How significant is the TVK-led regime’s move to hold Social Justice Survey? | Explained

The feature of an ‘open column’, where respondents can state their caste during the second phase of the Census, to be carried out in most parts of the country during February next year, has forced many parties and other stakeholders to express concerns over the utility of the whole exercise

Updated - October 31, 2026 05:57 pm IST

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay. File | Photo Credit: Siva Saravanan S.

The story so far: The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led regime, headed by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, at a Cabinet meeting in Chennai on Thursday (October 29, 2026), formally gave its nod to constitute a multi-member panel to conduct what the government called the Social Justice Survey. This was in tune with the announcement made by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in his address to the Assembly in June last that once the Union Government completed the caste enumeration, the State government would conduct the Social Justice Survey.

Political parties, across the spectrum, have been demanding that a caste census or survey be undertaken. However, there have been differences in the approach to the exercise. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the principal Opposition party in the Assembly, while in power during 2021-26, took the stand that the Caste Census be carried out along with the general Census. However, its traditional adversary, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), during its regime in 2020, formed a commission, headed by a former judge of the Madras High Court, to work out the methodologies for collecting caste-wise data and following them up with a survey. But its tenure, when it came to an end in June 2021, was not renewed by the successor DMK government. In the meantime, the Union government had announced that caste would be counted during the Population Census 2027, involving the collection of demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details.

Published - October 31, 2026 05:24 pm IST

Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam / Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam / All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam / The Hindu Explains

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