Good decision on caste census soon: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: PMK founder S Ramadoss and leaders of 27 caste outfits, including representatives from Christian and Muslim community, on Wednesday called on the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at the Secretariat and urged him to commence a separate caste enumeration in the State from next month (November) other than the one to be carried out by the Centre in June next. “We have urged the Chief Minister to begin the enumeration of all castes with details about their socio-economic conditions and education levels and complete the entire process by January, 2011, so that we can fulfil the direction of the Supreme Court to ensure 69 per cent reservation as per the verdict given in September”, Ramadoss told media persons after a 30-minute meeting with M K Karunanidhi here. The PMK leader said that Karunanidhi had promised the delegation that he would discuss the issue with the State Backward Classes Commission Chairman retired Justice MS Janarthanam and come out with a good decision. When a scribe pointed out that the Chief Minister had already said that the State government would not conduct a separate caste enumeration as the Centre had planned to conduct a similar census from June next, Ramadoss said such a census would not be a credible one as it would concentrate only on ‘head count’ instead of taking into account all aspects each community.  Further, the SC had asked the TN government to complete the caste enumeration by June next year to ensure 69 per cent reservation while the Centre’s caste census would start only during that month, he pointed out.