Open Forum

New Delhi, 7 May 2025

Caste Census

WILL BACKWARD CLASSES GAIN?

By Dhurjati Mukherjee 

The decision to make a caste decision is welcome but questions arise when and whether the survey would reflect the ground reality. Political analysts are of the opinion that the BJP has now changed its strategy and is trying to bring together OBC-Dalit-Muslim into its fold to consolidate the party’s position, which is necessary at this juncture before the Bihar Assembly election and to retain power. Meanwhile, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has rightly demanded that the Centre provide the timeline by when the census would be carried out and warned that the exercise will only bear fruit if it is designed to ask the right questions, as done in the Telangana survey. 

Calls for a national caste census crystallized after Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), the ruling party in Bihar, published the results of a statewide caste survey. It is significant to note that the survey, released in October 2023, revealed that over 80 per cent of the state's population belongs to extremely backward classes. As the RSS maintained last year that such census should only be to address the welfare of those communities and caste and should not be used as a political tool or for electioneering, 

Caste consciousness is evident in today’s situation as even now in educated and liberal families, marriages of upper castes are generally avoided with lower castes. In rural and semi-urban areas, members of subaltern castes continue to suffer not just discrimination but also oppression based on their social status.   

One may mention here that the last time a proper caste census was conducted was way back in 1931by the colonial government. Since independence the oppression and neglect of lower castes continued. It is only in last few decades that caste mobilization served to bring about some empowerment of subaltern groups. But caste politics could not deliver generalized economic well-being to the impoverished and deprived masses. 

As is well known, the lower castes in the country, who mostly belong to the extremely backward sections, have been exploited for decades. The latest data available from National Crime Records Bureau of 2000 revealed that a total of 25,455 crimes against Dalits were committed; two Dalits were assaulted every hour, and in each day three Dalit women were raped, two Dalits were murdered, and two Dalit homes were set on fire. Even Amnesty International documented a high number of sexual assaults against Dalit women, which were often committed by landlords, upper-caste villagers, and policemen, according to a study published in 2001 and the situation has not changed in the current decade. 

Though the Indian Constitution abolished untouchability, the oppressed status of Dalits and lower castes. remains a reality. In rural India, they still live in secluded quarters, do the dirtiest work, and are not allowed to use the village well and other common facilities". Though there has been some progress over the last 60 years, the lower castes are still at the social and economic bottom of society. 

Recently, the Supreme Court emphasised the need to bridge the digital divide faced by large sections of the rural population, including economically weaker sections, which are mostly from lower castes. The Court stated that “in the contemporary era, where access to essential services, governance, education, healthcare and economic opportunities is increasingly mediated through digital platforms, the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution must be interpreted in the light of these technological realities”. The judgment’s highlighting perpetration of systemic exclusion is, no doubt, a reality today which is testimony to the discrimination against the lower castes that is continuing. This, in a way, testifies to the need for a caste survey to identify the conditions of the extremely backward classes.    

The misplaced priorities in development over the decades have been a bane for the lower castes and the Dalits who continue to suffer humiliation and neglect in various ways. There are apprehensions that the announcement of the caste census has been just an eye wash and results followed by affirmative action may not be taken up as of now. The ruling dispensation has all along followed a pro-business policy and this has led to wanton neglect of the lower echelons of society, who mostly reside in the backward and tribal districts of the country. 

The most important emphasis would obviously be on ensuring that Dalit and Adivasi children get proper education. But the tragedy is that the interior and tribal districts lack good schools, not to speak of colleges, and the government sadly refuses to address the anomaly. Moreover, scholarships for students who pass out from school have to be increased so as to ensure that children from subaltern families get the opportunity to get good education and stand up in life. 

Just conducting a caste survey may not help. There is a need to evolve a comprehensive plan of action to uplift the condition of the extremely backward castes in a phased manner and for this, experts from various fields should be inducted to formulate the plan. The private sector should also be involved in this exercise. 

There is need for balanced development which can ensure socio-economic equality that is being emphasised by social scientists the world over. To start with more funds must be allocated for welfare programmes aimed at the lower castes but recent figures indicate that, in many cases, the allocations have been curtailed. Along with this, the political will has to change as also the social outlook of the upper castes who have always looked down on their low caste brethren. More people from the lower castes have to be part of governance to enable them to highlight the conditions of the extremely backward classes and ty at their mitigation.  

It is indeed tragic that a major section of the educated, who lecture about equality and social transformation, are still concerned with the caste system though India is making rapid strides in progress. It goes without saying that real education obviously means that all humans, irrespective of caste, colour and religion, must be treated equally. How far the census would help the deprived sections, needs a close watch.—INFA 

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