Bowing to demands by several political parties, government today decided to carry out a caste census next year.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to carry out a caste census. The exercise would be carried out independent of the ongoing census operation next year, sources said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had told the Lok Sabha recently that all political parties had supported the idea of including caste in census and there was no need for any "apprehensions" over the issue.

His statement had come 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.

The Group of Ministers, which examined the issue, has decided that caste census should be carried out during house enumeration exercise.