The OBC caste-based census – Pros & Cons

The demand for counting castes has increased in the recent times. Here’s why supporters say it’s necessary, and what the Centre says

FP Explainers June 01, 2022 21:21:05 IST

Critics say the BJP fears that a caste count could spark more demands for quotas.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday announced that his government will undertake a socio-economic survey of all castes and communities.

Let’s examine what a caste-based census entails, its history, its relevance in India in 2023, its implications in the political scenario and how the common man could benefit from it.

The history of counting caste

The first census in India was held in 1872 by its then colonial rulers — the British — in order to better know the subjects it ruled over. One of the heads under which data was gathered was caste and this practice was continued till 1931 in which the count of Other Backward Classes was shown to be 52 per cent.

However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published. MWM Yeats, the then Census Commissioner, said a note: “There would have been no all India caste table… The time is past for this enormous and costly table as part of the central undertaking…” This was during World War II.

Once India gained freedom, however, it curtailed this exercise and from 1951, the only caste-wise data collected was on Dalits and Adivasis, which meant that no caste data had been collected for more than three-fourths of Indians.

The demand for a caste census arises from the fact that there is no documented data on different castes within the Other Backward Classes in India, and other classes.

Faced with a clamour for a caste census in 2010, the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance decided to conduct independent India’s first caste census in 2010 along with the socio-economic census to determine the deprivation levels. OBC leaders such as Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Nitish Kumar supported the decision.

However, the data was not released and the now Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik while responding to a question in Parliament said, “The Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs could not correctly capture the caste status of households other than SCs/STs (Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes). Besides, the data is now outdated.”

What are the benefits of caste census?

Many advocates and politicians are of the opinion that a caste census in India would only benefit the country.

• The rationale is simple, according to them. A modern State cannot but count every category of citizens that it recognises for purposes of any social policy.
• India’s social equality programmes cannot be a success without the data and a caste census would help fix that.
• Due to the lack of data, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, groups within the OBCs and more. The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52 per cent, while some others have pinned the OBC population from 36 to 65 per cent.
• As Yogendra Yadav puts it: The census would ‘besides resolving the needless mystery about the size of the OBC population, census enumeration would yield a wealth of demographic information (sex ratio, mortality rate, life expectancy), educational data (male and female literacy, ratio of school-going population, number of graduates) and policy relevant information about economic conditions (house-type, assets, occupation) of the OBCs’.
• Similarly, a caste-based census could go a long way in bringing a measure of objectivity to the debate on reservations. According to the Rohini Commission, which was formed to look into equitable redistribution of the 27 per cent quota for OBCs, noted that there are around 2,633 castes covered under the OBC reservation. However, the Centre’s reservation policy from 1992 doesn’t take into account that there exists within the OBCs, a separate category of Extremely Backward Castes, who are much more marginalised.
• Its absence also results in inadequate budgetary allocations by governments to OBCs.
• “We have no idea how many OBC communities actually exist in India, leave alone their numbers. There are so many smaller communities, migrant groups which don’t make it to the census,

Why conducting a caste census is a herculean task?

• If a caste census was to be carried out, one could be sure that the exercise would be Adminstrative burden and taxing. While carrying out the enumeration, officials would have to ask each person which caste they belonged to.
• The names of some castes are found in both the list of Scheduled Castes and list of OBCs. Also, there may be issues as some people would be spelling their caste differently from others and that would lead to an inaccurate count.
• Another issue with collecting the information is that those who collect the data simply record the answer. The enumerator is not an investigator or verifier. The enumerator has no training or expertise to classify the answer as OBC or otherwise. – Data integrity whicch cant be used for official purposes without verification.
• These issues then give rise to the fact that the census questionnaire would have to be modified to add the names of all the castes – not an easy exercise, as many haven’t even been listed. This would lead to a further delay in carrying out the mammoth exercise, which has already been put off by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Also, a change in the questionnaire would lead to more money being spent – not only to print the new copies, but also to train the enumerator to add the new caste.

What are the perils of knowing caste-wise population?

• But, even as the voices supporting a caste-based census, there are still some who believe that such a count would reveal how the OBC population is well in excess of the 52 perc ent identified by the Mandal commission, spurring demands for more quotas.
• There are others who state that in the 21st century India should be discussing ‘let’s do away with caste’ rather than further divide India on those lines. They believe that the caste census will create further divisions within the society.
• Additionally, reservations that were implemented for 10 years have continued for 75 years and a caste-based census would only lead to a demand for more.
• The opponents of the exercise sum it up thus — a caste-based Census could halt India in its tracks, hurting its chances of becoming a global superpower.