By Satyaki Paul
Recently, the Union Government was approached by a 11-member delegation led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to converse their demand of a caste-based census raising again the long-pending demand of counting the Other Backward Classes (OBC) population of India.
The delegation met PM Modi on such topic as because since 1941, every census published in India had data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). However, it did not include the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in its list. In this vein, numerous political parties, including that of Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), a supporter of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), have been asserting for a caste-based census in current context.
This brings us to the first question: What is the caste census?
The notion of caste census means inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India’s population in the Census exercise held one in ten years. As of 1951 to 2011, every census in India has published the population of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), encompassing the Dalits and the Adivasis, along with the scale of data including religions, linguistics, socio-economic status, etc. Nonetheless, our census has never counted OBC’s, the lower and intermediate castes which coarsely comprises around 52% of India’s population(as per B.P. Mandal findings).
Secondly, why is there a request for an OBC census?
The request to include caste in census is a long-pending one. It emerges due to the fact that there is no documented data on OBC population in India. The demand usually comes up every time in the run up to the census exercise. The disagreement for the demand is that since the census already documents huge amounts of data including religions, linguistics, socio-economic status and Dalits and Adivasis, why not count OBCs too. Furthermore OBCs, account for around 52% (as per B.P. Mandal findings) of the country’s populations, are the targets of many welfare schemes and other favourable action programmes such as reservations in works, education, etc.
Thirdly, why have successive governments opposed OBC Census?
In this context, domain experts have stressed that the BJP has been unenthusiastic on the issue of caste census, possibly, because of the fear that the numbers about OBCs might provide a new issue to the regional parties to mount pressure on the Centre for an OBC quota in central government jobs and educational institutions. Furthermore, a furore might take place similar to that of when B.P. Mandal Commission presented its report to the then government-of-the-day. Such issue can be comparable to “Pandora’s-box” as because a new vote bank may also emerge.
Fourthly, what was the stand of Opposition on this issue?
The BJP is not the first ruling party at the Centre to snub an OBC count. The former Congress-led UPA-I and UPA-II governments have also shied away from it. The UPA-II government led by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh approved to the demand of a caste-based census and conducted a separate socio-economic and caste census (SECC) in 2011. So, the SECC was undertaken in due course but the data is not yet publicly available. Such type of census was carried out jointly by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in rural areas and the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUA) in urban areas.
Lastly, what are the political implications of Caste census?
The data on OBCs would be seriously helpful to the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, as because similar tactics have already worked out for the state of Bihar. CM of Bihar Nitish Kumar has been able to carve such a vote-bank for his party. Furthermore, political analysts have observed that BJP remains a prevalent choice among OBC voters during general elections but not so much in assembly elections. Thus, ahead of the scheduled Census 2021, many political parties both from the side of ruling parties and the oppositions have come together demanding a caste-based census.
Nonetheless, it should be kept in mind that during British Raj a census of 1931 contained the data on OBCs. In 1941, the caste count was omitted apparently because of administrative and financial issues with England involved in World War II (1939-45). So, such form of exercise was already undertaken and now it can be done in a grander/ proficient manner with the aid of modern technologies. Such form of data would surely aid the government-of-the-day in pin pointing the beneficiaries through welfare schemes and affirmative actions such as reservations in works, education, etc.