Editorial: Shed ambivalence on caste census

The NDA government’s ambivalence on the caste census has been exposed by its ally Janata Dal (United) with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar deciding to go ahead with the exercise which is essential to fine-tune the reservation policy. 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. For this to be effective, one needs to count the population based on their caste. With Nitish Kumar’s masterstroke, the BJP is now caught in a piquant situation. The saffron party’s Bihar unit has been part of the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly seeking caste census while the central leadership is dragging its feet on the issue. On this front, the Telangana government has been at the forefront of espousing the cause and has already got the Assembly to pass a resolution, urging the Centre to include the caste-based enumeration in the census work. However, it is baffling that the union government had, in its submission before the Supreme Court in September last year, opposed caste-based census, saying the exercise was administratively difficult and cumbersome. The TRS had also raised the issue in Parliament and reminded the NDA government of its unfulfilled promise in this regard. States like Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha are also keen on conducting caste surveys.

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 the 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. In effect, data drives any social policy. 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, however lofty its objectives may be. Even a cursory glance at the employees data reveals that the Other Backward Classes account for less than 10% of the total number of government employees in the country. If the caste census was carried out with sincerity and transparency, it would have helped the successive governments to take up recruitment accordingly. In fact, 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.

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