Urban slum population to be 93.06 million by next year

There has been a growth of 17.8 million in urban slum population of the country in the last decade, according to a government committee formed to create a "reliable statistical model" of enumerating people living in such areas.

The Committee headed by Pranob Sen, Principal Advisor to the Planning Commission, states that the projected slum population in the country for the year 2011 would be 93.06 million from the 75.26 million estimated in 2001.

However, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said such a trend was expected due to increase in urbanisation but assured that the percentage of slums will come down due to government programmes for slum-development.

The Committee's report, submitted on August 30 to her Ministry, also gave a broader definition of slums to replace the existing one used by Census of India and the states. "The Committee suggested to adopt a normative definition based on appropriate indicators and checklists for the purpose of identification of slum areas and enumeration of population of area with 20-25 households having slum-like characteristics in an enumeration block in census 2011," Selja said. All clusters of 20-25 or more households having no roofs or non-concrete roofs, and not having any facility of drinking water, toilets or drainage would be considered as slums. Earlier, the cluster size for identification of slums was 60 households.

The minister said there was "paucity of correct data earlier" as small towns were left out. The new definition would serve as a guideline for Slum Census 2011 and also help in better implementation and wider coverage under the Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum-dwellers.

Selja said the Committee has recommended that for policy formulation purposes- for Slum Census 2011- it is absolutely essential to "count the slum population even in cities having less than 20,000 population". The Sen Committee applied its statistical model in all 5,161 urban areas of the country, including 3,799 statutory towns, Selja said.

The Committee has recommended that the Registrar General of India should share with HUPA the layout maps when they are released, for use in planning purposes and as an aid to slum surveys. "The Ministry would work closely with the RGI to carry out the ground verification of slum clusters within the identified enumeration blocks to finalise the Master Frame of slums in the country," Selja said.

Caste census to be held independently as a seperate exercise

India will go for a stand-alone caste census, likely to be held in mid-2011.
The home ministry has sought cabinet approval for an independent caste count to be conducted around June 2011, four months after the decadal headcount is completed through February.
The proposal is grounded in the recommendations of the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that was tasked to take a call on the modalities of counting castes. Mukherjee told Lok Sabha this week that the GoM had decided to go for “house enumeration” and the government had more or less decided on the modalities.
The Union Cabinet is expected to seal the plan at its next meeting. The data collection and colla-tion exercise is expected to be completed in three to four months.
Government sources said the door-to-door census — where enumerators would only ask respondents their caste — would cost the exchequer about R2,000 crore. This will be in addition to the R2,200 crore to be spent on the decadal, and more comprehensive, headcount.
This would mean there could be two population figures. One would be thrown up by the decadal headcount and another generated when the caste count is held. "The first one will be treated as the base, credible population figure," a government official said.
While people would be free not to report their caste, fears that some communities would exaggerate their numbers — as happened in Nagaland in the 2001 census — has forced the government to conduct the headcount twice.

OBC MPs meet PM, raises issue of caste in census

The issue of inclusion of caste in census was raised by OBC MPs belonging to all parties with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

The MPs, part of the Parliamentary forum of OBC MPs, also told Singh that there was an urgent need to constitute a Parliamentary Committee for OBCs on the lines of the one for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. This was needed to ensure the implementation of reservation to OBCs and see that their grievances are redressed fairly in all government departments, they said.

The MPs also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister complaining that the National Commission for Backward Classes does not have any powers to inquire and investigate into the representations by OBC associations or employees. While money is being spent by the government on the scheme for OBCs, there is no mechanism to monitor as to whether it really reaches the deserving OBC people, they felt.

"Even in respect of providing 27 per cent reservation in education, where the UPA government has earmarked a huge sum of Rs 17000 crore...to enable OBC students to enter into higher educational institutions, we have received lots of representations that the directives of the HRD ministry are being violated and the seats alloted to OBCs are being transferred to general categories," the memorandum said. The Prime Minister has assured the delegation that he will refer this matter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, sources said.

Why wait for Centre's caste census?' asks Ramadoss

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK and the PMK are locking horns over the issue of the state government conducting its own castewise census instead of waiting for the Centre to include caste as a parameter in its ongoing nationwise census operation.

While chief minister M Karunanidhi has rejected the demand from PMK founder S Ramadoss that the State should go ahead with its own castewise enumeration, the PMK leader on Wednesday joined issue with him and came up with arguments in favour of a state-level initiative. "I don't have to nod in agreement whenever Ramadoss makes some demand. Caste-based census is something that the DMK has accepted. However, when there are efforts at a national level to include caste in the census process, we don't want to have our own enumeration as it will interfere with the Union government's exercise," Karunanidhi told on Tuesday.

However, the PMK founder appealed to the DMK regime not to wait indefinitely for the Centre to make up its mind on the issue. "The Union government is only considering a request from some political parties for a caste-based census and is under no great compulsion to exert itself in this regard. However, there is a duty cast on the Tamil Nadu government to abide by the Supreme Court's order in July seeking relevant data to justify its 69% total reservation," Ramadoss said.

He recalled that the apex court had permitted the state to retain its present level of reservation but had given a year's time to come up with data on the caste composition of the population and submit the details to the backward classes commission so that the BC panel could fix a percentage of reservation in tune with the state's requirements. "If the state government doesn't complete the exercise within a year, there is every possibility that the court may decide that the state has failed to justify its present level of reservation and render an adverse verdict," he warned. "Any regime interested in upholding social justice ought to have utilised this opportunity and ordered a caste-wise census the very next day. The Puducherry government has decided to have its own census without anybody making a demand in this regard. And it has already decided to formulate a new reservation policy based on the census," he pointed out.

लिंग बदलवाने वालों की जनगणना में अलग श्रेणी

नई दिल्ली.महापंजीयक द्वारा गठित तकनीकी सलाहकार समिति ने लिंग परिवर्तन कराने वालों (ट्रांसजेंडर्स) को जनगणना में अलग श्रेणी में रखने की सिफारिश की है। फिलहाल उनकी गणना पुरुष के तौर पर की जाती है।

बरेली स्थित गैर सरकारी संगठन एसएसएफए-ईएसएफआई के डॉ. एसई हुडा को सूचना के अधिकार के तहत यह जानकारी दी गई। तकनीकी समिति की सिफारिश सरकार को भेजी गई है। यह सिफारिश मंजूर होने पर सर्जरी से लिंग बदलवाने वालों को जनगणना में कोड ‘तीन’ दिया जाएगा। पुरुषों का कोड ‘एक’ और महिलाओं का कोड ‘दो’ रहेगा।

इस बीच, योजना आयोग ने भी यूनिक आइडेंटिफिकेशन परियोजना में लिंग बदलवाने वालों की अलग श्रेणी बनाने की सिफारिश की है। गैर सरकारी संगठन ने इस बारे में प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय, राष्ट्रपति सचिवालय, गृह मंत्रालय और महापंजीयक से आग्रह किया था। इसके अलावा सुप्रीम कोर्ट में भी यचिका लगाई है।

Government may conduct fresh exercise for Caste Census

The Government is looking at the option of introducing a fresh exercise exclusively for “caste Census” in 2011. Government sources said that the move is under consideration of the home ministry after political parties like the RJD,SP, BSP opposed the proposal for introducing a caste count at the “biometric” stage in the ongoing Census 2011 exercise, arguing that the OBCs and SC/STs in backward and far-flung regions will not be able to visit the biometric centres and may even face discrimination there.

The government had sought views of political parties on the issue. However, a decision on how and when to conduct a caste census will be a taken by the government by arriving at a political consensus on the issue. Till now the government had been looking at two options of introducing the caste count either during the “headcount” in the second phase of the ongoing census exercise or at the biometric stage starting November 2010 when camps will be set up collect fingerprints and iris scan of residents.

“If there is no consensus on both these fronts, then we may need to introduce a separate exercise next year for a caste census,” a government official said. The official pointed out that such a move would cost the government Rs 4,000 crores and require the participation of 28 lakh officials once again. “We will need to work from scratch from printing of forms and conducting the caste enumeration exercise,” the official added.

While the Opposition and OBC parties are mounting pressure on the Manmohan Singh government to take up the caste headcount in the second phase of the census exercise, instead of the biometric stage, the Left parties have proposed that the caste census should ensure a “scientific count” of Other Backward Classes (OBC).The Group of Ministers constituted to look into the matter had earlier recommended that caste information can be recorded in the last stage of Census 2011 when biometric information will be gathered.

Caste census: 'Don’t wait for biometric stage'

CHENNAI: Reiterating his commitment towards caste-based census, Chief Minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to incorporate caste details in the ongoing census instead of postponing it to the biometric stage.
Karunanidhi, in his letter dated August 14 to the Prime Minister, said, “A few changes in the existing format will be sufficient to achieve the objective of caste-based census and complete the task early.’’
“I firmly believe that the caste-based census will certainly go a long way in ensuring that the fruits of various developmental schemes implemented by the Union government and State governments fully percolate down to the lower strata of the society,’’ Karunanidhi said.