Bihar’s Caste-Based Count

Context

Recently, the Bihar Cabinet approved a proposal to carry out a caste-based ‘count’ in the State. 

Need for the caste census

• A step towards equality: A caste census would help us point out those caste that are not represented in the institutions of this country so that steps towards equality can be established.
• It would also justify the extension of reservations to various communities.
• The aim is that every section of society can progress properly.
• The Last Caste data with the government: The last caste census was in 1931 and the government still uses this as a basis to estimate demography and different caste groups. 
• There have been significant changes in the demography of this country.
• Data unavailability: The Rohini Commission too, faced difficulties due to the unavailability of data on various communities classified under OBCs.
• The Commission was set up to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of OBCs.
• Effective service delivery: A fresh estimate of the population is necessary to ensure more effective delivery of targeted welfare.
• State actions on caste data collection: Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana had carried out similar counts in the name of “socio-economic surveys”.
• Popular demand: Along with Bihar, other states like Jharkhand and Odisha are also reiterating their support for the caste census. 

Criticisms

• A colonial practice: Every Census until 1931 had data on caste. So it was a colonial practice of divide and rule which drove them toward collecting such data.
• Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes. 
• May increase caste divisions: The 21st century India should be discussing 'let’s do away with caste' rather than further divide India on those lines. 
• Caste census may “rekindle divisive feelings among people.
• Demand for reservations: Reservations that were implemented for 10 years have continued for 75 years and a caste-based census may lead to a demand for more.
• No constitutional Mandate: Unlike in the case of the SCs and the STs, there is no constitutional mandate for the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India, to provide the census figures of the OBCs and the BCCs.
• Difficulties in such counts: Union government contended that such an exercise was not feasible given that there are too many castes and sub-castes in each state and Union territory making it difficult to classify them.
• Political agenda: At a deeper level there are politics involved in the matter.
• Bihar’s politics has been dominated by the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), the numerically powerful social group.
• Socio-economic caste census (SECC): The Union government cited that the socio-economic caste census (SECC) conducted by the government in 2011 contained too many discrepancies and the data was withheld.