Chhattisgarh polls: Caste census essential for reservations, says P Chidambaram
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said a caste census was essential if one supported reservations as the exercise would help fix the quota process for different sections of society. Addressing a press conference at the Congress' Rajiv Bhawan here, the former Union minister asked if tigers and elephants can be counted, why can't there be a caste census in the country.
«We should know how many people belong to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, non backward class.
How can we earmark reservation without data? If you support reservation,then you must support caste counting,» he said.
«How can there be reservation without caste census? Even for reservation of 10 per cent for economically weaker sections (EWS), you must count first before you can reserve,» he added.
Queried about the need for loan waiver for farmers, Chidambaram said agriculture must be profitable if it has to be sustainable.
«The bulk of citizens of Chhattisgarh are farmers and 32 per cent of the state's GDP comes from farming. Studies show farmers incur debts. It is only when rapid industrialization takes place in the service sector and agriculture becomes a small portion of GDP, you can think of other alternatives,» he said.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Chhattisgarh and farmers must be given relief from time to time, he claimed.
The Congress has assessed that farmers are still facing a debt burden and, therefore, a promise has been made of loan waiver if the party retains power in the state, where Assembly polls will be held on November 7 and 17, he said.
If any other state makes such an assessment and believes loan waiver is required, they too can go for it, he added.
