Congress MP Deepender Hooda slams Centre's census notification, demands Telangana-style socio-economic data

New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the Government of India's recent census notification, stating it lacks the comprehensive approach adopted by the Telangana government under Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
"We demanded that on the Telangana pattern, the way Telangana's Revanth Reddy government gathered the information regarding all the socio-economic indicators, a detailed notification should be issued so that all the information is available and on that basis the government should change the policies... The Government of India has not issued any such notification," Hooda told ANI.
Hooda criticised the Centre's notification, published in the Gazette, as "not much different" from the 2011 census framework.
"The government has not accepted our demand... The Government of India has issued a notification of its own, which is not much different from 2011. So now we are waiting for what steps will be taken next," he said.
Earlier, Congress leader Pawan Khera also took a jibe at the BJP, questioned why there was no mention of caste in the survey, and stated that the BJP had always been opposed to the socio-economic survey of different castes and that the BJP's intentions would always be suspected.
"So, the socio-economic survey is being done on every caste group. This is the real intent, which can be seen through this GO. In yesterday's Government of India notification, where is the word 'caste'? Where have they written a socio-economic survey of caste groups? They haven't. This also shows that since the BJP has always been opposed to socio-economic surveys of different castes, we suspect their intentions always. These questions will be raised on the BJP because their intentions were always suspect," Khera told ANI.
Mocking BJP over no mentions of the word 'caste' in the Census, Khera said "They don't even dare to mention the word 'caste' in their notification for the Census and they are pointing fingers at a party which has not just done it very successfully in Telangana, which is also following it up and is now ensuring that the Telangana model is followed even in Karnataka," he said.
Applauding the Telangana government's model of Census, Khera stated that the same model was expected to be followed by the Government of India.
"Every single resident of Telangana was involved, and therefore, the report is quite accurate. Based on that report, the Government of Telangana has already taken appropriate steps in the direction of social justice and economic justice. That is a successful model, and we expect the government of India to emulate it," he added.
The notification to conduct the Census was published in the official Gazette on Monday, following a high-level meeting held in Delhi, where the Home Minister reviewed the plan along with the Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI), and other senior officials.
The Population Census 2027 will begin with a reference date of March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country. The reference date for snow-bound and non-synchronous areas such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand will be October 1, 2026. (ANI)