Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday announced that a Commission would be set up to conduct a survey for collecting caste-wise data in Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Palaniswami’s announcement came a few hours after a delegation of PMK leaders, led by Anbumani Ramadoss, met him at the Secretariat on a day when the PMK launched an agitation for 20% reservation for Vanniyars in government jobs and higher education.
In the morning, protests by PMK cadre paralysed vehicular movement for a few hours on GST Road in Chennai and a couple of highways in northern Tamil Nadu. The cadre also engaged in stone pelting, bringing an Express train to a halt in a Chennai suburb.
According to the Chief Minister, the proposed Commission would examine the methodologies being adopted for collecting caste-wise data, and based on that, it would conduct a survey to collect such data and submit a report to the government.
He pointed out that various political parties and social organisations had demanded a caste survey at different points in time. Moreover, as a case regarding the 69% reservation in Tamil Nadu was pending in the Supreme Court, such data was needed for the case, the Chief Minister contended.
