The Congress on Friday said almost all members of the G20 had conducted their own census despite the pandemic, but the Narendra Modi government had delivered “an unprecedented failure in the history of our nation”.

Arguing that the absence of credible data denied millions of people basic facilities like food, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “The start of the 18th G20 summit today with India’s rotational presidency is a moment for reflection, revealing one of the biggest failures of the NDA (No Data Available) government — it has failed to conduct the decadal Census that was due in 2021.”

Ramesh added: “Nearly every other G20 country has managed to conduct the Census, despite Covid-19, including other developing countries like Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa. The Modi government is so inept and incompetent that it has been unable to carry out India’s most important statistical exercise that has been conducted on schedule since 1951.”

Arguing that the failure to conduct the census has led to an estimated 14 crore Indians being excluded from their food entitlements, the Congress leader said: “This is a categorical denial of a fundamental right to the citizen guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution, which was implemented by the UPA government through the landmark National Food Security Act (NFSA). The Modi government was forced to rely on the NFSA as a critical lifeline for families across India, providing the much-needed safety net for the poorest during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

While 95 crore Indians are entitled to food under the Food Security Act, the government offers assistance to only 81 crore people.

“New beneficiaries are not being added and people are being denied their rights for at least two years now. In July 2022, the Supreme Court had noted this issue and directed the Modi government to rectify this untenable situation by using population projections. But no change was made. This massive failure shows not only the Prime Minister’s contempt for the Supreme Court, but his disdain for the constitutional rights of the people of India,” Ramesh alleged.

Asking the government to immediately undertake a caste census, the Congress said: “Without establishing the count, categorisation and characterisation of the most numerous OBC population, it is impossible to ensure adequate development and social justice for all Indians. We firmly believe in the principle of parity, not charity, for which the caste census is essential. There is a pattern to how the Modi government discredits, discards, or even discontinues collecting any data that it finds inconvenient to its narrative.”