Caste census will show economic status ,demography of various castes and layers of inequality for better execution of affirmative policy
Way back in 1881, the British government had a caste census till 1931, which was not in practice in Independent India from 1951 to 2011, except for SC and ST. The caste data of 2011 socioeconomic and caste census by the Ministry of Rural and Urban development has not been made public due to a number of mistakes in enumeration. The data from other sources such as NSSO, NFHS and the recent UDISE+ on caste has many limitations in reflecting the larger picture, which is not much helpful specially in formulation of affirmative actions by government and others. Though the higher judiciary has been continuously inquiring about data on various social groups in matters of representation of OBCs in PRI institutions , reservation of jobs and promotion and seats in educational institutions, and for sub categorization and creamy layer purpose but government is not responding to it. Now there are four major social groups availing reservations – SCs ,STs ,OBCs and EWSs. Though caste and tribe wise data is available for SCs and STs but for OBCs and EWS(Non-SC,ST and OBCs) there has been lack of data about their demography and socioeconomic status while they are being availing the benefits of reservation because of their social -educational backwardness and poor economic status but who knows how far they are backward and poor while the demand for their inclusion to any of the reserve category group has been increasing in recent times. The fact is that OBC reservation is based on the 1931 census and EWS reservation is not supported by any data. Article 340 of the constitution allows for investigation into the condition of backward classes. The Collection of statistics Act 2008 empowered states to go for caste surveys . The states such as BIhar in 2023 and Karnatak in 2015 have already done it .The Bihar caste survey has opened the demand for similar exercises in other states. In this backdrop political parties specially Congress and Left have been demanding a caste census by the government of India.
In this context ,the census Act 1948 needs to be updated to meet the current requirement asked by judiciary and executives for policy making in line with social justice and further to distributive justice. As already we are counting about 1200 scheduled castes and more than 700 scheduled tribes and it will be an extended exercise for about another 3000 castes.Though the enumeration of caste is not going to affect the abolition of caste rather will show us the economic status and demography of various castes and the layers of inequality among castes that help us in comparison of degree of inequality . If some castes are over represented and over possessed they have to give-up their entitlements and allow the more deprived and under represented to get boons of reservation. It is necessary to alter the socioeconomic and socio-political setting of the nation for democratization of our centuries-old caste ridden society. The continued unhealthy competition among unequal and disproportionately over possession by a few must be minimized. As Caste matters in India, the caste system exists in Indian societies irrespective of religious differences as religious conversion has not impacted much , and it is still ranked as upper,middle and lower in social life based on birth. This system has historically created inequality in every aspect of social life that leads to discrimination , segregation , conflict and violence which is detrimental to our Indian nationalism, growth and peace. The makers of modern India made provisions in constitution to ensure social democracy by abolition of caste based discrimination and in order to bring equal participation, it has introduced policy of social justice, to ensure the representation of castes that are historically marginalized and underrepresented in national life due to discrimination ,isolation,social and educational backwardness.
In order to address inequality among castes in terms of representation it is highly required to know about the current status of various castes based on which the policy of affirmative action can be applied. The three major areas – education ,governance and resources, need to be democratically inclusive for all citizens by ensuring their participation through representation. Education is an important means of social transformation which must be available to all irrespective of their socioeconomic status. But social and economic barriers have been depriving many to access education so affirmative action has been introduced in education for certain periods to ensure education for those who are historically neglected in getting education. Similarly in matters of governance , executive ,legislative and lower judiciary certain seats are reserved for representation of the underrepresented and on the other hand to limit the over representation of few others who have been historically enjoying power and privilege due to their birth in a certain caste. In the matter of resource ownership in terms of dignified employment ,fair income , physical and financial assets ,land and housing ,there has been continued inequality. This concentration of income and wealth in the hands of few dominant castes has been questioned but to know the fact there must be a counting in the census.
The fact is caste census will not immediately contribute to fade away centuries’ old caste-ism or quickly alter the social status of a temple priest and sweeper but help us to bring balance in available public opportunities such as government and public sector jobs and education and participation in governance. Indian multi cultural and multi-religious society can be unified with equal representation of various backward castes in all sectors.The sense of fraternity is possible only through recognizing other right as fellow citizens, who has also a equal rights over national resources, without a racial and caste-ist feeling of inferiority or superiority. The programme to ensure representation has been called in different terms in different countries such as India, USA, and South Africa as reservation, affirmative action, alternative access and positive discrimination. Unfortunately India runs one of its largest affirmative action programs to reduce inequality and to ensure fair representation of people from all sections , especially those who have been marginalized due to their caste identities but data on caste is not available in the public domain that is necessary for scientific interventions.
Manas Jena is a political commentator
