Bowing to demands by several political parties, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to carry out a caste census next year.

The exercise would be carried out independent of the ongoing census operation next year, sources said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had told the Lok Sabha recently that all political parties had supported the idea of including caste in census and there was no need for any “apprehensions” over the issue.

His statement had come after leaders of BJP, JD(U), BSP and Samajwadi Party wanted to know as to what happened to the government’s promise to carry out a caste census.

The Group of Ministers, which examined the issue, has decided that caste census should be carried out during house enumeration exercise.

Govt revises SSA norms

Aiming at smooth implementation of the Right to Education Act, the Government on Thursday approved revision of existing norms of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme to bring it in conformity with the Act.

The SSA, a major flagship programme of the Government to universalise elementary education in the country, will be the main vehicle for implementation of the RTE Act.

The revised SSA norms, vetted by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), includes provision for teachers and classroom, support for academic supervision, research evaluation and monitoring and opening of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.

New norms under the SSA for uniforms, transportation costs and residential schools to implement the combined RTE-SSA programme have also been included.

The CCEA also approved revision of the funding pattern for the combined RTE-SSA programme between the Centre and the states in ratio of 65:35 and 90:10 for the eight North Eastern states.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) under Finance Ministry had in July agreed to fund the sharing formula keeping in view demands of states for higher assistance from the Centre to implement the RTE Act which has come into force from April one this year.

There will be a requirement of Rs 2.31 lakh crore in the next five years for implementing the RTE Act which makes education a fundamental right of every child.