# Himachal to remove caste column from school admission forms from next session 2026-08-26T17:25:53+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday that the caste column will be removed from school admission forms from the next academic session. He announced the move while chairing a meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Welfare Board in Shimla. Sukhu said the step would help eliminate caste-based discrimination and promote equality and fraternity among children. Caste details will still need to be provided by scheduled caste families when they apply for government schemes and benefits, to ensure they receive their entitlements. Sukhu also listed several other welfare measures, including a subsidy of 4 to 5 percent under the Rajiv Gandhi Start-up Swarozgar Saur Yojana for solar projects, and loans of up to Rs 20 lakh at one percent interest for meritorious students for higher education. The state is set to implement the Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana, providing 300 units of free electricity and a monthly pension of Rs 1,500 for women from extremely poor families. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Dhani Ram Shandil said the state is currently spending Rs 1,400 crore on social security pensions for 8,41,917 beneficiaries. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The decision follows similar moves in a few other states, though no central mandate exists. School admission forms in India have long collected caste data, originally to enable reservation and scholarship tracking. Critics of such removals argue that without the column, verifying eligibility for SC/ST quotas could become administratively harder, especially at entry points like Class 1. Himachal's move keeps caste declaration separate for scheme access, but the practical challenge will be ensuring parents still voluntarily declare their status when needed. The state's social security bill, at Rs 1,400 crore this year, already stretches its budget, and the new free electricity and pension schemes will add pressure. How many of the 8.4 lakh existing beneficiaries gain the new benefits, and whether the scheme's eligibility criteria create exclusion, will be tested as it rolls out. ## Coverage - newindianexpress.com Led with and framed around the CM's announcement as a positive progressive step, with no critical or dissenting voice included This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Himachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Welfare Board, Rajiv Gandhi Start-up Swarozgar Saur Yojana, Scheduled Castes, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/himachal-to-remove-caste-column-from-school-admission-forms-from-next-session/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/himachal-to-remove-caste-column-from-school-admission-forms-from-next-session/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/