Caste in census, give your opinion about the inclusion of caste census, whether it is advantageous or not.

Census of India had been collecting, compiling, tabulating and disseminating caste data right from the first census of 1871 till 1931, in 1941 too it was collected but tabulation was dropped as a money saving measure because of the Second World War.

Advantages of caste census-

·         It will give reliable data on the socio-economic status of different communities. It will enable us to identify the extent to which affirmative action policies help them to enhance their socio-economic life as well as the quality of life they enjoy.

·        There is no reliable data about the percentage of population of different communities, Supreme court and various High courts often asked central government to provide reliable data on the OBCs and the government so far could not provide it. Hence it is said that caste census will help government to provide empirically validated data which could be made use of by the courts to examine the legality of reservation policies.

·        Caste census will help to identify the most backward classes among OBCs, it is assume that OBCs comprise 52% of population of which 30% belong to most backward classes. It is brought out by many studies that the middle class or the upper class among OBCs as represented by the castes like Jats, Yadavs, Kurmis , Gujjarsetc have got extremely benefited by the affirmative action policies by the State, thus caste census will enable the government to know the socio-economic status of these backward classes. So as to re-oriented its affirmative policies for the betterment of these groups.

Points of objection-

·        It is the challenging task for census of India to make people enumerate or reveal their caste identities , the last caste census conducted n 1931 reveals that 1.88 million people did not want to reveal their caste identity.

·        Caste data may be made use by political leaders for their better electoral outcome , it might enhance the role of caste in politics leading to the politics of vote bank, it might further divide the society .

·        Similarly the newly revealed census data might force certain communities to demand higher reservation in public jobs and over represented communities might not be willing to part with the fruits of reservations they enjoy .this can potentially lead to social conflict.

Conclusion-

Caste census provide an empirical data to understand the society better , it will provide data which will reveal the socio-economic status of various communities as also their numerical strength.