Caste slurs in Census forms: SC Commission issues notice to Punjab Census office

Noting that Census 2027 forms for Punjab list caste slurs as synonyms to the names of Scheduled Caste communities, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has issued a notice to the Director of Census Operations in Punjab as well as the State government’s Social Justice Department as part of its investigation into the issue.

The notice was based on a complaint from National Safai Karmachari Commission Vice-Chairperson Hardeep Singh Gill. The Union government’s self-enumeration website for Census 2027 lists offensive and insulting words for the Valmiki community in Punjab, Mr. Gill told The Hindu, citing the use of words like ‘Chura’ and ‘Bhangi in his complaint to the NCSC.

In fact, Census officials may simply be following the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, notified by the President of India, which repeatedly lists these offensive words as synonyms for the caste name ‘Balmiki’ in the SC lists for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. In other States, including Delhi, ‘Bhangi’ is listed by itself as a caste name, despite being considered a slur by many.

Abusive words

Mr. Gill said these words are prohibited under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The law says it is a punishable offence to “abuse any member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe by caste name in any place within public view”.

“This is a very serious issue. I have been speaking about it ever since we found this out. Many people of the community went to fill out the self-enumeration website and found that such words are also listed against the names of the Scheduled Castes,” he told The Hindu.

Central website, State roles

In its notice dated May 14, the NCSC enclosed Mr. Gill’s complaint and said that it has “decided to investigate/inquire” into the issue as per its Constitutional powers. The Commission has asked for an action-taken report in this regard from both the Director of Census Operations and the Punjab government within 15 days.

Asked why the notice was issued to the Punjab government over an issue with the content on the Census 2027 website which is run by the Union Home Ministry, sources in the NCSC said that while the Union government is responsible for the Census, the Commission is also interested in the role the State government could have played in intervening.

Mr. Gill said that he had also filed a complaint with the Director General of Police in Punjab and the Social Justice Department of the State government. “But the department has so far just said that the complaint is being looked at,” he said, adding that while it is the Union government that conducts the Census across the country, the Punjab government should also have taken care to avoid the use of these words.

A political controversy had erupted in Punjab last week, when former legislators and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu flagged this issue and said they had also written to the authorities demanding action against those responsible. Several community organisations have also called for this issue to be addressed, warning of law-and-order problems if Census enumerators end up uttering these words in Valmiki communities while on door-to-door visits.