I clearly remember the first time when I had a discussion related to castes with my friends. It was the time when reservation for OBC was introduced. Prior to that we did not even bother about castes. Before that I had not even bothered to ask my parents which caste I belonged to and whether it falls under OBC or not? But I am sure after this rule for reservation, even small children would first confirm if they belong to OBC to avail the reservation.
It seems this was not enough a divide for our esteemed politicians. Britishers divided and ruled India on the basis of religion where as politicians are dividing and ruling India on the basis of castes. To ensure that Mayawati always remains in power, she might not mention the work she would do for the people but would definitely mention her caste in all her speeches. Including caste in census would help these powerful caste politicians use the census data as fodder for votes and government funding. It will empower politicians to create division in our lives to the last detail.
There are two debatable points related to including caste in census. One is the purpose this data would solve and the other is the way it would be executed to get accurate data.
The need for accurate data relating to castes came into picture when the Supreme Courts and Apex Courts demanded for data on the basis of which demands for OBC quota were raised. Last caste census was done by Britishers in 1931. Based on extrapolation of that data, the percentage of OBC was determined as 52% and correspondingly 27% reservation was done. Many caste politicians are of the view that these numbers are no where near the actual data and that caste census is needed to determine the exact population of OBC so that appropriate reservation can be given to them. In Modern India, where people dream of a casteless social order and efforts are made to weaken the caste structure, this caste census would only create fissures.
For a moment lets assume that the government has all the data related to castes. It is found that the percentage of SC, ST, or OBC has reduced and some other caste has increased. Will the government have the character to reduce their quota and increase the quota of the new caste? Will it not lead to more social stress and disorder? Will it not lead to situations similar to Gujjar protests in Rajasthan a couple of years back? At a time when terrorism and naxalism are posing a threat to security, are we equipped to handle additional threats?
Operational difficulties of a caste census cannot be ignored. Census 2011 will cover 1.2 billion people, with 2.5 million people being deployed to track them. However, a new dimension would be added to this census. Caste is not an "objective" measurable category like occupation, age, sex, education etc. It is to some extent a "subjective" category related with identity and perceptions which change from time to time. Though the literature on caste system is large, so far there is no precise definition of caste which can help a quantitative study. A definition encompassing different marks and boundaries of the numerous castes among Hindus and non-Hindus in different parts of the country is essential for census enumeration. Even if such a list enumerating the various castes is prepared and agreed upon, it is almost next to impossible to categorize the various sub castes and sub sub castes and convert it into meaningful data.
In 1931, when the last caste census was done, many people had claimed to be from higher castes to get a decent position in the society. Today, many people would claim to be from lower castes to get the benefit of the quota system. How are the census officials going to verify the caste information given by the individuals?
A few months back even the Home Ministry had declared to the Cabinet: “Population census is not the ideal instrument for collection of details on caste. The operational difficulties are so many that there is a grave danger that the basic integrity of the census data may be compromised and the fundamental population count itself could get distorted.” But once the Opposition—everyone from the JD (U), SP, RJD, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, AIADMK and DMK to BJP, CPM and CPI (M)—got together, the Congress cravenly caved in.
In today's India, it seems the vision of caste-less society is there only in history books. We teach our children the various ill-effects of the rigid caste system and the strict social hierarchy based on their family's traditional livelihood and ethnicity only for some stupid exams. They learn the real lesson on caste system from our politicians and their shrewd policies based on castes!!!
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4 comments:
Very nice post. True, the caste based census would not count since our constitution has capped the reservation at 50%. If the OBC's form 60% of the population i guess there will be a strong demand for changing the constitution. Moreover as you have mentioned the data could be distorted, which would lead to an alarming situation.
Ideally everything should be based on merit. In my view reservation is a bane to our society. In the caste based reservation, only the creamy layer is getting the benefits. Its not being passed on to the poorer sections of the society. The only way to resolve this should be to first introduce reservations based on class rather than caste, and then slowly reducing the reservation.
@Ananth... In a society like India, reservation based on class would also be of any use when the rulers and the subject are honest. People wont think twice before producing a fake certificate certifying their low income..!!!
anyway...for a change u agree with my point :)
Although I disagree with census being the deciding parameter used for reservations, the need for reservations in the country exists.
It is easy for us, the urban elite, to sit and talk about the fact that we were not aware of each others' castes before the quota but we form only 30% of Indian populace. There is still a 70% chunk where people's castes are considered very important. Case in point is the honour killings which media has suddenly woken up to.
Thus, castes as a factor never disappeared from society. But that it should be the basis of reservation is a contestable point.
very well said.. what at random comes to my mind is why is the census so imp in our country? Is it to track how many people do we feed or is it to count how many votes can our country host for the politicians?
Well of course, it gives everyone an idea as to how many people are we capable of producing every ten years to add to the human resource in our country but what are he further steps which the govt takes based on the facts drawn from such census is more important...
Counting the number of heads itself is a herculian task and counting them on the basis of castes is yet another step ahead of that...
Nevertheless, there should be some ideas which my more technologically advanced friends should suggest to make a software and employ it to actually do away with just counting numbers every ten years...
Another thing which comes to my mind is making use of this opportunity to verify the credentials of people who physically live on our soil which again is a further difficult task, just seeing the present scenario when people come from our friendly countries and stay back to collect information for their counterparts in some other corner.. however just declaring such a check might act as a deterrent maybe...
A nice and thoughtful blog indeed..
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