July 25, 2010
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News Analysis
Divisive, populist and insidious exercise
Enumerate economic not caste-based data
By Shyam Khosla
UNDER pressure from its regional allies and supporting parties, the
Prime Minister indicated in Parliament at the fag end of the budget
session that the Government would take a favourable decision on the
demand for caste-based Census. Leader of the Opposition, presumably
motivated by desire not to lose OBC vote bank to party's rivals, rose
to say her party was not opposed to the demand. The ball was, thus,
set rolling to undertake a divisive, populist and regressive exercise
without any of the two major parties having discussed and debated the
issue in depth at any of their respective party forums. While the OBC
leaders belonging to almost all parties went to town celebrating their
"victory", the Congress and the BJP now find themselves in a bind.
Fortunately, there are still some elements in the Congress that are
more committed to national integration than populism. They are
resisting this insidious exercise. Consequently, the Group of
Ministers (GOM) constituted by the PM to evolve a consensus on the
issue failed to arrive at any decision. It decided to consult other
political parties before taking a final call. BJP is also divided on
the issue. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, who is known for his commitment to
the party's ideology, strongly came out against the move. The issue
did crop up briefly at the BJP's recent national executive meeting at
Patna. While deputy leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde
argued in favour of caste-based Census, Dr Joshi vehemently opposed it
on the premise that such an enumeration would weaken the nation and
hurt social harmony. Earlier, the RSS had issued a statement strongly
opposing caste-based Census arguing that it would further accentuate
divisions in the society and would serve no useful purpose.
The British rulers had introduced caste-based Census in India in 19th
century to serve their colonial objectives. They used the caste data
for pitting one caste against the other to weaken and suppress the
national movement. Yet, the Census authorities repeatedly pointed out
that enumerating caste posed serious problems. Successive Census
Commissioners reported caste mobility in early decades of 20th
centuries. First Government of Independent India understood the
inherent dangers in accentuating caste divisions and removed the caste
column in the Census held in 1951. There has been no enumeration of
castes since 1931. What is the rationale for introducing this
insidious exercise after 63 years of Independence?
Supporters of caste-based Census argue that once the exact number of
persons belonging to OBC category is known the Government would be in
a better position to formulate and effectively execute affirmative
action to uplift the deprived sections of the society. It is a
specious argument that is incompatible with holistic development.
Those who are propagating the theory of caste-based backwardness are
indulging in populism and worse. This must be resisted. Social and
educational backwardness has not much to do with the castes and sub
castes. The solution is not to promote reservation mania but to
formulate policies for holistic development and execute them
effectively.
Those who want to create vote banks and political clientage by
resorting to caste-based enumeration leading to more and more
reservations must be thoroughly exposed. Scheduled Castes are a case
apart. They had been discriminated against socially and economically
for centuries. Founding fathers of the Constitution provided
reservations for them for 10 years. That the period was extended time
and again shows reservation is not a panacea for solving the problems
of deprived sections of society. Experience has shown that
reservations for S/Cs and S/Ts did help these communities in their
social and economic upliftment. Beyond a point, reservations create
vested interests. The real gainers are those belonging to creamy layer
at the cost of the poorest of the poor.
Reservations for OBCs arbitrarily implemented by V P Singh unleashed a
caste war that paralyzed large parts of the country for months. The
nation paid a heavy price in terms of loss of life and property and
social harmony. Unlike in the past when every community wanted to be
counted as "upper caste", the new trend is that more and more
communities want to be included in Dalit and OBC category to share the
benefits of reservations in jobs. This may lead to caste-wars as
Dalits and OBCs would resent others joining their caste groups to
share the gains of caste-based reservations. This is not a figment of
imagination.
This writer is an eyewitness to what happened in Punjab on the issue
of enumeration of mother tongue during the Census operations in 1950s
and 1960s. The state was in turmoil because of Punjabi Sooba (Punjabi
speaking state) and pro-Hindi agitations. Under the influence of the
Arya Samaj, many a non-Sikh speaking chaste Punjabi claimed Hindi was
their mother tongue. Enumerators later recalled that many a person who
couldn't properly pronounce one Hindi word claimed the language to be
their mother tongue. This further alienated the Sikh community. RSS
Sarsanghachalak Shri Guruji publicly advised people of Punjab to
accept the truth that Punjabi was their mother tongue. His sane advice
had a dramatic effect on Punjabis. Consequently, number of Punjabi
speaking persons in the state registered a big jump in the subsequent
Census removing one of the genuine grouses of Sikhs.
Caste-based Census will take us back centuries and retard our progress
towards modernity and inclusive growth. The nation doesn't need
caste-based data to formulate policies for affirmative action.
Instead, the Census must produce data about our people's living
conditions, the extent of unemployment and under-employment and
migration of people from one region to the other, from rural areas to
urban habitats.
We need data about the number of people who had no shelter and are
denied public health services. It is this and similar other data that
would provide the policymakers to formulate appropriate policies to
eliminate poverty, unemployment and under-employment. A positive
aspect of the public discourse on the issue is that small groups of
influential public men and intellectuals have launched movements in
different parts of the country against enumeration of caste in the
ongoing Census. They are requesting people not to disclose their
castes in the event of Government conducting a caste-based
enumeration. Their suggestion is that every citizen should say his
caste is Indian, Bharatiya, Hindu or any other collective name. It is
a small beginning that needs to be converted into a mass movement.
This will send the right message to national as well as regional
parties.
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