Bhubaneswar: More than 20,000 families in Orissa’s Rayagada district have refused to share their details with enumerators engaged in census operation, protesting the government failure to accord them tribal status.
The people of Jhodia community who claim to be a sub-group of Paroja tribe have been demanding the Scheduled Tribe status for themselves for long.
"The enumerators are not required to verify the caste. They should note down the caste as reported by the head of the households," Bishnupada Sethi, director of census operation in Orissa, told a news agency.
But Sumani Jhodia, a woman leader of the community, Friday said her truibes people will not participate in the enumeration without a formal notification on the issue by the government.
"The then district collector of Rayagada had issued instructions in the year 2002 to the local revenue authorities to issue a Scheduled Tribe certificate to the people belonging to Jhodia community with title Jhodia," another leader of the community said.
The 2011 Census of India is being conducted in two phases, namely a house listing operation and population enumeration. The house listing operation along with collection of information for preparation of a National Population Register started in the state April 7 and will conclude May 22.
The district headquarters of Rayagada is about 390 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.
IANS
