TVK must ensure Governor’s address mentions about caste-survey: Anbumani

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday urged the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led government to ensure that the Governor’s address in the upcoming Budget session makes a mention about its intention to conduct caste-based survey.

Speaking at a multi-party and community leaders’ meeting in Chennai on the need to conduct a caste-based survey to protect the 69% reservation for OBCs, SCs and STs in Tamil Nadu, he said, “In Backward Classes category, there are 141 communities, and within the Most Backward Classes category, there are 115 communities. Within SCs and STs, there are 76 communities and 36 communities. We have to understand the inequalities within these categories. When the Chief Minister came to my house, I told him that only when we understand the status of 8 crore people, we can devise schemes. Chief Minister also shared our sentiment. Reservation is just one part of social justice, but there are so many other aspects. In Telangana, the State government asked 74-75 questions – religion, caste, educational qualification, employment, agricultural land ownership....we can provide so many schemes.”

He recalled that the AIADMK regime in 1994 managed to bring about a constitutional amendment and placed the 69% reservation under the Ninth Schedule to accord it legal protection.

“While courts generally cannot interfere with anything placed under the Ninth Schedule, the Supreme Court in 2010 raised the question as to why Tamil Nadu alone enjoys a 69% reservation when the reservation limit in all other States stands at 50%. They stated that if a caste-based census is conducted in Tamil Nadu within a year and the data is submitted to the court, they would review it and extend the reservation. We must conduct a caste-based census in our State, submit the appropriate data to the court, and protect our 69% reservation,” he said.

A resolution passed at the meeting urged the State government to conduct a “Social Justice Survey, in the form of a caste-based population census, to protect the 69% reservation in Tamil Nadu and to implement social justice schemes for the Backward, Most Backward, Minority, Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribe communities under The Collection of Statistics Act, 2008.”