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Caste Count
May 10, 2010, 12.00am IST
The government has unfortunately given in to pressure from the OBC
lobby to include caste as a category in the 2011 Census. The last such
exercise was undertaken in 1931, making this the first time since
independence that caste will be included in the census. There was good
reason why caste wasn't included in the census since the idea was to
move towards a casteless society. In that sense, the government's move
is regressive it would result in the perpetuation of caste as a
lynchpin of government policy. We have argued in these columns that
people must move beyond restrictive categories such as religion or
caste. While it is undeniable that Dalits, who have been oppressed for
centuries, needed and have been empowered by affirmative action, the
same cannot be said for the OBCs. There is good evidence to suggest
that OBCs such as the Yadavs have become dominant groups in terms of
political and economic clout.
There are other good reasons for not including caste in the census.
The logistics of caste enumeration is daunting. When a similar
proposal had come up earlier, the then census commissioner had warned
that it would be too complex and could affect the integrity of the
population count, which is the prime purpose of the exercise. Besides,
with over 6,000 castes, sub-castes and groups, it would be a nightmare
for census officials to get correct data and collate it. It is time
that we gradually take out caste from the calculus of public policy
and move towards affirmative action based on economic indicators. That
would not only be a more equitable process, it would also deal a body
blow to the politics of caste.
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