Count on India, Make It Count

Context: The central government should bite the data and initiate a more meaningful caste-based census.

Potential benefits of caste census

• Transparency in social justice: Without data, it is hard to justify the social justice measures undertaken by the government. In the 1940s-50s, the data on deprivations suffered by SCs and STs were clear. 
  • A similar socio-economic appraisal of various caste groups will today invoke empathy if the numbers suggest so. So, a caste census has the potential to lessen social strife if handled correctly.
  • About 70 million individuals of working age (15-59 years) are expected to enter labour force by 2023.
• Settling questions around privilege and discrimination: Salient issues like ‘creamy layer’ within eligible groups, the capture of reservation benefits by select sub-castes, and a regional skew of beneficiaries can only be answered through data. 
  • In the absence of data, we witness the hijacking of the narrative by social media-fuelled rhetoric that is even more divisive.
  • It will go a long way in redirecting the reservation policy to benefit the neediest sub-groups.
• More realistic political equations: Currently, public domain data pertaining to electoral demography comes courtesy of political parties and psephologists. 
  • However, the narrative set by political parties often dominates the data provided by psephologists.
  • For example, in Karnataka, CVoter sample surveys repeatedly pegged Lingayat voters at 12% of the electorate. But caste leaders claimed an18% share based on the 1931 census.
  • Today, we also know there was almost a 10% overestimation of OBCs by the Mandal Commission.
• Enumerating those who ‘fell through the cracks’: India’s complexity ensures there are social groups that need help but are ineligible due to policy quirks and political realities. 
  • Unlike the rest of the world, India’s Muslims and Christians carry their ‘deeprooted’ caste identities, even while practising faiths that obviously don’t have a place for caste groupings.
  • Similarly, LGBTQ groups, a new spectrum of citizens, need intervention as they represent a further marginalised group, cutting across caste and religious lines.
• Enumeration of a contemporary India: Today’s India is not a reflection of the one in1931.
  • Among urban middle classes, inter-caste marriages are routine, and people identify more with socioeconomic class than with caste.
  • The rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi is arguably India’s first ‘post-caste’ polity. Also, there is the rise of BJP’s ‘unified’ Hindu vote bank. Both suggest that Indians are no longer bound by caste.

Conclusion: Strong and resilient countries are built on strong data systems. GoI should bite the bullet and initiate a more meaningful caste-based census. It shall strengthen India and Indians alike