An accurate caste census is difficult, but the data will be useful for driving social policy
The idea of a national caste census may be abhorrent when the stated policy is to strive for a casteless society, but establishing a statistical justification for preserving caste-based affirmative action programs would be useful. It may also be a legal imperative, given that courts want ‘quantitative data’ to support the current levels of reservation. Political parties with their base in particular social groups may find caste enumeration useful if their preferred group is established as dominant in specific geographical areas; Or they may find the results inconvenient if accurate calculations fall short and have a negative impact on perceptions about their electoral significance. Against this background, the claim of the Central Government in the Supreme Court that Census of backward castes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome” may give different reactions. has two components Government’s stand. Firstly, it claims that not keeping caste as part of the regular census is a policy decision and that administratively, the enumeration would be so complicated that it could jeopardize the decadal census itself. Second, it cites the difficulties and intricacies inherent in obtaining an accurate count of castes, given the mind-boggling number of castes and sub-castes with phonetic variations and similarities, that people returned to their caste form. Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) held in 2011.
The government has said that the 2011 SECC data was not acted upon due to “several shortcomings” that rendered them unusable. Even in the censuses up to 1931, when caste details were collected, they were lacking in completeness and accuracy. Furthermore, there were 46 lakh different caste names in the data, and if sub-castes are considered, the final number could be exponentially higher. These points are worth considering, and even those who are demanding a caste census cannot easily bypass them. However, this does not mean that the enumeration of social groups in the country is impossible. Caste census does not necessarily mean caste in the census. It may be an independent exercise, but it requires considerable thought and preparation, if its ultimate goal is not for political or electoral purposes, but for equality in the distribution of opportunities. Preliminary socio-anthropological studies can be done at the state and district level to establish all the sects and sub-castes present in the population. These can be tabulated under caste names, which are widely recognized on the basis of synonyms and similarities between the appellations used by people to denote themselves. Thereafter, it may be possible to do an area enumeration which can mark any group under the castes found in the available OBC/BC list. A caste census may not sit well with the goal of a casteless society, but it can, in the interim, serve as a useful, if not entirely innocent, way to remove inequalities in society.
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