Editorial: Time for caste census

The renewed focus on social justice must serve as a glue for the opposition unity to take on the BJP in general elections

Hyderabad: There is a growing resonance for the demand for caste-based census in the country to fine-tune the idea of social justice. This comes at a time when jobs and economic opportunities for the disadvantaged sections have been shrinking and the social disparities widening. The latest to join the chorus is Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who, during the election campaign in Karnataka, advocated for a national census based on caste and removal of the 50% cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. The idea has already been mooted by the BRS which has been at the forefront of espousing the cause and had even got the Assembly to pass a resolution, urging the Centre to include the caste-based enumeration in the census work. The renewed focus and commitment to social justice must serve as a glue for the opposition unity to take on the BJP-led NDA in the next general elections. More recently, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin organised a national conference of the All India Federation for Social Justice, in which several non-BJP parties participated. There is a need for deploying Mandal as a political tool to blunt the campaign of religious polarisation being pushed by the BJP ahead of the polls. By trying to lure certain sections of the OBCs and reaching out to Pasmanda, a backward community among Muslims, the saffron party is trying to co-opt Mandal and blend it with Mandir politics to gain electoral mileage.

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. 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. The NDA government must shed its ambivalence on the matter and take up the exercise at the national level. Counting the population based on caste will help in fine-tuning the reservation policy. It would bring to the fore a 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.

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