New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Thursday, put forth its demand of caste-based census and removal of a column seeking details of the parents’ birthplace from National Population Register (NPR) during an all-party meeting held here ahead of the Budget session.
The meeting was convened by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi. The meeting was attended by the BJD leaders Pinaki Mishra and Prasanna Acharya here.
Following the meeting, BJD Parliamentary Party leader in Rajya Sabha Prasanna Acharya said, “We have raised the demand for a caste-based census along with General Census 2021. We have demanded that there should be a separate column for the people belonging to OBC category in the upcoming census as in case of SC/ST.
Reiterating the demand for Legislative Council in the state during the all-party meeting, “we requested that a resolution has been passed unanimously in the Assembly for establishment of Legislative Council and the Union government must bring a Bill for this in the coming session,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pinaki Mishra said that the BJD wants some changes in NPR. “We want that Column 13(2) of NPR form which seeks information on place of birth of individual’s parents shall be removed,” said Mishra.
Both the leaders said that the Union government has given them assurance that they would look into the issues raised by the BJD.
During the meeting, the parties also raised the issues of economic slowdown. The Prime Minister said that the government is ready to hold discussion on the economic crisis.
It may be mentioned here that the Budget session of the Parliament will begin January 31 and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the annual Budget February 1.