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Showing posts with label Caste Cencus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caste Cencus. Show all posts

Monday, May 26, 2025

A properly conducted caste census offers a rare chance to ground policy in reality

 The Narendra Modi government’s decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming Census must be welcomed, but with enormous caution and with our fingers crossed. Given the propensity of our political class to use caste for narrow and short-term electoral gain, a lot of scepticism about the matter is warranted.

The rationale for a caste census ought to be based on two considerations. First, however complex caste is, it cannot be ignored as it impinges on every aspect of life in this country. Counting and collating social reality is inherently good for administrative purposes. The second consideration is the other side of the coin — that we must end both policymaking and arguments relying on “guesstimates” of the socio-economic status of the castes.

The government might have solved the problem of facing increasing demands for caste census, and also scored a few brownie points, but it has set in motion a very delicate, daunting and contentious journey. Though the future is unknown, one is free to speculate on the trajectory of the caste census, if the saga of the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) is any indication. It is hard to judge whether SECC was an exercise in bad faith, or if it ran aground as the complexities of caste were too many. One problem is the sheer number of castes to be enumerated, and the other, the confusion over some caste names. For example, whereas the 1931 census counted 4,147 castes, the number increased to 46,73,034 when the SECC was carried out. The forthcoming enumeration has reportedly taken into account these problems, and the final number of castes will be a few thousand and in the region of the 1931 numbers, not in lakhs as in the SECC.

The tenacity of caste is another problem that’s been bedevilling India’s social policy. Be it formulating rights and privileges, or giving effect to those rights — for example, in the form of granting quotas — the state is becoming a handmaid to society: Instead of being guided by norms and ideals that the Constitution enshrines, the state merely acquiesces to the agenda set by society. Hence, the demand for a caste census. Ironically, the reason several castes are clamouring to be counted formally is the logic that the numbers determine the rights, or the quantum of quotas. The numbers game must give us two nightmares. On the electoral/ political plane, the fine slicing of society into a few thousand pieces will ultimately result in political instability. India has been lucky to have produced, at the national level, two big-tent parties (BJP and Congress) and charismatic leaders. Tragic will be the day when the country runs out of luck.

The second nightmare is administrative. It is not merely a matter of facing more demands for quotas or sub-quotas. Even after adding copious portions of good faith to the exercise, the end result will be contentious. Can the government use the caste census to bring clarity and finality to the never-ending demands for quotas and sub-quotas? Be that as it may, this stupendous challenge can also be an opportunity if the government is willing to bring about a paradigm shift. Since 1935, when the Dalits and tribals were christened respectively as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs), all law-making and policy formulation on quotas have miraculously been in sync with the caste divisions prescribed by Manusmriti. In the context of the four-fold caste system, the “top” three (the so-called twice-born) castes are now classified as Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs), the fourth cluster (Shudras) is identified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the Most Backward Classes (MBCs). Those outside the caste fold are the SC/STs.

The SC/STs have distinct identities of being victims of untouchability and physical isolation, among others. Therefore, no other social group can be classified as one of them. But, within the four-fold caste system, one can find ample evidence of an upper caste household (EWS) being almost similar to an OBC household, or vice versa. Therefore, we must end the fiction that upper castes merely suffer from economic backwardness, whereas the OBCs suffer from both economic and social backwardness.

Of course, the clustering of castes for granting quotas is an administrative exercise, not a matter related to the Constitution or the census enumeration. However, since this counting is taking place in the context of quotas, while counting castes for what they are, the collection of household data needs to be expanded so that the categorisation of households based on their backwardness becomes possible. This will enable an OBC category to encompass not only the Shudra households but also upper caste households. A brave government can go so far as to cluster creamy-layer SC/STs with the other two groups, and so on and so forth.

There are two benefits of collecting adequate household data that would enable the government to come up with new categorisations based on the socio-economic status of castes. One, caste divisions within the Hindu society could be minimised if the government regards it as desirable. Two, the census data could be the sole criterion for all governments to consider quota-related demands.

To belabour the point, a re-categorisation of households of the 4,000 or so castes into three or four groups based on socio-economic criteria could bring about some sanity to our politics and governance.

D SHYAM BABU

Source: Indian Express, 26/05/25

Tuesday, October 03, 2023

Bihar caste survey data released: A look at the complicated history of caste surveys

 

Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes. Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.


The Bihar government has released the results of its recently concluded survey of castes in the state, which reveals that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute more than 63% of the population of Bihar.

CM Nitish Kumar congratulated the entire team involved in the caste survey process and said: “Resolution on caste-based survey was passed in the Bihar legislature through consensus. Nine political parties had taken a call in the Bihar Assembly on the state government bearing expenses of the caste survey.

The survey has not only considered one’s caste but also one’s economic status, which would help us devise further policies and plans for the development of all classes.”

What kind of caste data is published in the Census?

Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes. Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published. M W M Yeats, the then Census Commissioner, said a note: “There would have been no all India caste table… The time is past for this enormous and costly table as part of the central undertaking…” This was during World War II.

In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others. The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52%, some other estimates have been based on National Sample Survey data, and political parties make their own estimates in states and Lok Sabha and Assembly seats during elections.

How often has the demand for a caste census been made?

It comes up before almost every Census, as records of debates and questions raised in Parliament show. The demand usually comes from among those belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) and other deprived sections, while sections from the upper castes oppose the idea. This time, however, things have been quite different. With Census 2021 delayed several times, the Opposition parties have made the loudest cry for a caste census as they seem to have converged on “social justice” as their slogan and glue. Earlier this year, while campaigning in Karnataka, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Narendra Modi government should reveal the data of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) conducted under the UPA-II government. Moreover, he called for a caste census and for the removal of the 50% cap on SC/ST/OBC reservations.

In July 2021, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in response to a question in Lok Sabha: “The Government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census.”

Before this statement, Nityanand Rai had told the Rajya Sabha in March 2021: “The Union of India after Independence, decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs.”

But on August 31, 2018, following a meeting chaired by then Home Minister Rajnath Singh that reviewed preparations for Census 2021, the Press Information Bureau stated in a statement: “It is also envisaged to collect data on OBC for the first time.”

When The Indian Express filed an RTI request asking for the minutes of the meeting, the Office of Registrar General of India (ORGI) responded: “Records of deliberations in ORGI prior to MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) announcement on August 31, 2018, to collect data on OBC is not maintained. There was not issued any minutes of the meeting.”

Where did the UPA stand on this?

In 2010, then Law Minister Veerappa Moily wrote to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calling for the collection of caste/community data in Census 2011. On March 1, 2011, during a short-duration discussion in Lok Sabha, Home Minister P Chidambaram spoke of several “vexed questions”: “There is a Central list of OBCs and State-specific list of OBCs. Some States do not have a list of OBCs; some StateThe Registrar General has also pointed out that there are certain open-ended categories in the lists such as orphans and destitute children. Names of some castes are found in both the list of Scheduled Castes and the list of OBCs. Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity or Islam are also treated differently in different States. The status of a migrant from one State to another and the status of children of inter-caste marriage, in terms of caste classification, are also vexed questions.”

What happened to the SECC data, then?

With an approved cost of Rs 4,893.60 crore, the SECC was conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development in rural areas and the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation in urban areas. The SECC data excluding caste data was finalised and published by the two ministries in 2016.s have a list of OBCs and a sub-set called Most Backward Classes.

The raw caste data was handed over to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which formed an Expert Group under former NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson Arvind Pangaria for classification and categorisation of data. It is not clear whether it submitted its report; no such report has been made public.

The report of a Parliamentary Committee on Rural Development presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker on August 31, 2016, noted about SECC: “The data has been examined and 98.87 per cent data on individuals’ caste and religion is error free. ORGI has noted the incidence of errors with respect to 1,34,77,030 individuals out of the total SECC population of 118,64,03,770. States have been advised to take corrective measures.”

What is the contrary view?

The RSS has not made any statements on a caste census in a while now, but has opposed the idea earlier. On May 24, 2010, when the debate on the subject had peaked ahead of Census 2011, then RSS sar-karyawah Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi had said in a statement from Nagpur: “We are not against registering categories, but we oppose registering castes.” He had said a caste-based census is against the idea of a casteless society envisaged by leaders like Babasaheb Ambedkar in the Constitution and will weaken ongoing efforts to create social harmony.

Source: Indian Express, 3/10/23