A source said a group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee discussed the issue threadbare at a 90-minute meeting.
The group of ministers on a caste census today failed to reach any consensus on the politically sensitive issue and decided to meet again.
A source said the group, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, discussed the issue threadbare at a 90-minute meeting but could not arrive at a decision.
Among the aspects debated were the pros and cons of including caste in the census exercise which is already underway, the source said.
The group of ministers is also understood to have discussed modalities for undertaking such an exercise if a go-ahead were to be given.
Last month the Union government had decided to set up the group of ministers to consider the controversial issue after consensus eluded two meetings of the Union cabinet.
Parties like the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) are strongly in favour of including caste in the census and disrupted proceedings of Parliament in the budget session to press their demand.
The parties are likely to raise the issue again during the monsoon session of Parliament, which is expected to begin in the third week of this month.
There are divisions even within the Congress on the issue.
A caste-based census was last conducted in India in 1931.
Besides Mukherjee, the group of ministers includes Union home minister P Chidambaram, law minister M Veerappa Moily, human resources development minister Kapil Sibal, renewable energy minister Farooq Abdullah, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, railway minister Mamata Banerjee and textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran.
Of them, Moily, who has been the most vocal supporter within the Congress of including caste in the census, left soon after the meeting began.
Abdullah, Pawar, and Banerjee also did not attend the meeting.
The issue of the inclusion of caste in the census has triggered a debate with a section opposing it, saying it would divide society on caste lines, while others say it would ensure fairer distribution of resources to the backward and downtrodden sections of society.
Some reports said Chidambaram had suggested that the caste census should be included in the second phase of the current census exercise and clubbed with the task of collecting biometric card data to ease the logistical constraints.
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