Why India must get the Caste Census right

The Government of India has announced that the upcoming Census will include caste enumeration—a major shift in policy that could transform social justice planning and reservation systems. This decision follows long-standing debates on the need for comprehensive caste data, especially after the failure of the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) and the success of Bihar’s caste survey.

Constitutional Mandate and Policy Contradictions

• Mismatch Between Social Justice and Caste Blindness: While the Constitution mandates social justice through reservations in education, employment, and elections, the Indian state has historically avoided counting caste (except SC/ST), leading to a contradiction in policy intent and execution.
• Legal Basis for Caste as a Proxy for Backwardness: The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that caste is a valid proxy for identifying backwardness and has demanded granular data to justify reservations, reinforcing the need for caste-based enumeration.
• Ambedkar's Warning on Data Invisibility:R. Ambedkar criticized the exclusion of caste tables from the 1951 Census, calling it an act of “petty intelligence,” emphasizing that visibility in data is foundational to meaningful inclusion and equity-driven planning.

Administrative Necessity and Data Inequity

• OBC Exclusion Despite Constitutional Eligibility: Although OBCs are constitutionally entitled to reservations (especially post 73rd and 74th Amendments), the absence of their data in the decennial Census obstructs rational implementation, especially in local governance and EWS reservations.
• Evidence Vacuum and Elite Capture: Current reservation policy lacks reliable caste data, leading to overrepresentation by dominant OBCs—10 OBC castes enjoy 25% of reservations while 38% get only 3%, and 37% get nothing, according to data presented to the Justice G. Rohini Commission.
• Need for Continuous Caste Data Collection: Limiting caste data to once-a-decade surveys is insufficient; all government surveys should include disaggregated caste data across all groups to enable ongoing social auditing and policy recalibration.

Learning from Past Failures and Future Roadmap

• SECC 2011 – A Cautionary Tale: The SECC-2011 failed due to lack of legal mandate, poor institutional coordination, and unstructured data collection methods, producing an unusable dataset claiming 46 lakh castes, which was never officially released.
• Success of Bihar’s Caste Survey: Bihar’s approach—using a pre-vetted list of 214 State-specific castes and structured enumeration—demonstrated that a credible caste count is achievable with proper planning and methodology.
• Blueprint for a Robust Caste Census: The article outlines nine actionable steps, including amending the Census Act, empowering the Census Commissioner, using digital tools, closed-option questionnaires, State-specific caste lists, rigorous training, and piloting in key States before rollout.

Practice Question:

Q. The absence of comprehensive caste data in India undermines the efficacy of its affirmative action policies. Critically analyze this statement in light of recent debates on caste enumeration, with reference to constitutional mandates, social equity, and administrative challenges.