New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the inclusion of caste in census to be implemented through a separate house-to-house enumeration from June to September next year in a process separate from Census 2011.

“After considering various options, the option that we have approved is, based on the responses of various political parties, that caste must be canvassed and the integrity of the headcount must not be affected,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired the Cabinet meeting.

The caste enumeration will be conducted in a phased manner after the population enumeration, which will include biometric capture and headcount, is completed by March next year, he said.

This came after leaders of BJP,JD(U),BSP and Samajwadi Party wanted to know as to what happened to the government’s promise to carry out a caste census.