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New Delhi, May 4 (PTI) Against the backdrop of demand for inclusion of caste data in the on-going Census, the Union Cabinet today discussed the issue at length but there was no consensus. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took up the issue to ascertain views of its members ahead of a discussion expected in Parliament tomorrow. The issue, which was included in the cabinet agenda an hour before the meeting, saw many ministers favouring inclusion of caste data in the census, sources said. However, there was a feeling against carrying out the exercise at this stage as the enumeration of the population has already begun since April one. Sources said another opinion voiced in the meeting was that census is not the "right mechanism" for determining the caste data. The discussion was inconclusive and it was decided that the matter would be debated in the next cabinet meeting as well. Leaders, mostly from Other Backward Castes, cutting across party lines have demanded that caste be included in the census exercise. A discussion on the issue is scheduled for tomorrow in Parliament. The last census in which caste data was collected, was in 1931. Even Law Minister M Veerappa Moily has agreed to include caste in census. Opposition parties, including BJP, SP, RJD, JD(U) and CPI, have been demanding that since reservation and other benefits were given to people on the basis of caste, government should include it in the census data being collected across the country. Raising the issue in Lok Sabha yesterday, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had said government should agree to a debate on allowing caste-based census to resolve the issue. PTI RC SKU NAB.
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