Bandaru Dattatreya for separate OBC count in Census

Former Union minister and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya has said that people belonging to backward classes should be enumerated during the ongoing census in the country.
    
In a letter addressed to prime minister Manmohan Singh Dattatreya has said the the actual number of people belonging to backward classes if known would help Planning Commission to make necessary budgetary provisions for them.
    
Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have passed unanimous resolutions urging the Centre to undertake the census of the backward classes separately. But every time the demand was turned down, said the former president of BJP unit in Andhra Pradesh.
    
The Mandal Commission had also recommended caste-wise BC enumeration under Article 340 of the constitutions, he said releasing a copy of the letter to the media here.
    
Dattatreya said the argument of the Centre that caste- based census is not practical is an excuse rather than a reason.
    
The 15th National Census exercise, which got under way on April1, will capture the socio-economic-cultural profile of its citizens besides seeking information for the creation of the National Population Register.
    
During the mammoth exercise, enumerators will for the first time collect information like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, availability of treated drinking water facilities and electricity among others.