Chhattisgarh govt starts ‘caste’ survey

Move follows a directive from C’garh high court

Raipur: The Bhupesh Baghel government on Wednesday began a “caste” survey in Chhattisgarh with an objective to enumerate OBCs and people from the EWS category. The state government has constituted Chhattisgarh Quantifiable Data Commission for the purpose.

THE COMMISSION has begun the exercise of enumerating these two categories of people by launching a mobile app and a web portal inviting the particular sections of people to register their names

The Bhupesh Baghel government on Wednesday began a “caste” survey in Chhattisgarh with an objective to enumerate other backward class (OBC) and Economic Weaker Section (EWS) people.

The move comes in the wake of a recent directive by the Chhattisgarh high court to the state government to submit quantifiable data on these two categories of people.

The state government has constituted Chhattisgarh Quantifiable Data Commission (CGQDC) for the purpose, a press release issued by Chhattisgarh government said.

The commission has begun the exercise of enumerating these two categories of people by launching a mobile app and a web portal inviting the particular sections of people to register their names.

Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday kicked off the survey by registering his name in the app.

The app and the web portal have listed 95 castes asking the respondents to mention the caste they belonged to, a spokesman of the state government told this newspaper.

Earlier on September 4, 2019, the Chhattisgarh government issued an ordinance seeking to increase quotas for OBC people in education and government jobs from 14 percent to 27 percent.

Along with this, a provision of 10 percent reservation was also made for the economically weaker sections.

The ordinance was however challenged in the Chhattisgarh high court which later stayed enforcement of the ordinance and directed the state government to submit quantifiable data on these two categories of people in the state.

“A quantifiable data commission has been constituted for the implementation of the order of the high court. The app and the portal have been created so that the commission can complete its work in a systematic and accurate manner”, Mr Baghel said.

As many as 5549 supervisors have been appointed for conducting the survey in the state.

In another development, the Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday launched a scheme to provide an annual grant of `6,000 each to the landless agrolabourer families in the state.