Anglo-Indians’ forum seeks uniform enumeration of community identity in upcoming Census

Members of the Anglo-Indian community have urged the Centre to clarify the religion and caste category under which they will be enumerated in the upcoming population census, noting that their identity was erroneously recorded in the 2011 Census.

Anglo-Indians Welfare Federation of India national president Augustine Roy Rozario said the community was wrongly listed under a separate category, ‘Anglo-Indian religion,’ in the 2011 Census. He said that since 1971, Anglo-Indians had consistently been enumerated as Christians. However, in 2011, while about four lakh members were correctly recorded under the Christian religion, 296 were erroneously shown under a separate religion.

According to him, this error led to the discontinuation of the provision for nominating Anglo-Indian members to Parliament and State Assemblies from 2020. He also pointed out the lack of uniformity in caste classification of Anglo-Indians across States.

“In Kerala, we are classified as Other Backward Classes, whereas in other States, we are classified as General category. This would affect the enumeration and compilation of the overall details of the Anglo-Indian community living in nearly 16 States.”

The Federation urged the Centre to clarify, before the commencement of the door-to-door census, that Anglo-Indians nationwide are uniformly enumerated under the Christian religion and the same caste category. The forum also reiterated its demand for the formation of a National Commission for Anglo-Indians, as recommended by the National Commission for Minorities.