Key points
- Two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people are estimated to be on lower caste
- The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes: BBC
- Caste data was last collected as part of the official census exercise in 1931
ISLAMABAD: India will conduct its first official caste census since independence, the government announced on Wednesday, a move likely to have far-reaching consequences for its politics and contentious affirmative action policies.
AFP reported that caste remains a crucial determinant of one’s station in life in India, with higher castes the beneficiaries of ingrained cultural privileges and lower castes suffering entrenched discrimination — and a rigid divide between both.
Social standing
More than two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people are estimated to be on the lower rungs of a millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing, AFP reported.
According to BBC, the main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation. Outside of this Hindu caste system were the achhoots – the Dalits or the untouchables, BBC reported.
According to AFP, the decision to include detailed caste data as part of the next census — originally due in 2021 but yet to take place — was approved by a government meeting headed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs has decided today that caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming census,” AFP cited government spokesman Ashwini Vaishnav as saying.
No date has been announced for the next census.
Amit Shah, India’s interior minister claimed, “This decision will empower all economically and socially backward sections.”
Fears of social unrest
Caste data was last collected as part of the official census exercise in 1931, during British colonial rule that ended with Indian independence 16 years later.
Successive governments have since resisted updating the sensitive demographic data, citing administrative complexity and fears of social unrest.
A caste survey was conducted in 2011 but its results were never made public because they were purportedly inaccurate, according to AFP.
That survey was separate from the 2011 general census, the last time the world’s most populous nation collected demographic data.
Social divisions
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has in the past opposed the idea of enumerating people by caste, arguing it would deepen social divisions.
Proponents say detailed demographic information is crucial for targeted implementation of India’s social justice programmes, including earmarking nearly half of all university seats and government jobs for socially disadvantaged communities.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi — a strong advocate of the idea — said he “welcomed” the move.
