Demand for caste census rocks Lok Sabha
TNN, May 4, 2010, 04.57am IST
NEW DELHI: One thing the founding fathers, with an eye on creating a
post-caste India, did was to dub caste-based head count a strict
no-no. But on Monday, the LS erupted with a strong demand for
enumerating backward classes as part of the decennial census which has
just got under way. The issue took the Centre by surprise as it was
thought of as settled as Census 2011 was finalised recently after PM
Manmohan Singh did not agree with the demand of law minister Veerappa
Moily for revival of caste-based census. The last such exercise was
done in 1931, under the British.
While the issue was raised by the Yadav triumvirate, bringing the
House to a standstill, it truly marked the journey of the contentious
issue from the political fringe to the mainstream. Virtually every
political party demanded it, from Akali Dal to Shiv Sena to AIADMK to
DMK, not to mention backward outfits of UP-Bihar — RJD, SP and JD(U).
The LS will discuss the matter on Tuesday.
The issue has brought out a metamorphosis in political discourse in
doctrinaire outfits too. The Left, which put "class" over "caste",
lent its voice to the clamour. Basudeb Acharia of CPM said as much.
Gurudas Dasgupta of CPI agreed with it though he pushed for an
all-party meeting.
If the Left drifted castewards, BJP too gave its nod. Sushma Swaraj,
leader of Opposition, said census was the best source to collect
information on the "poor" which will serve as an estimate for laws
like the Food Security Act. She added that reservation benefits were
being given on the basis of guesstimates and census could help
determine those numbers. "But there is no column for it. In fact,
there is a column for nationality which will help the intruders," she
said.
While government has expressed its inability to revert to caste-based
enumeration, it has, significantly, not based its opposition on
ideoology. It has cited logistics, saying the exercise is already on.
Moily said the same. This is a big change. The fear among mainstream
political parties has been the abhorrence of middle classes to things
caste, with resistance to Mandal report being the watershed. Even OBC
outfits have been soft on issues relating to backwards, like quota in
central educational institutions, as their mobilisation of core
votebase has peaked over time and they have moved on to woo the upper
castes.
This time, they appear emboldened by the fact that BJP and Congress
are also singing the same tune.There are strong arguments in its
favour and against. The proponents say caste census will help
allocations to be made for OBCs. But it is also felt that a move to
determine numbers can trigger an irreversible chain of events over
reservations.
Times View
The refusal to include a question on caste in the census makes no
sense. Keeping caste out of the census does not mean we can wish it
away. More importantly, as long as the government offers affirmative
action for groups that are backward for historical reasons, it must
gather as much information about them as possible. That does not mean
just counting the numbers of the backward castes. It also would help
policymakers in identifying more precisely just which groups are
disadvantaged and to what extent. This is essential because policy can
then deal with facts rather than impressions, as is the case now in
the absence of any authoritative data.
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