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Caste Census
Context: With the census delayed until the end of 2024, there is a demand to amend the Census Act of 1948 to make caste enumeration mandatory, rather than leaving it to the discretion of the Union executive.
- Census: A comprehensive 10-year process in India collecting demographic, economic, and social data. Before 1931, all castes were included hence there are calls for a 2021 socio-economic caste census.
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- Legally backed by census act 1948, and only cover data of SC/ST.
- The subject of census is covered in the Union List under Entry 69 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
- Conducted by Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.
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- Caste Census: The first socio-economic caste census in independent India was in 2011, but its findings were not published. The last comprehensive caste data was in the 1931 census.
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- No legal backing
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- Caste Survey: Since only the Union government can conduct a census, states like Bihar and Odisha have conducted their own socio-economic caste surveys to assess the social and economic status of different castes.
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- No legal backing
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Need for caste census to include OBC’s
- Social imperative: Caste continues to be a foundational social construct in India. Only about 5% of Indian marriages were inter-caste as of 2011-12.
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- Choices of candidates for elections and ministers for Cabinets continue to be dictated by caste considerations.
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- Constitutional imperative:For providing reservation, education and public employment e.g. Article 15(4),Article 16(4) and Article 340.
- Administrative imperative:To include beneficiaries and eliminate ghost beneficiaries, needed for sub-categorising castes within a reserved category and to determine the income/wealth criterion for the creamy layer.
- Moral imperative:Absence of data leads to dominant groups among OBC getting disproportionately high benefits .
- Reservation in Local bodies: Unlike SCs and STs, OBCs lack reservations in MP and MLA constituencies but have them in panchayats and municipalities (Articles 243D(6) and 243T(6)) since the 73rd and 74th amendments (1993).
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- States like MH,UP, KN implementing OBC reservations in local elections faced judicial stays due to the absence of this data.
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- Better targeting of Government welfare schemes:
- Under the National Food Security Act, 83.92% of Bihar’s population is entitled to subsidised food grain.However post Bihar caste survey it was found out that 90% population needed subsidised food grain.
Argument against Caste Census
- Socially divisive as it strengthens caste identities.
- Administrative nightmare of conducting caste census of 4000 castes
- Fuel demands for increased reservations:e.g. demands by Marathas, Patidars, Jats, for reservations. And thus may lead to breaching the 50% reservation cap as guided by SC in Indra Sawhney & Others vs Union of India.
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- Increased reservation may hamper efficiency of administration (Article 335)
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- Instead of focusing on a caste-based census, the government can subclassify Backward Classes, as done in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal, to better target benefits.
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- Justice G. Rohini Panel on Sub-categorisation of OBCs has already been appointed for this purpose.
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Failed caste census of 2011
- In 2010, Parliament resolved to include caste in the 2011 Census.
- The 1931 Census listed 4,147 castes.
- However, the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 was flawed, reporting an implausible 46 lakh castes, and its results were never released.
- The SECC failed because it wasn’t conducted under the Census Act, 1948, and used poorly designed questionnaires by inexperienced Union Ministries.
- In contrast, Bihar’s 2023 Caste Survey, using a list of 214 specific castes, yielded better results.
- Despite the 2010 resolution, the Central government decided against including caste in the next Census in 2021 and upheld this before the Supreme Court in a case filed by Maharashtra.
Way Forward
- To avoid SECC-2011 failures, the Census Act, 1948 should be amended to mandate caste enumeration by the Census Commissioner.
- Caste should be included in the regular Census with a well-designed questionnaire
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- Sociological/anthropological experts should create a draft list of castes for each state.
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- States should urge the Supreme Court to review its 2021 judgement as relying on outdated 1931 data for OBC reservations is inadequate.