CASTE SURVEY - POLITY

News: Bihar caste survey | Phase 1 completed, form for next stage still being finalized

 

What's in the news?

       Halfway through the much-anticipated Caste-Based Survey (CBS) currently under way in Bihar, the form for its next and most crucial phase where information on people’s caste and socio-economic status will be collected, is still being finalized, officials confirmed to The Hindu. 

 

Key takeaways:

       The CBS, which began on January 7, is being carried out in two stages. The first phase was a household counting exercise, which has now been completed with district administrations expected to send in their final reports by the end of January.

 

Caste Census:

       Caste census means inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India’s population in the Census exercise, which is a decennial count of the Indian population.

       The last caste census data gathered and published correspond to Census 1931.

       Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.

       In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others.

 

Significance of Caste Census:

1. Enumerating the marginalized:

       A caste census would actually bring to the particular the number of people who are at the margins, or who are deprived, or the kind of occupations they pursue, or the kind of hold that institutions like caste have on them.

2. Evidence based policy making:

       A caste census, which will generate exhaustive data will allow policymakers to develop better policies, and implementation strategies, and will also enable a more rational debate on sensitive issues.

3. Judicial backing:

       The courts in India have often emphatically said that it is important to have adequate data with regard to the reservation.

4. Caste offers privilege:

       Caste is not only a source of disadvantage; it is also a very important source of privilege and advantage in our society.

5. Caste doesn’t marginalize:

       India needs to do away with the idea of caste being applicable to only disadvantaged people, poor people and need to view the actual ground level situation.

6. Rids away caste rigidities:

       Counting of caste doesn’t necessarily perpetuate caste or the caste system. Myths of caste elitisms can be debunked through a caste census.

7. Effective service delivery:

       A fresh estimate of the population is necessary to ensure more effective delivery of targeted welfare.

 

Issues of Caste Census:

1. Rising assertiveness:

       More the State ignores caste, the more is the tendency to preserve caste, protect it. This has been observed in many states.

2. Lack of Constitutional Provisions:

       Unlike in the case of the SCs and the STs, there is no constitutional mandate to provide the census figures of the OBCs and the BCCs.

3. Social friction:

       Caste identification can lead to friction amongst various classes.

       The 21st century India should be discussing 'let’s do away with caste' rather than further divide India on those lines.

       Caste census may “rekindle divisive feelings among people".

4. Issues in feasibility:

       The Union Government contended that such an exercise was not feasible given that there are too many castes and sub-castes in each state and Union territory making it difficult to classify them.

       The government had said that the total number of castes surveyed in 1931 was 4,147, while the SECC 2021 figures show that there are more than 46 lakh castes in India.

5. Politicization of Caste issues:

       At a deeper level there are politics involved in the matter.

       Bihar’s politics has been dominated by the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), the numerically powerful social group.

 

WAY FORWARD:

       The need for a caste census can also be seen in the vast income disparity in the country.

       Meaningful policies that address affirmative action as a method of reducing the rich-poor gap are essential and, in order to properly understand the distribution of wealth in the country.

       The need of the hour is to devise ways and means to concentrate upon the castes and classes who are still deprived, under-privileged and improvised.