Apparently fearing largescale irregularities in the rollout of Socio-Economic and Caste Survey (SECS) in “politically surcharged Uttar Pradesh”, the Centre is now gearing up to conduct the exercise once the state Assembly elections are over. The move is in contrast to other four poll-bound states where the SECS, which will be the basis for arriving at below poverty line lists, is already underway and nearing completion. Sources said that the UP government had proposed to the Centre to initiate the survey in February.
“UP will be going to polls anytime after February. We expect the model code of conduct to come in force by February. It will not be possible to conduct the survey at such point of time when there could be unprecedented political interference in the process,” said a senior official of the ministry of rural development (MoRD), who added that the exercise could roll out somewhere around April. However, the official said that the survey has already been rolled out in other four poll-bound states, namely Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. “We expect to complete the survey in Punjab and Uttarakhand before they go to the state polls, while same is the case with Goa and Manipur,” added the official.