Other G20 members could conduct Census, but Modi govt couldn't: Cong

It urged the government to 'stop denying' 14 crore Indians their basic rights under the food security law and increase the beneficiary quota until the Census is carried out and conduct an updated national Caste Census and stop opposing state-level Caste Census efforts.

Congress on Friday called the Modi government “inept and incompetent” for not conducting the Census 2021, leading to “denying” 14 crore Indians their food security, while reminding that nearly every other G20 country has managed to carry out the exercise despite Covid-19.

With the 18th G20 Summit all set to start on Saturday with India holding the presidency, the party said it is a “moment for reflection” that “revealed one of the biggest failures of the NDA (No Data Available) government” at a time several countries in the grouping, including developing countries like Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa, managed to conduct it.

It urged the government to “stop denying” 14 crore Indians their basic rights under the food security law and increase the beneficiary quota until the Census is carried out, conduct an updated national Caste Census, and stop opposing state-level Caste Census efforts.

It also wanted the “end of suppression of data (that is) inconvenient” to the government, like the 2017-18 National Sample Survey (NSS) and the 2022-23 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), to stop manipulating National Family Health Survey (NFHS) “hide failures in health indicators, and restore faith in India’s historically robust statistical system”.

In a statement, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “the Modi government is so inept and incompetent that it has been unable to carry out India’s most important statistical exercise that has been conducted on schedule since 1951. This is an unprecedented failure in the history of our nation.”

Estimating that 14 crore Indians are being excluded from their food entitlements due to the failure to conduct the Census, he said it is a “categorical denial” of a fundamental right, which was implemented by the UPA government through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which calculated that 67 per cent of Indians are entitled to food rations. 

“Since the Modi government failed to conduct the Census in 2021, it only offers NFSA coverage to 81 crore people based on the 2011 Census, whereas 95 crore Indians are entitled to the NFSA coverage, going by current estimates of the population,” he said. 

“New beneficiaries are not being added and people are being denied their rights for at least two years now. In July 2022, the Supreme Court had noted this issue and directed the government to rectify this untenable situation by using population projections. But no change was made. This massive failure shows not only the Prime Minister’s contempt for the Supreme Court, but his disdain for the Constitutional rights of the people of India,” he said.

Ramesh also alleged the Socio-Economic Caste Census that was conducted by the UPA government in 2011 “remains suppressed” and the Modi government has “even opposed” the Bihar government’s attempt at a state-level Caste Census in the Supreme Court. 

Referring to demands raised by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and top leader Rahul Gandhi earlier, he said it is absolutely critical to have an up-to-date and reliable Caste Census. 

“Without establishing the count, categorisation and characterisation of the most numerous OBC population, it is impossible to ensure adequate development and social justice for all Indians. We firmly believe in the principle of parity not charity, for which the Caste Census is essential,” he said.

He also alleged a pattern as to how the Modi government “discredits, discards, or even discontinues” collecting any data that it finds inconvenient to its narrative and cites the “suppression” of unemployment data collected under National Sample Survey (NSS)in 2017-18 till 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

“The consumption data is yet to be made public. Leaks of the NSS showed a 45-year high in unemployment and an unprecedented decline in rural consumption expenditure since 2011-12. The NSS revealed the truth of the Modi government’s destruction of the economy thanks to demonetisation and a badly designed GST. So it has now been junked," he alleged.

“The Employment-Unemployment Survey of the Labour Bureau was scrapped in 2017; the National Crime Records Bureau stopped collecting data on mob lynching in 2017; data on GDP was manipulated in 2018 to make growth appear lower under the UPA; the Modi government told Parliament that there was no data on deaths of migrant workers walking thousands of kilometres home due to the unplanned lockdown, no data on the death of Covid-19 warriors, as well as no data on farmer suicides,” he said.

“In each and every case, the Modi Government is covering up its own failures to provide employment, stop mob lynching, deliver income growth, ensure dignity to migrant workers and Covid-19 warriors , or increase farmer incomes,” he added.