Bypoll: Socio-economic caste census deferred

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has deferred the first ever socio-economic caste census in Nabarangpur district in view of the by-election to Umerkote Assembly constituency.The Panchayati Raj Department issued a notification on October 21 for conducting socio-economic caste census in eight districts from November 14.  The Nabarangpur district collector sought a clarification from the Government on the issue. The department referred the matter to Chief Electoral Officer S Srinivasan who advised the Government to defer the census work till completion of the election. As per the election schedule, November 30 is the date for the by-poll while votes will be counted on December 4. However, the election process will be completed before December 7.The Government has already notified to conduct the socio-economic caste census (SECC) in eight backward districts in the first phase due to short supply of enumeration devices and data entry operators. The districts are Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Balangir, Kandhamal and Gajapati.Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the nodal agency that would supply hand-held electronic devices for data entry and recruit data entry operators, has so far provided 8,000 data entry devices against a requirement of about 35,000.Though it has promised to deploy the data entry operators in the eight districts by November 4, the national PSU has failed to keep its commitment.In a recent joint statement with the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman M S Ahluwalia, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the SECC will be completed before April next year. However, the State Government is not sure about completion of the census work in the first phase districts.