the government of betraying Parliament but also held it
responsible for all the ills that had gripped the country.
Talking to journalists here, Mr. Yadav said the Manmohan Singh
government made an assurance in Parliament that the census would
be carried out by the Census Commissioner of India but the
exercise now starting from Tripura had been clubbed with the BPL
census, using rural employment guarantee labourers and not by
the trained census machinery.  Stressing that the caste count
was not being done under the statutory provisions of the Census
Act, 1948, Mr. Yadav described the enumeration as casual and
perfunctory and feared coverage omissions and quality
deficiencies that would render it futile.  The JD(U) chief
attacked the UPA government for deferring the monsoon session of
Parliament to August, pointing o