Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Cabinet Thursday approved the formation of a Social Justice Commission to conduct a Social Justice Survey across the state after the census. Energy and Law Minister R. Nirmalkumar said the commission would be constituted in February or March 2027, after the Centre completes its caste-based enumeration as part of the ongoing population census.
The commission will comprise a retired judge and IAS officers who will work out the process for the proposed survey, which will be different from the Centre’s caste enumeration. The survey will involve a detailed socio-economic assessment of communities, covering family income, occupation, land ownership, educational status, school and college enrolment, dropout rates, and access to welfare schemes.
The Vijay government’s intentions to conduct a caste-based social justice survey were conveyed by Governor R.V. Arlekar in his customary address to the first session of the 17th Tamil Nadu assembly in June this year. Arlekar had then stated that true social justice requires due representation for every community, and that the state would urge the Centre to complete caste enumeration swiftly before undertaking its own survey.
In June, a meeting of political parties and social organisations in Chennai had passed a resolution urging the state government to conduct the survey. The demand for updated caste and socio-economic data has broad support across parties in Tamil Nadu, reflected in the June meeting that included representatives from TVK, AIADMK, BJP, Congress, DMDK, NTK and others. The meeting resolved that a survey under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, was needed to strengthen the legal basis for the 69 percent reservation, which rests largely on 1931 data, and to better target welfare measures.
The government has linked the exercise to protecting Tamil Nadu’s 69 percent reservation system. Social Justice Minister Vanni Arasu had earlier indicated that the exercise would follow the Union government’s caste enumeration and that there was an immediate need for focused socio-economic data, particularly relating to the Adi Dravidar population, similar to surveys done for tribal communities.
This would help assess the community’s family income, occupation, land ownership, educational status, school and college enrolment, dropout rates, and access to welfare schemes, the minister told the media.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss welcomed the Cabinet’s approval and urged the government to appoint a retired High Court judge committed to social justice to head the commission, complete preliminary preparations quickly, and begin the survey without delay. DMK has long advocated a national caste census, repeatedly pressing the Centre on the issue and passing assembly resolutions in support.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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