Why India needs a Caste based Census

In my view, we require a caste based census which doesnt follow the intent of pigeonholing people but to uplift, since it is paramount for governance to create a mechanism that will allow India to overcome this generational social disease.

The caste census will provide foundations for policy, planning and evidence-based affirmative action since affirmative action policies in India today are operating without precise data of beneficiary groups, and a census would be able to map the population and the share of various caste communities backed by their socioeconomic conditions. Lack of such data causes disparities and hampers effective policy making, such as measuring the extent of caste-based education, income, and health gaps, allowing for a more equitable distribution of government resources and then helping curate more effective development programmes. 

The Indian Constitution mandates equality and affirmative action to uplift the disadvantaged, and a census aligns with the constitutional vision, ensuring that the state has all the necessary information to fulfil direct directives under articles 15(4) and 16(4) that promise the equality of opportunity. It would enable answering administrative questions like how quotas for Other Backward Classes in public employment or higher education can be set fairly and how these communities fare on development indices relative to others. 

Marginalised groups fear that if they’re not counted, then they will be discounted, and a census can empower these marginalised communities by officially validating their demographic strength. Leaders of various backwards caste movements have demanded proportional representation, which is asking for jobs, educational seats, and political constituencies to be allotted in line with the group's share in the population. Still, without updated numbers and access to data, these claims and their actionables would lack precision.

Ambedkar in the Round Table conferences in the 1930s viewed a need for political representation of Dalits based on their population. A credible consensus could recalibrate political representation by informing the limitation of constituencies or the rotation of seats reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, potentially making a case for extending reservations to other backwards classes. But this can only happen when they’re underrepresentation is documented correctly. This data can act as power, and a consensus would allow marginalised groups with the power and the statistical influence to press for their fair share in the country's decision-making processes, thereby uplifting their identity through their caste.

It’s not just about representation in jobs or colleges; this goes beyond that since a census would even encompass disparities in wealth, land, ownership, and access to public service delivery. Data, if collected through a social economic parameter could also show researchers patterns of exclusion that are hidden by national averages or national development indices like the human development index It can confront society with the reality of cast operation on ground with data backed concrete knowledge contemporary advocates, see the consensus as a mirror to society which quantifies the age old problem of marginalisation, so that it cannot be shrugged off as anecdotal. 

The census would enhance governance by providing reliable data to track progress. It would then act as a baseline against which the success of policies and schemes can be measured to see how upliftment schemes are working over time and whether they are able to achieve the intended impact. Thus, the census would solidify the senses as a necessary tool in the fight against class marginality.

It is understandable that the census comes with various concerns that it may continue to perpetuate cast identity and solidify cast division when society needs to be moving beyond them. However, that would be the case if caste were a waning topic in Indian politics. A system that is entrenched in Indian culture and lifestyle needs to be studied, and choosing not to view a certain problem through the lens because of the fear that it may further and entrench identity is viewed by me as an avoidant move that stands in the way of affirmative action through evidence-based policy making.

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