Chennai, Jan. 10 -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the forthcoming national census, welcoming the Union Government's decision to include caste enumeration while urging wide-ranging consultations with States to ensure that the sensitive exercise is carried out carefully and in the spirit of cooperative federalism.

In his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Stalin said the move to include caste details in the census has "far-reaching implications for social justice, equitable policy-making, and the federal structure of our nation."

He noted that Tamil Nadu has long called for a comprehensive caste-based census to generate reliable data to address historical inequalities and implement...