NEW DELHI: With the Centre announcing its decision to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census, the country’s political map is likely to witness a churn after more than 30 years of Mandal politics.
The Opposition can claim the government’s decision as a victory on its part as the parties, particularly the Congress, has turned the demand for a country-wide caste census as a rallying point in the recent Lok Sabha and assembly elections. With every political entity trying to woo OBCs, who account for the largest vote chunk in the country, the move will have a potential impact in the upcoming Bihar and other assembly elections.
Why caste census?
It is necessary for several reasons, say experts and political parties. They say that a caste count is the need of the hour to collect substantial scientific data of contemporary nature, and decide the quantum of reservation accordingly.
Every census in India from 1951 to 2011 has data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, except other castes. A caste count can generate extensive data that can inform better policy-making, by identifying the disadvantaged sections of society and implement affirmative programmes.
“Currently, the data is collected on various parameters such as age, gender, education, religion, language, SC/ST, profession, and other details during the census exercise. To count the castes, the government only needs to insert additional columns for SEBC, OBC, and other castes,” says an expert, adding that a caste census can also fulfill a constitutional mandate, help dispel myths surrounding caste.
Last caste census
The last one was done in 1931, which included present-day Bangladesh and Pakistan. But all castes were counted during census exercises carried out in pre-Independence era between 1881 and 1931. The government decided against counting castes except for SCs/STs in 1951, at the time of the first census of Independent India.
In 2011, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government did a socio-economic caste census. Though the details of data were published by two ministries in 2016, the caste data never saw the light of the day.
The BJP-led NDA government set up a panel under Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya in 2015 to analyse the data, but nothing came out of it. The Rs 4,893.60-crore exercise was conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Modi government’s earlier stand
Though caste-based census for identifying and enumerating SEBC/OBCs was a long demand of parties, the government has been dithering on the issue since 2014. In July 2021, the Centre has informed Parliament that it won’t undertake a caste-based survey and as a policy matter, it will enumerate SCs/STs in the 2021 census. In 2018, the then Home minister Rajnath Singh promised a caste-based survey to identify OBCs/SEBCs.
Relook at 50% quota
A caste census will also necessitate a relook on the 50% ceiling on reservation policy. The Mandal Commission has pegged the OBC population at 52%, while NSSO in 2007 said the group constitutes 41%. In the absence of a caste census for any caste or category apart from SCs/STs since 1931, precise caste numbers are unknown.
Currently, as per an old ruling by the Supreme Court, the quota for OBCs is capped at 27% in government jobs. Reservation to the tune of 22.5% in Central government jobs already exists for SCs/STs. Different states have varying quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs.
What about the recommendations of Justice Rohini Commission? Though the panel, set up in 2017 on subcategorisation of OBCs, submitted its report last year, the government is yet to take it up.
State caste surveys
Three governments — Karnataka, Telangana and Bihar — have conducted caste surveys so far. Karnataka is yet to release the survey report.
