The release of the Caste Census Report by the State of Bihar has opened the controversy on introducing the caste variable in the census. There are many who regard the approach as venomous and having the potential to open the forces of divisiveness. The political Opposition is demanding a caste census as empirical evidence to qualitatively assess the beneficiaries of development and understand the inequities in the society. Many of the intellectuals are not in favour of caste census and view it as a regressive and retrograde step. At the same time, it is true that the forward castes and classes share in the benefits of development is highly disproportionate, considering their share in total population. Democracy should result in inclusiveness, equity, representation and participation of all and not exclusively of the forward minority. The ‘other backward classes’, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes which constitute around 83% of the population are hardly visible when it comes to industry, professions, higher education, public employment and in democratic institutions of governance. This is the real crux of the issue.
Caste and Classes: Caste plays a role in politics throughout India. In Goa too, the highly literate and liberal state, voters accord importance to caste. Casteists deny the existence of caste system and discrimination. There are some who hold that the caste consciousness and discrimination does not exist in urban India. The intensity might have declined but caste identity continues to dominate in political and social life. Even today, 95% of the marriages are within the caste. In the Northern states of India, we are aghast to see the caste violence and discrimination let loose by the upper castes. We continue to hear of honour killings of newly married inter-caste couples.
The decoding of the caste census in Bihar reveals that the ‘other backward classes’, ‘economically backward classes’ constitute 63% of the total population. Along with the scheduled castes, this aggregates to 82%. However, it is the upper castes who constitute 15% of the population having the domineering participation in the democratic institutions and the different instrumentalities of the state. These are the gaps which need to be filled and the inequities streamlined for democracy to be effective and real.
The statement of Rahul Gandhi “Greater population, greater rights” (Jitni abadi, utna haq) should not be dispensed as a mere political slogan. Equity in representation and participation should be considered as working towards achieving merit and distinction scores in a democracy. The Census report collects data about region, language, religion and gender. The figures and status of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes gets space in the Census. The absence of the survey on ‘other backward classes’ in the census is illogical. The same reasons which justify the survey on language and religion, equally justify the survey data on caste.
It is civilised and appropriate to choose the track of a casteless society. But this objective cannot be achieved by suppressing the backward castes and denying them their rightful share and participation. The more the inequities in this regard, the more the caste emotions get strengthened. Caste mobilisation and polarisation in a society gets a booster doze when there is exploitation and discrimination. The abysmal low representation of ‘other backward classes’ in education, public employment and state bodies spurs polarisation. Therefore, the road to a casteless society should understand the crying need for proper and balanced representation.
Goa Opposition demand: The Opposition parties in Goa have petitioned the Goa Governor for a detailed caste-based survey to gather validated data on the level of forwardness and backwardness of SC, ST, Economically Backward Classes and OBCs. Such a survey will provide ready evidence to the government and the administration on the representation of OBCs in the different categories of government jobs. The survey would also throw light on which castes have benefited from the government schemes and the castes left behind. The Opposition parties have hinted that the understanding of inequity in government employment and beneficiaries of government schemes within the different castes under the other backward classes will be a positive guide to do course correction.
Goa should set the ball rolling for the caste census. The Bihar census has proved that it is within the State power to conduct the survey if the Central government keeps this void. The caste data will also expose the hollowness of the majoritarian cults which are dividing the people on religious lines. The caste based census and survey will release the empirical data. The government could test the claims of the success and failure of whatever interventions done so far to improve the participation of the OBCs in democratic governance.
No additional quotas: Caste survey is not for more quotas. The demand is for empirical data and not for any hike in reservations. Hence, the demand for a caste survey should not be shot down by shooting the bullet of reservations or ‘mandalisation’. The survey is needed to get actual feedback on implementation of existing quotas. The data will also throw light on which backward classes have still remain backward in terms of participation in government services, education and democratic institutions. Just as we speak of inequities between forward and backward, inequities within OBCs need to be understood.
The empirical data will result in effective policy formulation and implementation for backward classes. In reality it is a Census or survey of classes. The classes are denoted under the nomenclature of caste.
(Archit Naik is a practicing lawyer)
