CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday (September 5) urged the Centre to use the existing OBC caste lists of the Union and state governments while conducting the caste Census, rejecting the Centre's argument that the lists contain "classes" rather than castes.

In a statement, Anbumani said the government's decision to ask people to state their caste and record it manually could lead to severe discrepancies.

He said the PMK had earlier demanded that the caste Census application include the official OBC lists, allowing respondents to select their caste and the corresponding code.

The PMK president said the Centre's claim that categories such as beggars and locally born people were included in some OBC lists could not justify abandoning the list-based method.

Such categories, he said, were included to extend social justice benefits to socially and economically disadvantaged communities.

Anbumani warned that asking people to self-report their caste could result in millions of variations in caste names, undermining the very purpose of the exercise.

He urged the Centre to withdraw its August 14 statutory order, SO 4505 (E), and issue a fresh order incorporating OBC caste lists into the census application.