NEW DELHI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government has decided to include the headcount of those belonging to the other backward classes (OBCs) in the country's total population in the next census which begins in 2021.
It is for the first time in more than 25 years that such a class-based census would be carried out after the implementation of reservation for OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions based on a panel's (Mandal Commission) recommendations.
There had been a long-standing demand from a host of political parties, particularly regional parties, in the country which have been calling for class-based reservations on the basis of OBCs' proportion in the total population.
The OBCs, said to be the largest chunk of India's population, have mobilised over the years to emerge as an influential political force in domestic politics.
Announcing this on Friday evening, the country's Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the roadmap for undertaking the Census in 2021 was discussed and it was decided to collect data on OBCs for the first time.
According to rough estimates, the new class-based census data would be available by 2024.
