Census of castes: counting castes – UP Front News

When the Union Minister of State for the Interior, Nityanand Rai, said in Lok Sabha on July 20 that the Center had decided not to conduct a caste count of the country’s population in the census, With the exception of the scheduled castes and tribes, many saw it as an attempt by the BJP to avoid stirring up the caste cauldron in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled for the start of the year. next year. The first BJP ally to report the Centre’s decision was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Nitish on July 24 urged the Center to reconsider its position. “We think there should be a caste-based census. The Bihar legislature unanimously adopted a resolution to this effect on February 17, 2019, and again on February 27, 2020, and forwarded it to the central government. The Center should reconsider the matter, ”he tweeted. Nitish and his Janata Dal (United) believe that a caste census will allow a detailed enumeration of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and help identify which sections of them in Bihar remain off the welfare radar of the government.

In total, 2,633 communities are listed by the Center as CBOs. They are entitled to a 27 percent quota in government jobs and centrally funded educational institutions. But the CBOs are not a homogeneous block. The communities listed under this broad umbrella are of varied economic and social status. In view of this, it is argued that data from a caste census will help governments better map this segment of the population and extend social protection programs to the bottom of the social pyramid.

The JD (U) calls for a sub-categorization within the CBOs with the aim of a more equitable redistribution of quotas within the group. Last month, the Center extended by six months (until January 31, 2022) the duration of a commission set up in 2017 to review subcategorization within CBOs. According to reports, the commission, headed by retired High Court Chief Justice G. Rohini, found that a handful of OBC communities had captured most of the benefits of the quotas. In addition, over 1,000 CBO groups remain largely denied access to quotas for various reasons, such as economic and educational status. The JD (U) adopted a resolution at its recent national executive meeting that the recommendations of the Rohini Commission be published so that the benefits of quotas are extended according to the population of the communities.

Nitish’s demand for a caste census has the backing of Bihar’s main opposition party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). On July 30, Tejashwi Yadav, leader of the opposition in the State Assembly, and other opposition leaders urged Nitish to take a multi-party delegation to the prime minister on the issue.

According to political observers, a caste census will be disadvantageous for a nationalist party like the BJP, which relies on the idea of ​​Hindu consolidation. “The JD (U) and the RJD, which claim to represent marginalized communities, are calling for a caste census to strengthen their identity policy. But a party like the BJP, often accused by its rivals of community polarization, will remain weakened. They cannot afford it as the UP elections approach, ”said Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, former head of the economics department at Patna University.

Another proponent of the caste census is the former UP chief minister and Samajwadi party chairman Akhilesh Yadav. In January last year, he claimed – without specifying how – that a caste census would end Hindu-Muslim conflicts. Maharashtra and Odisha have also required a caste-based count. “While a caste census may further divide the already fragmented Hindu society, it will also ensure greater empowerment of those who have been left behind. Above all, it will strike at religious polarization to the detriment of national parties like the BJP, ”said a senior JD (U) leader.

The OBC quota of 27% was a key recommendation of the BP Mandal Commission and implemented by the VP Singh government in 1990. It was also a period when the BJP was the spearhead of the Ram Mandir movement. Dwelling on the ‘Mandal-Kamandal’ policy of the time, another senior JD (U) leader said, “The Mandir movement was a one-time event and suffered from the law of diminishing returns. It was the Mandal movement, with the promise of empowering socially backward people, that had a lasting impact. This has created such awareness among the backward castes that no politician can reverse the process. “

Affirmative action has been central to India’s approach to tackling disparities, whether social or economic. Bihar, under Nitish, focused on it while striving to uplift the oppressed. State backward classes are divided into OBC and EBC (extremely backward classes). Against the Centre’s 27 percent quota, the CBOs in Bihar get a 12 percent reservation. EBCs get 18 percent and backward women 3 percent. “A caste census can give figures that can help regional parties,” adds the leader of the JD (U).

The last caste census took place in 1931. The pre-independence fiscal year, which covered present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, put backward castes at 52% of India’s population. There has been a longstanding demand for a new assessment of the CBO population in the country, but successive governments have shown no political intent.

In 2011, the UPA government undertook the Socio-Economic Caste Census to compile data on caste and household economic status. The Registrar General of India (RGI) and several central ministries were involved in the process. Socio-economic census data were made public in 2015, but caste data was retained, citing discrepancies.

Going forward with a caste-based census could be a double-edged sword for the central government led by the BJP. Depending on the data that is released, this could trigger an unpredictable political and social churn. But given the way castes and social justice are linked in the country, it may not be possible to postpone the census indefinitely. Arguments have been made in favor of distributing the benefits and opportunities provided by the state solely according to the size of the population of castes and communities, but broader issues need to be considered. For example, won’t such an allocation turn out to be a massive setback for the longer-term goal of an Indian society without caste? Obviously, there are no easy answers.