Buying Book Not Enough, Have To Read It Too: Prashant Kishor On Caste Census

Election strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor weighed in on the caste census issue today after Centre's announcement that it would be included in the next census - saying that in itself is not a problem. Nor it is a promise that possession of data will immediately rectify social problems and bring equality. 

There is no problem with any kind of census that gives better information about society, he said.  

But "you will not become a scholar just by buying a book, you will have to read and understand the book," he said. "The country will not improve just by doing the census. Improvement will happen only when the government works on the results of the census," he added.

"In Bihar, the caste census report said that poor families would be given Rs 2 lakh for employment, but they have not received it till date," he pointedly said. Bihar was the first state that gathered caste data under the Grand Alliance government. 

Read: Caste Data To Be Part Of Next Population Census: Centre's Big Announcement

On April 21, Mr Kishor's Jan Suraaj party, which is taking part in the Bihar state election, demanded that the Nitish Kumar government release a white paper on the action taken on the basis of the caste survey conducted in the state in January 2023.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who announced the caste census in Delhi earlier today after a cabinet meeting, dismissed the surveys in Bihar and elsewhere, saying it was a ruse to pacify voters. 

The government's big announcement ahead of the assembly election in Bihar - due by the end of this year - has whipped up political commotion, with the BJP and the Opposition INDIA bloc rushing to take credit. 

The Opposition has pointed out that a caste census has been their long-standing demand and given the approaching assembly election in Bihar, the government has fallen in it with it. 

"On demanding caste census, those who called us 'casteists' got a befitting reply. There is still a lot left. We will keep these Sanghis dancing to our agenda," said Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch Lalu Yadav. 

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called it a "victory" of the INDIA bloc. 

Mr Vaishnaw has slammed the Opposition accusing it of using the caste census demand like a "political tool".