Caste Census: What it means, why it matters, and how it could be a political tinderbox?

Caste Census: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), on 30 April approved the enumeration of castes in the upcoming Census — a surprising decision that the opposition, and Rahul Gandhi have long been demanding amid the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) resistance. A pan-India census, due in 2021, was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modi government's push for caste enumeration has already stirred the political pot in the country, with the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi claiming credit ahead of the crucial election in Bihar - a state where caste plays a key role in electoral outcomes. 

Though the date of Census is not yet known, but the announcement by BJP government will feature during the election campaign in Bihar. 

What is Caste census, why does it matter, and how would this open a Pandora's box in the country's political dynamics? LiveMint explains in this short primer:

What is Census?

The Census is a decennial population-based survey that was conducted 15 times until 2011. It was undertaken every 10 years beginning in 1872 under Viceroy Lord Mayo, and the first complete census was taken in 1872. Post-1949, the Census was conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

All the Censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act, which predates the Constitution of India. The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next was to be held in 2021 before it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

The next census is yet to have a confirmed date.

What is meant by Caste Census?

A Caste Census means collecting Caste-based data during the Census. The data provides details on the distribution of caste groups, their socio-economic conditions, educational status, and other related factors.

The idea behind the caste census is to include questions about caste during the ordinary census exercise.

Caste enumeration was a regular feature of census exercises during British rule from 1881 to 1931. However, with the first census of independent India in 1951, the government discontinued the practice.

After India got its freedom, the government classified citizens into four broad groups based on social and educational criteria: Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backwards Classes (OBC), and the General category.

But the data gathered during Censuses since 1951 in India included the numbers of individuals belonging to the SCs and STs, besides religious denominations like Hindus and Muslims.

Members of caste groups other than SCs and STs were not counted. By 1961, however, the Union government had allowed states to conduct their own surveys and compile state-specific lists of OBCs if they wished.

The last caste data available is from the 1931 Census, which was taken before independence. The 1941 Census, which was taken during World War II, also collected data on caste, but it was never released.

Which states have done Caste Census in India?

The Modi government's push for caste enumeration in the upcoming Census follows the caste surveys conducted by at least three states: Bihar, Telangana, and Karnataka.

Bihar conducted the survey and published the data in 2023, when Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister, was the head of the JDU-RJD-Congress government. Telangana and Karnataka are both Congress-ruling states.

The Congress government in Telangana released its Socio Economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste survey report in February last year. On Wednesday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy reacted to the Central government's decision, saying that today, we have finally proven that what Telangana does today, India will follow tomorrow.

The Karnataka caste survey report, or the Socio-Economic and Education Survey, was commissioned during CM Siddaramaiah’s first term in 2015. However, the report was submitted to him only on February 29 this year. It was finally tabled before the CM Siddaramaiah Cabinet on April 11.

Is Caste Census good or bad?

For long, the BJP was seen as averse to the caste census. In fact, many party leaders often targeted the Congress, accusing it of using caste to divide the society.

On July 20, 2021, Minister of State (Home Affairs), Nityanand Rai, told the Parliament that the Modi government has decided it's a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in the Census.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who announced the decision, called it the reversal of the Congress party's policy. He blamed the Congress party for never conducting a caste census since independence and all the years it was in power.

Why is the Caste Census needed now?

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the consolidation of disadvantaged sections of society within the SCs, OBCs, and STs around the opposition's agenda impacted the BJP’s numbers in many states and, in fact, denied it a simple majority, unlike in 2014 and 2019, according to analysts.

A senior BJP leader told news agency PTI that the party's lesson from the 2024 results was the need to make constant efforts to win over the deprived sections. These sections have been voting for the party in good numbers since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advent on the national scene but are not its committed voters.

The government has yet to announce the next census, which was held in 2011. So, the timeline of the caste census and its political implications remains far from clear.

The announcement comes as the Opposition, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the forefront, has adopted the caste census as a key election plank. It also comes six months ahead of the assembly election in Bihar, one of the key Hindi heartland states considered a cauldron of caste politics in India.

BJP's rivals, including the Congress, often turned to social justice politics, speaking about the empowerment of non-general castes, to counter its overarching plank of Hindutva. With the Modi government's decision on caste census, the BJP hopes to disarm them, at least for now.

What is SECC of UPA?

In September 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led Union Cabinet decided on a separate Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC).

The data from the SECC, which cost around ₹4,900 crore, was published by the Ministries of Rural Development and Urban Development in 2016, but the caste data were excluded.

The raw caste data was handed over to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which formed an Expert Group under then-NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Arvind Pangaria to classify and categorise it. The data has not been made public yet.

What happens next?

Political experts said that the announcement of caste enumeration during the upcoming census is more about ‘rhetoric than substance.’ The next steps, which include conducting the exercise, releasing the numbers, and how parties weaponise them to seek quotas and sub-quotas in jobs and education proportional to caste representation, might as well open a Pandora's box, they said.

“The Supreme Court has put a 50 per cent cap on reservations. The caste data, whenever it comes, would only have a meaning when it is used in fixing quotas in jobs, reservations etc. Will the parties challenge the 50 per cent quota. It is not going to be easy. It will open a Pandora's box,” political analyst Rasheed Kidwai told LiveMint.