Opinion Caste in the right mould

anthropology they applied. Also,the purpose of enumeration today is radically different from that of the British rulers. As such,the idea of an universal caste census — that is,docketing every Indian by caste — is not just impractical,but against the spirit of the Constitution.

Yet,such an absurd proposal which is not feasible and least desirable is being seriously discussed on public forums and is not negated by the government. Perhaps the idea is to buy time,keeping the debate in a state of confusion while a group of ministers pushes it on the back-burner. But it is not inconceivable that the idea of the government and of OBC leaders really is enumeration of every Indian by caste. If that happens it would be the saddest day for Indian democracy.

It is not difficult to anticipate some long-term consequences such a comprehensive caste census might create. First,it would permanently put caste identity over all other identities. Second,it would legitimise subjugation of individuals to the authority of caste and to its hegemonic,often mafia-like,leadership. Third,it would severely undermine social and cultural identification of people with non-caste socio-economic and cultural categories such as the middle class — which is the emerging and enlarging identity for a growing number of Indians. Fourth,it would permanently reduce India to a democracy of communities rather than make it a democracy of free citizens,voluntarily associating with collectivities representing their political,cultural or economic choice.

It is therefore important that the issue of introducing caste in the census is grounded in the policy discourse,and issues of implementation taken into account.

First,the Constitution provides for reservations as well as dispensing of other benefits to OBCs where they are not (already) adequately represented. Unlike for SCs and STs the constitutional requirement is adequacy and not proportionality of their presence in jobs and educational seats. This has enabled a fair assumption that their representation in the legislatures does not require any constitutional or legal provision,for their huge numbers in the population would ensure their electoral and other political representations. Yet,the constitutional requirement of assessing adequacy of representation cannot be satisfactorily met until reliable information about their caste/ community-wise numbers (in the population and in jobs) is officially available.

Second,an OBC-caste census is eminently feasible. Unfortunately it is not widely known that this issue has been empirically resolved and specific groups — castes and communities from every religious denomination (Hindu,Muslim,Sikh,Christian) — of the OBCs have been identified through procedures recommended by the Constitution and elaborated by the law courts. The lists of the OBC communities have been Centrally streamlined and reconciled with the states lists by commissions appointed for the purpose. All that is involved here is that a census investigator be officially supplied with a list of identified OBC castes in a region — as is the case with the SC/ ST lists — against which he/ she can record the respondent’s caste.

Third,making the numbers officially available for the already identified and listed groups would put an end to what is today an open-ended politics of contentions about entry into the OBC category and for escalating claims to different types and extents of benefits by those inside the category. The politics of the ’80s and ’90s largely thrived on such a state of semi-institutionalised and unevenly implemented policy. The result is: a large part of benefits have been cornered by a few,politically powerful and socially influential OBC groups who virtually have blocked benefits from going down to a large number of smaller,poorer and powerless OBC communities.

Thus seen,the idea of “including caste in the census” should strictly be confined to OBC enumeration — required for the limited objective of just and proper implementation of the prevailing policy. But if the decision is postponed,or altogether avoided,it is likely to push what is perhaps a politically manageable policy issue today into a vortex of politics — a politics that might give a new lease of life to the dying politics of the ’80s and ’90s.

OBC enumeration might,however,radically change the nature of OBC politics that we see today.

First,a formidable vested interest is at play in not allowing any public debate,let alone implementation,of the exit policy (from reservation). The policy should have been implemented by 2003,as was required by the Supreme Court judgment in the Indira Sawhney case. But politics prevailed over the policy and the task set by the apex court for the government remains unrealised till today. But now,if the listed OBC communities in every state are enumerated and the figures are analysed in correlation to other socio-economic and educational data obtained through the census,it will at once become evident which communities among them can no longer be counted as backward.

Second,dissemination of such new information will inevitably create political awareness among the lower rungs of the OBCs about the unjust implementation of the policy by which only a section of the OBCs have benefited. Such change in perceptions might privilege the discourse of rights and justice over the one that has degenerated today into viewing backwardness unidimensionally as a permanent condition of some castes and development as a property intrinsic to others.

Third,the census data can lend strong political content to the otherwise known fact that the dominant OBC communities are no longer embedded in backwardness,thanks to their increasing participation in development processes,but more particularly the structural divisions and differentiations within each of them where unity is not underwritten by sharing poverty or their members exhibiting a common social outlook. In fact,with overall development and reduction of poverty in the country,the structural linkages between caste and backwardness are increasingly becoming weaker,in different degrees,for all communities. The issue therefore is not whether,but for how long,the old politics will survive in the changed reality.

All this,if the census data on the OBCs are collected in the first place and then analysed,presented and used for the purpose of just and efficient implementation of the prevailing policy — that is,to make benefits travel down to the “last OBC”,while continually creaming off the upper layers. Such policy will remain relevant till the systemic connection of caste to backward-ness is randomised and its social-structural basis is thinned down.

The writer is at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies,Delhi

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