The debate over conducting a caste census in India has intensified as both Opposition parties and an ally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) push for its discussion in Parliament. The issue, which played a central role in the recent general elections, is now gaining traction as the parliamentary committee on the welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is urged to take it up formally.
Opposition Parties Unite for Caste Census
Hearing the newly formed parliamentary panel’s meeting that will focus on OBC welfare on Thursday, the Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, and DMK demanded a caste census. These parties tried hard during the meeting chaired by BJP MP Ganesh Singh to include caste census on the panel’s list of businesses to be transacted annually.
Opposing the caste census has been a key policy stand of the Narendra Modi government at the center while the Lok Sabha leader of the Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi strongly supports it with stressing the imperative of demographic profiling in order to ensure fair representation of the backward classes, specially the dalits and other vulnerable sections, in government and key decision making roles. The matter is at the moment being framed as one that should be up for parliamentary debate. This was one of the reasons that led to the transfer of votes of OBC and Dalit from the BJP in the past elections.
NDA Ally JD(U) Joins the Call
An NDA partner, the Janata Dal (United), gave the demand more credibility by supporting the caste census. JD(U) lawmaker Giridhari Yadav insisted on the relevance of the matter to the party by pointing out that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was leading the 2023 caste survey in Bihar. As JD(U) is an alliance partner of BJP, it has always supported the caste census and is now demanding that Union government must take rigid stand on the issue.
Supporting caste-based census, Nitish Kumar coordinated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by visiting an all-party meeting in 2021. The JD(U) believes that only a caste census can help the government decide whether quotas in government jobs and education are indeed helping the underprivileged. The party also demands that affirmative action for the vulnerable sections of the society is to be carried out by the Union government as has been done in Bihar.
The Complexity of the Caste Census Debate
In India, the caste census is a divisive topic with a long history. Caste was extensively counted in censuses conducted during the British colonial era, but only Scheduled Castes and Tribes were formally counted in subsequent censuses once the practice was discontinued in independent India.Although there are unofficial estimates, there hasn’t been an official count of backward groups since 1931.
The central government declared in 2011 that it will carry out a socioeconomic and caste census in addition to the customary decadal census. The government, however, maintains that methodological issues kept the caste figures from ever being released. The combined population of OBCs and extremely backward classes is 63.13%, according to the findings of the most recent caste survey carried out in Bihar, which was the first caste census undertaken since independence. On the other hand, Scheduled Castes and Tribes make up 19.65% and 1.68% of the state’s population, respectively. The upper castes make up 15.52%.
Moving Forward: The Next Steps
The Union Home Ministry representatives and the parliamentary panel on OBC welfare are expected to meet to talk about the potential inclusion of a caste census in the next decadal census. When this conference will occur and the government’s response to the mounting calls for a caste census are still unknown, though.
It is obvious that the caste census controversy has the power to drastically alter India’s political climate as long as it is discussed. The caste census is expected to continue to be a hot topic in the coming months due to pressure from both opposition parties and an NDA ally.
The renewed drive in India to conduct a caste census serves as a reminder of the mounting pressure on the government to deal with this delicate and complicated matter. The result of the ongoing talks in Parliament will have a significant impact on the social and political structure of India.
