Caste Census

• 02 Jun 2022

For Prelims: Census, Socio-Economic and Caste Census

For Mains: Significance of Caste Census, Challenges Related to Caste Census

Why in News?

Enumerating, describing, and understanding the population of society and what people have access to, and what they are excluded from is important not only for social scientists but also for policy practitioners and the government.

• In this regard, the Census of India, one of the largest exercises of its kind, enumerates and collects demographic and socio-economic information on the Indian population.
• However, the critiques of the exercise of the census consider it as both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, but not quite useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society. They suggest regular conduct of Caste Census in order to understand the societal structure completely.
• It is indeed strange that while caste plays such a dominant role in our social, economic and political life, no credible and comprehensive caste data exists for more than half the population of our country. But the conduct of the Caste census itself has garnered resistance from within the society/critics that it may accentuate caste-based discrimination and violence.

What is Census?

• Origin of Census:
  • The origin of the Census in India goes back to the colonial exercise of 1881.
  • Census has evolved and been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others to capture the Indian population, access resources, map social change, delimitation exercise, etc.
  • However, as early as the 1940s, W.W.M. Yeatts, Census Commissioner for India for the 1941 Census, had pointed out that “the census is a large, immensely powerful, but blunt instrument unsuited for specialized inquiry.”
• First Caste Census as SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census):
  • SECC was conducted for the first time in 1931.
  • SECC is meant to canvass every Indian family, both in rural and urban India, and ask about their:
    • Economic status, so as to allow Central and State authorities to come up with a range of indicators of deprivation, permutations, and combinations of which could be used by each authority to define a poor or deprived person.
    • It is also meant to ask every person their specific caste name to allow the government to re-evaluate which caste groups were economically worst off and which were better off.
  • SECC has the potential to allow for a mapping of inequalities at a broader level.
• Difference Between Census & SECC:
  • The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
  • Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas according to the SECC website, “all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government
  • departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.”

What is the Significance of Caste Census?

• Benefit in Policy Making: The purpose of a caste census is not merely geared to the reservation issue; a caste census would actually bring to the fore the large number of issues that any democratic country needs to attend to, particularly the number of people who are at the margins, or who are deprived, or the kind of occupations they pursue.
  • A caste census, which will generate exhaustive data will allow policymakers to develop better policies, implementation strategies, and will also enable a more rational debate on sensitive issues.
• Reveal Privileged Section of Society: Caste is not only a source of disadvantage; it is also a very important source of privilege and advantage in our society.
  • There is a need to stop thinking of caste as being applicable to only disadvantaged people, poor people, people who are somehow lacking.
  • The opposite is even more true: caste has produced advantages for certain communities, and these also need to be recorded.
• Caste has an Important Position in Indian Society: While census data has been captured for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, religions and linguistic profiles, there has been no profiling of all castes in India since 1931.
  • Since then, caste has assumed an increasingly important position in our lives, and our reliance on inadequate data has also increased.
• To Address Prevalent Inequalities: Unequal distribution of wealth, resources and education has meant an acute shortage of purchasing power among the majority of Indians. Hence, the caste census helps to address these issues in a democratic, scientific and objective manner.
• Constitutional Mandate: Our Constitution too favours conducting a caste census. Article 340 mandates the appointment of a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes and make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by governments.
• To Burst the Myths: There are a lot of myths which actually deprive a large number of people, particularly on the margins.
  • For instance, In Karnataka, there were claims that among the castes, the Lingayats are the most numerous.
  • But a lot of other studies have brought out that this may not be true, and these kinds of myths lead to the argument that given that this is a caste which is numerous, it has to be constantly placated. These myths can be debunked through a caste census.
• Reduce Inclusion and Exclusion Errors: With accurate data of castes, most backward castes can be identified.
  • Some have benefited so much across the years, while there are people in this country who have not benefited at all.

What are the Associated Challenges?

• Repercussions of a Caste Census: Caste has an emotive element and thus there exist the political and social repercussions of a caste census.
  • There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities.
  • Due to these repercussions, nearly a decade after the SECC, a sizable amount of its data remains unreleased or released only in parts.
• Caste Is Context-specific: Caste has never been a proxy for class or deprivation in India; it constitutes a distinct kind of embedded discrimination that often transcends class. For example:
  • People with Dalit last names are less likely to be called for job interviews even when their qualifications are equal to an upper-caste candidate.
  • They are also less likely to be accepted as tenants by landlords. Thus, difficult to measure.
  • Marriage to a well- educated, well-off Dalit man still sparks violent reprisals among the families of upper-caste women every day across the country.
• Lack of Trust & Clarity: The Supreme court has time and again asked governments to provide the data related to castes; however, this has not been possible due to the non-availability of such data.
  • As a result, our national life suffers from mutual mistrust and misconceptions among different castes.
  • All such commissions have had to rely on data from the last caste census (1931).
• Other Issues: There are apprehensions that caste-based census would further promote:
  • Caste-based political mobilisation
  • Strong sentiments for or against reservations

What are the Methodologies that can be Adopted?

• Comprehensive list of castes can be made and condensed into meaningful categories via machine learning tools.
  • These categories could then be validated by domain experts in various States.
• It can then be used to make a district specific list of castes that would cover more than 90% of individuals in any given district.
  • Respondents can then be allowed to self-identify from the precoded list.
• The residual group’s responses recorded verbatim could be categorised later.
  • This is very similar to the technique through which occupational and industrial classification systems are created.

What can be the Way Forward?

• Utilizing Existing Data: As SECC has its own concerns, linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys may help the governments realize the intended benefits of SECC.
  • National Sample Surveys cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, information of land and asset ownership, consumption expenditure, nature of employment, which would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis.
• Digital Alternatives: Statisticians pointed out that Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing digital methods that are precise, faster, and cost-effective.
  • However, care must be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.
• A Preliminary Census: Further, independent of census, a preliminary socio-anthropological study can be done at the State and district levels to establish all sects and sub-castes present in the population.

Conclusion

A caste census may not sit well with the goal of a casteless society, but it may serve as a means of addressing inequities in society.

• With every passing day and increasing social awareness, the urgency to do away with the caste system is being sharply felt. Dr. BR Ambedkar stated that if India had to attain a place of pride among the comity of nations, caste would have to be annihilated first.
• The 21^st century is the right time to solve India’s caste question, which would otherwise extract a heavy price, not just sociologically, but also politically and economically, and make us fall behind in the development index.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question

Q. Consider the following statements: (2009)

1. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the density of the population of India has increased more than three times.
2. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the annual growth rate (exponential) of the population of India has doubled.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Ans: (d)

Exp:

• One of the important indices of population concentration is the density of population. It is defined as the number of persons per square kilometre.
• The population density of India in 2001 was 324 persons per square kilometre and in 1951 it was 117. Thus, the density increased more than twice, but not thrice. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, i.e., in 1901 the density of India was as low as 77 and this steadily increased from one decade to another to reach 324 in 2001.
• The average Annual Growth Rate in 2001 was 1.93 whereas in 1951 it was 1.25. Thus, it increased, but not doubled. Hence, statement 2 is not correct. Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

Source: TH