A national OBC conference on Sunday, August 30, 2026, demanded that the Central government make caste enumeration mandatory in the nationwide Census, and assign a separate "unique code" to every caste. OBC leaders said conducting a Census without these measures would be a waste of public money, and the exercise should be halted until a nationwide consensus is reached on the issue.
Who Led the Conference
The conference was chaired by former IAS officer and Backwards Classes Intellectual Forum chairman T. Chiranjeevulu, along with All India OBC Students Association president G. Kiran Kumar.
The Core Demand: A Unique Code for Every Caste
Without assigning a unique code to every caste, speakers said, the Census could not be considered scientifically sound. "Just as separate columns are provided for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, separate columns should also be created for OBCs and the General Category," several speakers at the conference argued.
Warnings About Wasted Public Money
DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson and professor Yogendra Yadav, among others, warned that the approximately ₹12,800 crore being spent by the Centre on the Census would be wasted, if the exercise were conducted merely as a formality without proper scientific planning. The speakers also cautioned the government that a nationwide movement could follow, if their demand was ultimately ignored.
Opposition Concerns Over the Proposed Format
The Congress and other Opposition parties have also objected to the proposed open-ended format for recording caste details, arguing that the same caste may be known by different names, sub-castes, and linguistic variants in different parts of the country. This concern feeds directly into the broader argument being made by OBC groups, that without a standardised, unique coding system, the resulting data could end up being inconsistent or difficult to meaningfully analyse across states and regions.
What This Debate Is Really About
At its core, this debate reflects a genuine methodological concern about how caste data should be collected in a country as linguistically and regionally diverse as India, where the same social group might be recorded under entirely different names depending on where the enumeration takes place. Advocates for a unique coding system argue that without it, the Census risks producing data that's difficult to compare or aggregate meaningfully, potentially undermining the very purpose of conducting a caste census in the first place.
For now, the demand remains with the government, and it remains to be seen whether the Centre will adjust its Census methodology in response to these concerns before the exercise proceeds further.
FAQs
Q1. What is the main demand made by OBC leaders at this conference?
OBC leaders demanded that caste enumeration be made mandatory in the Census, with a unique code assigned to every caste and separate columns created for OBCs and the General Category.
Q2. Why do OBC groups say a unique caste code is necessary?
They argue that without a unique code, the Census cannot be scientifically sound, since the same caste may be recorded under different names, sub-castes, or linguistic variants across different regions of India.
Q3. What financial concern was raised regarding the Census exercise?
Speakers, including DMK leader P. Wilson and professor Yogendra Yadav, warned that the approximately ₹12,800 crore being spent on the Census could be wasted if conducted without proper scientific planning.