The case for a caste Census

Collecting data on group identities is essential for informed policy making and inclusive development, despite resistance from vested interests

Peter Drucker famously said, “Only what gets measured gets managed.” The problems of social groups that have been historically discriminated against (be it by caste, race, religion, gender, disability etc.) cannot be resolved without collecting data group-identity wise. Doing so is not a capitulation to identity politics but a vital step towards informed policy making and inclusive development.

For instance, Germany’s census does not enumerate people by race. This has worked to the disadvantage of its Black people who started a private, country-wide, online survey called Afrozensus in 2020. Its results showed that anti-Black racism is widespread and institutionally entrenched in Germany.

Applying Cicero’s test of cui bono (who benefits?), it can be said that the demand for enumeration generally emanates from the victims of discrimination and is resisted by vested interests.

A caste Census is crucial for four reasons — one, it is a social imperative. Caste continues to be a foundational social construct in India. Only about 5% of Indian marriages were inter-caste as of 2011-12. The use of caste surnames and caste marks is still widespread. Residential segregation by caste persists. Choices of candidates for elections and ministers for Cabinets continue to be dictated by caste considerations.

Two, it is a legal imperative. Constitutionally-mandated policies of social justice which include reservations in electoral constituencies, education and public employment cannot be pursued effectively without detailed caste-wise data. Even though the Constitution uses the word class instead of caste, various rulings of the Supreme Court have held caste as a ‘relevant criterion’, ‘sole criterion’ or ‘dominant criterion’ for defining a backward class, and have demanded detailed caste-wise data for upholding reservation policies.

Three, it is an administrative imperative. Detailed caste-wise data is necessary to avoid/correct wrongful inclusions of undeserving castes and exclusions of deserving castes, and to guard against a few dominant castes in a reserved category crowding out others. It is also needed for sub-categorising castes within a reserved category and to determine the income/wealth criterion for the creamy layer.

Four, it is a moral imperative. The absence of detailed caste-wise data has helped a coterie of elites, among upper castes and dominant Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to corner a disproportionate share of the nation’s assets, incomes, and positions of power.