On July 20, the Modi government told Parliament that it had decided to not conduct a caste census. The only caste-wise data the next census...
On July 20, the Modi government told Parliament that it had decided to not conduct a caste census. The only caste-wise data the next census would collate would be on Dalits and Adivasis, the same as every census in independent India’s history. India’s largest caste bloc – the other backward classes – would not figure in the exercise.
Delivered as an answer to a written question by Union minister of state for Home Nityanand Rai, the answer did not attract a great deal of attention. Despite this, a caste census is vital for India. Large government programmes as well as much of popular politics is often built on the architecture of caste – an inevitable reflection of the unique role this institution plays in Indian society.
For the Modi government to then refuse to count caste in India’s census is inexplicable. It is a decision that will hurt governance as well as social equity.
The history of counting caste
Starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, the British Raj began conducting elaborate censuses in order to better know the subjects it ruled over. One of the heads under which data was gathered was caste: an elaborate system of social stratification that has been in place for thousands of years and...
