It would be dangerous to identify caste
Suhit SenFirst Published : 03 Feb 2010 12:33:00 AM ISTLast Updated :
03 Feb 2010 12:57:39 AM IST
There has been a talk of introducing caste enumeration in the
decennial census process, beginning with the next one scheduled for
2011. If the proposal goes through it will be the first time since
1931, when the last colonial census was held, that caste enumeration
will be in practice.
The proposal raises some interesting questions. To examine them we
need to go, briefly, into some of the academic research and writing,
in various disciplines, on caste that have been available for the past
quarter of a century or so. Historians and anthropologists have argued
that colonial ethnography, in which the census process was
well-embedded with its grave preoccupation with enumerating caste
membership and fixing hierarchies, contributed seminally to creating a
rigid caste system out of what had been in pre-colonial times a
locally diverse, flexible and socially negotiable arrangement.
It is also important to note that the caste system functioned at two
levels: those of varna and jati. Varna provided the overarching
hierarchy of the caste system — Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra
— and the Brahminical ideology based on the notions of purity and
pollution that undergirded it. Jati — translated into English usually
as subcaste — provided, however, the functional endogamous unit of the
caste system. Subcaste hierarchies were flexible and negotiable. The
actual hierarchy in a given locale could change and be refashioned
according to numerous factors such as economic conditions, social
status and endowments, and political power. Thus, for instance, in
Bengal, the dominant castes have traditionally been Brahmins,
Kayasthas and Vaidyas, though in varna terms, the second and third are
actually Shudra.
Historians have also argued that alongside the processes unleashed by
the colonial ethnographic project, historical changes that began in
early part of the 18th century and continued till the early part of
the 20th, also contributed to the rigidification of the caste system.
Among these, the pre-eminent one was the rising status and power of
the Brahmins over the Kshatriyas, especially under the Maratha
imperium, and a valorisation of the Brahminical ideology and way of
life.
What bearing do these academic musings, in fact, have on the choice at
hand — that is, whether or not to carry out caste-based enumeration
during the next census operations? We need to go back to the origin of
the proposition. The N C Saxena Committee, constituted to go into the
question of below-poverty-line categorisation and overhaul the
process, had mooted a caste-based enumeration, especially to identify
the other backward castes (OBC), when it submitted its findings last
year. Being a conscientious former bureaucrat, one, moreover, with a
sensitive social conscience, Saxena was primarily concerned with
proper identification, so that poor people did not get left out of the
social security net because of rigid bureaucratic formulas. If
implemented, Saxena's recommendations will result in a massive
increase in the number of people getting state protection from hunger
and want. No sensible person can fault Saxena, given the highly
formalistic, inadequate, iniquitous and unfair definitions of poverty
used by the state.
The question then is: Will caste-based enumeration help identify the
poor in better ways or will it just end up making the social reality
of caste more rigid? And will it lead to caste consciousness becoming
more heightened and, therefore, lead to more intensified caste
conflicts? These are difficult counterfactuals to follow up, but the
answers are important when the choice is to be made.
First, we need to ascertain the extent to which knowledge about caste
affiliation will make it easier to target beneficiaries of state
subsidies, direct or indirect. This will mean trying to make sense of
how far caste and class/income group are aligned. The answer, surely,
will be that even after 60-plus years of Independence and affirmative
action, the Scheduled Castes and Tribes are still by and large the
poorest strata in this country, even if a small layer among them has
done well for itself. This elite tends, unfortunately, to be
self-reproducing. So, it will clearly make it easier in some way to
channel state aid to the poor by identifying the numbers and location
of this population.
In the case of the OBCs, the situation is much messier. The fortunes
of the OBCs have varied dizzyingly in different regions and
post-Mandal the situation has become much more complicated. In some
areas, the OBCs have made massive economic gains without corresponding
social and political gains. Thus, the political revolutions of some
parts of the southern parts of the country and the Hindi heartland
have not been matched elsewhere, notably, say, in West Bengal. Then
again the economic revolutions have bypassed many regions and numerous
caste groups. Still others are demanding inclusion in the OBC list.
Given this uneven picture, it is difficult to see an OBC enumeration
making a significant contribution in channelling aid, though some
difference ought to result.
The point is whether the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.
What is the flip side? It is difficult to resist the argument that
just as in colonial times, enumeration of caste affiliation could end
up offering a kind of official imprimatur to caste as a social
phenomenon and cause it to be frozen in a number of ways. On the other
hand, it would not be altogether vacuous to argue that caste is a
lived reality throughout the country and census investigation or no,
this is not going to change in a hurry.
The answer lies in not introducing caste enumeration into census
operations, but rather making a more realistic definition of poverty
and instituting a more foolproof mechanism for physically identifying
the poor. Caste investigations could be part of that process.
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