Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a separate and clearly identifiable category for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in the Census 2027 questionnaire.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Prabhakar said the absence of a separate OBC/SEBC category could affect the accuracy and usability of caste enumeration data. He sought standardised caste coding and a scientific methodology for identifying backward communities.
The Minister said caste identity and OBC/SEBC classification were not necessarily synonymous, as the classification could vary between the Central and State lists. He said the Census methodology should take into account the State-specific nature of OBC/SEBC classification.
Mr. Prabhakar referred to the experience of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 and said differences in spelling, local nomenclature, synonyms, sub-castes and phonetic variations had resulted in a large number of separate caste entries creating difficulties in verification, aggregation and classification.
He urged the Centre to prepare a comprehensive State-wise master caste directory and assign unique digital codes to recognised castes and communities. He also sought a mechanism to separately identify unlisted, disputed or locally recognised caste names for verification.
The Minister suggested that both the caste declared by a respondent and its corresponding administrative classification should be preserved to ensure transparency and traceability of the data.
Mr. Prabhakar also cited Telangana’s Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey 2024-25 as a model for structured caste and socio-economic data collection. The State survey provided for identification of social groups and castes through a structured system.
He said the Union government should ensure that Census 2027 produced a usable OBC/SEBC dataset rather than merely compiling raw caste names. Such data would be important for policies concerning reservation, representation, education, employment and welfare.
Published – August 16, 2026 06:57 pm IST
