Centre tilts towards caste census

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is inexorably being pushed towards accepting the idea of a caste-based census, under intense pressure from within the Cabinet, and sections of the Congress and supporting parties. Key State elections due in Bihar later this year, and in Uttar Pradesh in 2012 are forcing a rethink in the government, which may discuss the subject again at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday, even though sections in the government told The Hindu that an attempt might be made to delay a decision.
The government's object when it brought the issue to the Cabinet on May 4 was to bury the idea, and secure the approval needed to take a clear position in Parliament during the Opposition-sponsored discussion listed for the next day.