​Cast of characters: on the caste census

For the first time since 1931, Census forms will record the caste of Indians, but questions remain on the extent of the impact that the data would have on India’s affirmative action programmes. Decadal censuses, until now, have categorised citizens as SCs, STs and as per religion. In decades of reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs, there have been concerns about which communities or individuals within these groups are able to access the benefits. The demands for a creamy layer to eliminate the economically better-off sections from reservation quotas, and for sub-categorisation to ensure smaller or relatively more backward communities are not crowded out, have gained moral and political legitimacy. The Supreme Court of India, last August, cleared the way for sub-categorisation within SCs and STs and the Justice G. Rohini Commission in 2023 finished a study to examine sub-categorisation within OBCs. The Court’s judgment was quick to draw a sharp fault line within SC and ST communities on the issue of sub-categorisation and the potential for upset in the Commission’s report has forced the government to keep its findings closely guarded. Caste groupings continue to be a determinant of political and social life and empirical data on these are essential for more effective development planning. However, the search for increased representativeness through slicing and relabelling of social groups could be an infinite process, leaving some group or the other always dissatisfied.

The other challenge is the logistics of how caste enumeration should be conducted in a country where community-based claims are numerous. The understanding of what caste is, the difference between a sub-caste and a caste group, and the reconciliation of the understanding of caste names with their morphing according to linguistic and regional variations are issues. This gap in understanding caste was reflected in the SECC 2011 dataset as well, which yielded more than 46 lakh different “castes”. Apart from the fact that there is no repository of all castes except for the lists of SCs, STs, and OBCs, the question of how to classify communities as castes, tribes, or socially and educationally backward classes continues to be litigated in High Courts and the Court in the form of countless petitions for inclusion or exclusion. The decision to enumerate caste can also be an opportunity to arrive at a consensus on these questions. The political diatribe that accompanied caste enumeration exercises in Bihar, Karnataka, and Telangana shows that this could be volatile. The Centre should build consensus on the details, now that all parties are in agreement with caste enumeration in principle. That will keep the integrity of its finding intact and beyond reproach.