Modi govt's failure to conduct Census denies 14 Cr Indians food entitlement: Cong

The Congress on Friday (September 8) slammed the Narendra Modi government's inability to conduct the 2021 decadal Census, asserting that this negligence would result in the exclusion of up to 14 crore Indians from their entitled food provisions.

In a statement, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh dubbed the Modi government as "inept and incompetent", and said not conducting the Census is an unprecedented failure in the history of the country.

Ramesh said even other developing countries in the G20 bloc, such as Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, have conducted their Census despite COVID-19.

The Congress demanded that the BJP-led Centre stop denying 14 crore Indians their basic rights under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and increase the beneficiary quota until the Census is carried out.

It also sought the conduct of an updated national caste census and said efforts to oppose a state-level caste census should stop.

"The start of the 18th G20 summit with India's rotational presidency is a moment for reflection, revealing one of the biggest failures of the NDA (No Data Available) government — it has failed to conduct the decadal Census that was due in 2021," Ramesh said.

"The Modi government is so inept and incompetent that it has been unable to carry out India's most important statistical exercise that has been conducted on schedule since 1951. This is an unprecedented failure in the history of our nation," he added.

The Congress leader noted that the government's failure to conduct the Census has led to an estimated 14 crore Indians being excluded from their food entitlements, according to a recent "Outlook Business" report.

This, he said, is a categorical denial of a fundamental right of the citizens guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, which was implemented by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government through the landmark NFSA.

Ramesh said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was forced to rely on the NFSA as a critical lifeline for families across India, providing the much-needed safety net for the poorest during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Observing that under the NFSA, 67 per cent Indians are entitled to ration, he said since the Modi government failed to conduct the Census in 2021, it only offers the NFSA coverage to 81 crore people based on the 2011 Census, whereas 95 crore Indians are entitled to it, going by current estimates of the population.

New beneficiaries are not being added and people are being denied their right for at least two years now, the Congress leader said.

The Supreme Court took note of the issue in July 2022 and directed the government to rectify this untenable situation by using population projections, Ramesh pointed out. "But no change was made," he added.

"This massive failure shows not only the prime minister's contempt for the Supreme Court, but his disdain for the constitutional rights of the people of India.

"Not only has the Modi government failed to carry out the Census, the Socio-Economic Caste Census that was conducted by the UPA government in 2011 remains suppressed. It has even opposed the Bihar government's attempt at a state-level caste census in the Supreme Court," Ramesh alleged.

He said without establishing the caste count and categorisation and characterisation of the most numerous Other Backward Classes (OBC) population, it is impossible to ensure adequate development and social justice for all Indians.

"We firmly believe in the principle of parity not charity, for which the caste census is essential," he asserted.

There is a pattern to how the Modi government discredits, discards or even discontinues collecting any data that it finds inconvenient to its narrative, the Congress leader alleged.

He said the most prominent example of this is that the National Sample Survey (NSS) was conducted in 2017-18 but suppressed by the government.

"The NSS unemployment data was not released until after the 2019 elections; the consumption data is yet to be made public. Leaks of the NSS showed a 45-year high in unemployment and an unprecedented decline in rural consumption expenditure since 2011-12.

"The NSS revealed the truth of the Modi government's destruction of the economy thanks to demonetisation and a badly-designed GST (Goods and Services Tax). So it has now been junked," he said.

Ramesh also claimed that the Employment-Unemployment Survey of the Labour Bureau was scrapped in 2017.

"The National Crime Records Bureau stopped collecting data on mob lynching in 2017; data on GDP was manipulated in 2018 to make growth appear lower under the UPA; the Modi government told Parliament that there was no data on deaths of migrant workers walking thousands of kilometres home due to the unplanned lockdown, no data on the death of COVID-19 warriors, as well as no data on farmer suicides.

"In each and every case, the Modi government is covering up its own failures to provide employment, stop mob lynching, deliver income growth, ensure dignity to migrant workers and COVID-19 warriors, or increase farmer incomes," he said.

Ramesh said "the Congress demands that the Modi government must stop denying 14 crore Indians their basic rights under the NFSA, and increase the beneficiary quota until the Census is carried out".

He said the government must conduct an updated national caste census and stop opposing state-level caste census efforts, a demand which has been pressed by the opposition party for sometime now.

"The Congress demands the government must end the suppression of data inconvenient to the government, like the 2017-18 NSS and the 2022-23 CES, stop manipulating NFHS (National Family Health Survey) to hide failures in health indicators, and restore faith in India's historically robust statistical system," he said.

(With agency inputs)