http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/india.caste.count/
India revives colonial-era caste count
By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
September 10, 2010 -- Updated 1055 GMT (1855 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Prime minister approves a bid to hold the count after the general census
The last time India collected comprehensive caste data was 80 years ago
Proponents of caste-based classifications say the exercise will help
groups get their legitimate claims
Critics argue it jeopardizes national integration.
India
New Delhi, India (CNN) -- India plans to hold a full count of its
citizens and their castes, the country's first since 1931.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet on Thursday approved proposals
to hold the count separately next year after the ongoing general
census is over, a government statement said.
The move largely aims to enumerate low-caste groups called Other
Backward Classes (OBCs), which a government-appointed commission in
1980 reported makes up 52 percent of the population.
The last time India collected comprehensive caste data was under
British rule, almost 80 years ago.
After gaining independence in 1947, India picked only two of its most
disadvantaged communities in its decennial population calculations
instead of listing all of them from Hinduism's complex caste
hierarchy.
This year, regional political parties drawing support from
marginalized communities mounted pressure on Singh's government to
expand the current census to cover all groupings.
Proponents of caste-based classifications say the exercise will help
the downtrodden -- also referred to as the Dalits -- get what they
call their legitimate claims.
"Besides, a comprehensive government data on such communities will
also eventually determine the share they deserve in the overall
establishment, be it jobs or governance," said Balbir Madhopuri, a
Dalit scholar and writer.
India's constitution outlaws discrimination on the basis of castes,
which date to thousands of years.
The country has launched numerous schemes to uplift low-caste groups,
including reservations in government jobs.
Critics, however, argue that a caste-based survey would jeopardize
national integration.
"It is extremely distressing that now, after 60 years, the government
appears to be inclined to revive the old British colonial practice of
caste enumeration," a campaign called Meri Jati Hindustani, or My
Caste is Indian, says on its website.
"Inclusion of caste in the census will cause deep fissures and
divisions in the society, and weaken the sense of Indian nationhood,"
it adds.
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