Sikh body to challenge UK government over Census 2021
Over the years, the demand among nearly half a million Sikh population in UK to have a separate Sikh ethnic tick box in the 2021 census has gained strength even as the UK government has allocated tick box to minuscule communities of Roma ethnicity, Gypsy or Irish Traveller.
UK based Sikh body Sikh Federation (SF) that claims to have support of over 120 Gurdwara's and Sikh organization is of view that it will be unlawful for the cabinet office to lay before Parliament a census order based on the proposals set out by the office of national statistics (ONS) in their December 2018 White Paper. The draft Census Order is due to be laid before Parliament in autumn 2019.
Chair of SF Amrik Singh informed on Wednesday that the federation believed that the process which preceded the ONS' recommendation that a Sikh ethnicity category not be included in the 2021 census was unlawful. "The ONS wrongly relied on results from a report from an external company whose analysis was based on a definition of the "public acceptability" criteria that was different from that previously published and which the ONS has promised to use when determining whether to include a tick box or not".
Sikh's demand to include a Sikh ethnic tick box in the ethnicity section is not new in UK. In 2002 UK Sikhs had accused nation's leading race watchdog 'Commission for Racial Equality" for refusing to identify Sikhs as a separate ethnic group.
Stating that SF represents members of the Sikh community in the UK, Amrik said they had been campaigning for and advocating the inclusion of a Sikh ethnicity tick-box in the UK Census for more than 15 years adding that they had launched a legal challenge to the government's proposals for the Census 2021, in particular the decision not to include the option of a tick-box for the Sikh ethnic group.
He said "without public bodies monitoring Sikhs as a distinct ethnic group they cannot be aware of the barriers Sikhs face as a religio-ethnic community. As a result decisions are taken by local authorities and central government, on the basis of inaccurate data, that overlook the specific needs of this community. We hope that the government will listen to our arguments and agree to apply a lawful approach to this decision without the need for the case to be fought in the courts."
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References
from UK News Headlines, Latest UK News and Live Updates - Times of India http://bit.ly/2XbLwzp
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