In the ongoing Lok Sabha election, the Congress has raised the issue of caste census prominently in its manifesto, which says: Congress will conduct a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions. Based on the data, we will strengthen the agenda for affirmative action. The party has spoken about the issue in publicity materials and speeches as well. It seems that the Congress is committed to the cause and sincerely working in this direction.
Here, I bring to attention an important fact: It was the Congress-led government that stopped caste enumeration in India in 1951 and then again scuttled it in 2011. That makes way for my current assertion: This time around, Rahul Gandhi is doing more harm, perhaps unknowingly, to the issue of caste census. The Congress has muddied the water and added jargon like ‘X-ray of inequality’, which has nothing to do with caste census. Rahul Gandhi said that it wouldn’t be just a caste survey but an economic and institutional survey would also be attached to it. No census does that. It asks various questions and collects data, which is later tabulated, collated, and interpreted. My hunch is that during this election season, the Congress has created a wrong narrative around the caste census that will harm rather than help the cause.
I base this assertion, more like a fear, on my study of the topic. I edited a book on caste census way back in 2009; the preface was written by Sharad Yadav. Very few copies of the book are now left with the publisher.
A short history
Decadal or decennial census in India has a long history. Caste enumeration in India isn’t new either — during British rule, castes were counted in the census every 10 years. This practice is common worldwide, especially in democratic countries, to understand the diversity and socio-economic differences in society. Such data helps in making policies and academic research. Countries usually collect information on race, ethnicity, language, religion, and gender. While India has been doing the same, gathering data on caste has been puzzling for policymakers.
India’s first modern synchronous census was conducted in 1881, and since then, every 10 years, usually in February, government employees, often teachers, go door to door gathering the necessary information. That year, caste was included in the census: “From Hindus their caste was ascertained and in other cases information on Sect was obtained,” says History of Census in India. There was no census in 1941 due to World War II.
After Independence, only Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) were included in census forms because their data is needed for constitutional obligations regarding reservation in legislatures. I don’t have the documentary evidence or reference to say anything about the thought processes of the Union ministers and officials on this issue. My hunch is that as the nation had adopted a modern system of governance with universal voting rights, the leaders might have decided to do away with the caste enumeration fearing that caste count might perpetuate casteism. Therefore, in the 1951 census, the Nehru government deleted the caste question.
The second opportunity to conduct a caste census was lost in 2011, and the Manmohan Singh government let it pass. There’s more history to this instance, though.
The second Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission or the Mandal Commission in its 1980 report wrote about the “enormous difficulties” it faced due to the lack of new caste data, as it had to depend on the 1931 census. In its letter to President Giani Zail Singh, the chairperson of the commission, BP Mandal wrote that the policy of not enumerating caste “needs reconsideration”. But there was no consensus on the issue.
The consensus emerged in 2010 when all parties agreed to the idea of caste census. PM Singh announced: “I am aware of the views of the MPs belonging to various sections. I assure you that the cabinet will take a decision shortly.” But that consensus was never honoured. Caste was not added to the decadal census conducted in February 2011. To placate the Other Backward Class (OBC) leaders, caste was added to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey, and thus the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was launched on 29 June 2011.
It was intended to complement the census through door-to-door enumeration. Initially, it was planned for completion by December 2011, but the Manmohan government failed to complete it during its tenure. It was finally concluded on 31 March 2016 under the Narendra Modi government. Despite its completion, no quantifiable caste data was obtained. The SECC 2011 identified over 46 lakh distinct caste and sub-caste names and many other anomalies, but subsequent actions faltered. With no progress since then, the fate of this so-called caste census was sealed, and thus the second opportunity was again wasted. It cost the nation a whopping Rs. 4,893 crores!
Congress is again playing spoiler
This time around, the Modi government is keeping the 2021 census in suspended animation. The initial reason was Covid-19, which was a valid point. But since then, there has been no effort to conduct it. The government has given mixed signals on the issue. In 2018, then-home minister Rajnath Singh said that there would be an OBC census, then after Covid, the government said that there is no plan to conduct a caste census. The latest position of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is that it never opposed it but it needs careful thought.
My assessment is that the BJP knows the disruptive possibilities of the caste census. It knows that it will not be prudent to oppose it. It is waiting to see if there is enough pressure and consensus to conduct it — only then it will go ahead with the exercise.
At this point, the Congress is again playing the spoiler. It brought forward this issue just before the 2023 assembly elections across the nation. The issue was raised in public meetings and rallies without any preparations; the party organisation was out of sync with the demand. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the Congress lost, and thus an impression was created that the issue of caste census failed to garner popular votes. The Congress is repeating that mistake again, and this time, the perception is that through the census, there will be an X-ray of property ownership. This impression will hamper the process of gathering national consensus on the issue, and the onus to dispel the notion lies solely on the Congress.
I see this as the gravest harm done to the cause of caste census.
Dilip Mandal is the former managing editor of India Today Hindi Magazine, and has authored books on media and sociology. He tweets @Profdilipmandal. Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)
Vote for Kejriwala and receive 100% reservation and free caste certificate of your choice delivered to your doorstep. Jai Kejriwala.
No harm in enumerating numbers. Which should not translate into breaching the 50% cap on reservations, simply because they are found to be in excess of that number in the population. This is not a pizza to be sliced into proportionate pieces. Merit, equity, efficiency are all important. What was meant to be tangential, transient, cannot be the dominant social and economic theme of governance, public affairs, the economy.