Editorial: A case for caste census

Now that Bihar has launched the first phase of caste-based counting, the NDA government must shed its ambivalence on the matter

It is ironic that while caste plays a dominant role in India’s social, economic and political life, there is still no credible and comprehensive caste data. A reliable caste census is essential to ensure social justice. Now that Bihar has taken the initiative and launched the first phase of caste-based counting, deploying nearly 3.50 lakh enumerators, the NDA government must shed its ambivalence on the matter and take up the exercise at the national level. Counting the population on the basis of caste will help in fine-tuning the reservation policy. It will bring to the fore the large number of issues that any democratic country needs to attend to, particularly the number of people who are at the margins, or who are deprived. The exhaustive data thus generated will allow policymakers to develop better policies and implementation strategies. Though the Constitution doesn’t explicitly allow the States to conduct a census, it must be pointed out that the Supreme Court has made quantifiable data on backwardness the key criterion for clearing State-level caste quotas in jobs, education and elected bodies. On this front, the Telangana government has been at the forefront of espousing the cause and has already got the Assembly pass a resolution, urging the Centre to include the caste-based enumeration in the census work. However, it is baffling that the union government, in its submission before the Supreme Court in September 2021, opposed caste-based census, saying the exercise was administratively difficult and cumbersome. States like Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha are also keen on conducting caste surveys.

The caste census must be careful not to repeat the mistakes that rendered the Socio-Economic Caste Census data on caste groups unusable. Adequate independent oversight must be exercised to ensure that subtle differences in caste groups from region to region, or across languages, are suitably captured. The attempts by some States in the past for caste-based enumeration did not make much headway. The Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka started India’s first State-level Social and Educational Survey in 2014. But it back-pedalled ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections. Tamil Nadu’s survey, initiated in 2020 following Vanniyar demands for a separate quota, is also in limbo. While the aim of any affirmative action programme is to reduce socio-economic inequalities and lift the disadvantaged sections out of poverty, the key ingredient in this task is the data that is accurate and reflective of the ground realities. There is a strong case for conducting a national caste census to identify socially, economically and educationally backward communities, and increase reservations proportionate to their population. Without reliable data, no welfare programme can be effective. It is surprising that a nation which runs such a large affirmative action programme based on caste has not been collecting data on the educational and economic profile of castes.