Relevance: GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Phrases: Census of India, Socio-Economic Caste Census-2011, Nagaland case study, data corruption, misrepresentation of data, Mandal Commission, caste-based privileges.

Context:

• Counting people should be the easiest statistical exercise in the world. But as the history of failed censuses across the world show, many countries find it very challenging to accomplish this task.
• Independent Nigeria’s first census in 1962 was rejected because it showed that the numerical strength of the northern region, populated by its most dominant tribes, was lower than expected.
• A fresh census was ordered in 1963 and the north’s hegemony was restored after 8.5 million people were ‘discovered’ there. Censuses in the country have been irregular and controversial since then. All subsequent censuses (1973, 1991, 2006) have followed the ‘1963 formula’ in allocating people across regions.

What kind of caste data is published in the Census in India ?

• Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
• Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.
• However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.
• Thus, the count of OBCs is, therefore, available for 1931, when their share of the population was found to be about 52 percent.
• SECC 2011 was the first caste-based census since the 1931 Census of India.
• The Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 dataset was supposed to provide detailed data, but the data was in such poor shape that its individual caste tallies were never published.
• The SECC dataset was an improvement over earlier BPL (below poverty line) censuses in identifying deprivation levels. But the SECC may have overestimated deprivation levels in several parts of India.

Objectives of Caste census:

• To enable households to be ranked based on their Socio-Economic status. State Governments can then prepare a list of families living below the poverty line.
• To make available authentic information that will enable caste-wise population enumeration of the country.
• To make available authentic information regarding the socio-economic condition, and education status of various castes and sections of the population.

What are the arguments against a caste census?

• Potentially Divisive:
  • The caste census will give rise to caste-based division.
  • As India seeks to eliminate and weaken the notion of caste, a caste census would only strengthen it.
• Credibility of data provided:
  • Given that a caste census would be used to decide future reservation and welfare benefits, respondents may lie about their jati (or sub-caste) or their material possessions.
  • Enumerators too may have strong incentives to portray their community as especially deprived.
  • In regions dominated by a particular caste group, there may well be attempts to inflate that group’s headcount at the expense of others. Statistically speaking, ‘non-sampling errors’ are likely to be very high.
• Operational difficulties and Feasibility:
  • Population Census is not the ideal instrument for the collection of details on caste
  • Some sections of people believe that Caste is a very important source of privilege and advantage in our country. On the other hand, some sections of people feel disadvantaged by revealing caste-based information.
• Non-uniformity and Multiplicity of lists of Other Backward Classes (OBCs)
  • Unlike the SC and ST lists, which are exclusively Central subjects, there are multiple state and union territory lists of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
  • While there are 2,479 OBCs in the country as per the Centre’s list, the numbers as per state and union territory lists are 3,150.
  • In some states, orphans and the destitute are included as OBCs. In some other cases, SCs converted to Christianity are listed as OBC.
  • Given that OBCs are the dominant social group across several states, and several dominant communities want to be classified as OBCs in other states, the contestation around caste and deprivation in India primarily centres around who should be included in the OBC list.
• Politically-motivated Distortions:
  • Since Castes/ SEBCs/ BCs/ OBCs have become an integral part of politics, motivated returns through organised and surreptitious means cannot be ruled out.
  • Such motivated returns can seriously influence the Census results and even put the Census process in jeopardy
• Contest for state patronage:
  • The history of ethnic counts suggests a census is likely to be repudiated or compromised if it is viewed primarily as a contest for state patronage among social groups.
• Misrepresentation:
  • Conducting a caste census without addressing the fundamental problem of misrepresentation will lead to spurious results.
  • Such data would then be challenged by aggrieved social groups and perhaps become the subject of long-drawn court battles.
  • The idea that welfare and reservation benefits should be delivered to those who need them most is unobjectionable.
  • The challenge lies in putting this idea into practice. No Indian politician or bureaucrat in any part of the country has been able to come up with a foolproof answer to the problem.

What are the arguments of those demanding a caste census?

• Promotes Rational Decision Making:
  • A caste census, which will generate exhaustive data will allow policymakers to develop better policies, and implementation strategies, and will also enable a more rational debate on sensitive issues.
• Promotes Democratic Policymaking:
  • Advocates of its inclusion believe that the activity will be a pro-poor exercise that will help plan better and more targeted welfare schemes in the country.
  • A caste census would bring forward a large number of issues that any democratic country needs to pay attention to.
  • For instance, this census will reveal information regarding caste-based marginalisation, deprivation, the kind of jobs pursued by a caste, etc. It will help in better policymaking.
• Rationale for Reservation Policy:
  • Some proponents also suggest that a Caste Census will also help reservation policymakers have a more accurate idea of the affirmative action needed.
  • While this data is currently available for SC and ST populations, the OBC population is estimated widely as per the number noted by the Mandal Commission at 52%.
  • The Justice Rohini committee was appointed in 2017 to look into the sub-categorization of the OBC communities; however, in the absence of data, there can be no data bank or any proper sub-categorization.
  • All commissions have had to rely on data from the last caste census (1931). There have been substantive demographic changes since then and therefore, the data has to be updated.
• Constitutional Mandate:
  • 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.
• Reducing the caste Divide:
  • There is also a large body of scholarly work, done by sociologists, political scientists, and historians, which bypasses the welfare argument to assert that India’s fundamental mistake in its battle to overcome caste was not doing a caste census.
  • According to these scholars, formal blindness to caste in a casteist society results in a denial of the web of caste-based privileges that continue to funnel opportunities to those at the top of the caste hierarchy.
  • They point out that while the very term ‘caste’ has come to be associated with ‘lower castes’, the SCs or the OBCs, the upper castes tend to appear “casteless”.
  • They argue that to abolish caste, it is essential to first abolish caste-derived privileges and to do that, the state must first map castes and their socio-economic status privileges/deprivations, which is what a caste census seeks to do.

Way Forward:

• A census gives us rich data that allows us to take stock of where we are as a nation. And caste is a vital part of that. But a caste census without data integrity would be much worse. Government should devise a foolproof strategy to address the fundamental question of misrepresentation.
• The government can use technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big data, and machine learning to assess the SECC data and condense them into meaningful categories and some important caste-based information. This will provide the necessary time to analyse the need for a caste census.
• The SECC will help to move to the principle of 'program-specific indicators for program-specific entitlements'. Recognizing many dimensions of poverty and tackling them with different programs, in multiple fields like health, education, sanitation, and mid-day meal can be universal; others like affordable housing and disability can be targeted.

Source:  Live-Mint

Mains Question:

Q. “A caste census would be used to decide future reservation and welfare benefits, but when the economic stakes are high, it is hard to prevent data corruption.” Critically Examine.

Q. Caste census is the way forward for equitable growth. Discuss