Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday claimed the Centre was delaying a caste census in the country as it could bring out the social and economic status of scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBC), and how they were denied justice in various fields.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu for her address to a joint sitting of Parliament on last Wednesday, Kharge said the Caste Census was not a political issue and it was demanded by all people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi heard Kharge’s 90 minute speech.

The Caste Census would help framing of welfare schemes by the Government, he said. It would give details of how many graduates the OBCs had and how much property they owned. Every two hour, five SC members are attacked in the country. At general level, women participation in the labour force was 50 per cent but for backward caste women, this was 23.7 per cent only.

Kharge said there was 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in education but they were not getting it on different excuses. The same is true of SCs and STs, he said. Scholarships are delayed and admissions are therefore denied to them.

Unemployment for the educated has reached serious levels in the country. It is 13.4 per cent generally and for female graduates it is 20.6 per cent. In Maharashtra, 10 lakh persons applied for a few thousand vacancies. Youth from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are ready to go to Israel and risk their lives for jobs, he said.

Public sector units held hopes for the reserved categories but they are being closed slowly while the private sector does not employ backward classes, he said. There are 30 lakh vacancies in the public sector while only few thousands get appointment letters in job fairs. There was no mention of the public sector in the President’s Address, he said. RSS had at one time called for discussion on reservation issue.

Inflation was another issue. Prices of pulses had shot up. Farmers were promised doubling of income but their incomes had fallen. Huge allocations for their welfare have been surrendered by the government. It was difficult to get claims under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, he said.

Mr Kharge said the Government had made big claims in every field since 2014 when the first Narendra Modi Government took over. Giving data of achievements during Congress governments after Independence, he said the literacy rate was 18.3 per cent in 1951 and it reached 74 per cent in 2013-14 and now stood at just 77 per cent.

Similarly, life expectancy was just 32 years and it reached 70 years at the end of the Congress-rule. In the last 10 years, it had come down to 69.27 years – nine months lesser, Mr Kharge said.

He gave data on infant mortality rates, number of primary schools, inter-colleges, primary health centres and rural housing to give achievements of the Congress governments. Mr Kharge said the net irrigated area was 2.10 lakh hectares after Independence and it reached 6.80 lakh hectares in 2013-14 and stood at just seven lakh hectares now.

Democracy had survived in the country only because of the achievements of the Congress governments, he said. The BJP Government had little tolerance and was “allergic” to the Opposition.

While BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had asked for restoration of Nehru’s portrait in his office when he became Prime Minister, the present government had changed the name of Nehru Museum. Nehru fought for Independence, went to jail, started 5-year Plans, nursed democracy and respect the Opposition.

Mr Kharge said 1500 specially equipped vehicles were going round 2.50 lakh villages in the country on Viksit Bharat mission, carrying slogans of Modi Sarkar Ki Guarantee. Is this because of coming general elections, he asked. The Prime Minister speeches seemed to convey that nothing else will work, and he alone could fulfil aspirations of the people, Mr Kharge said. There were shouts of “Modi, Modi” from BJP desks at this.