Context

• Census data has historically served as a cornerstone of public policymaking in India, offering vital insights into domains such as health, education, housing, and employment.
• Against this backdrop, the Narendra Modi-led government’s recent announcement to include caste enumeration in the upcoming national Census has sparked widespread debate.
• While many have hailed this as a necessary and overdue step to address systemic inequalities among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), critics have raised concerns about its political motivations and limited practical impact.

The Case for a Caste Census and Limits of Data Driven Justice

• The Case for a Caste Census: An Empirical Foundation to Assess the Socio-Economic Realities
  • Proponents of a caste-based Census argue that it offers an empirical foundation to assess the socio-economic realities of various caste groups, especially the OBCs.
  • With reliable data, affirmative action policies can be more effectively targeted, and the legitimacy of welfare programmes can be better defended in judicial forums, which have often questioned the reliability of surveys and commissions.
  • Furthermore, disaggregated data could help identify inequalities even within the OBC category, such as the plight of the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), allowing for more nuanced and inclusive policymaking.
  • In principle, caste enumeration is a vital tool in a stratified society like India.
  • Regular institutional exercises to collect caste data can deepen understanding of social inequalities and offer direction for targeted interventions.
  • However, to place the caste Census at the centre of policymaking, as if it were a prerequisite for justice, is a flawed interpretation.
  • It risks overburdening a data-collection tool with reformist aspirations that it was never designed to fulfil.
• The Limits of Data-Driven Justice
  • The role of the Registrar General of India is to collect and present neutral, factual information, not to dictate social reform.
  • Elevating the Census into a political instrument risk undermining the objectivity of this vital institution, especially in an already polarized environment.
  • More crucially, Indian public policy has historically been shaped not by perfect data but by political mobilisation and moral resolve.
  • The most significant social justice initiatives in India, including the implementation of reservations, land reforms, and the Mandal Commission recommendations, emerged from political struggles, mass movements, and electoral imperatives.
  • The decision to introduce the reservation policy for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) under the current government was not based on a robust database but on political considerations.
  • This highlights a critical truth: data is often incidental to policy decisions, not foundational.

Existing Data and Unfulfilled Promises

• It is misleading to suggest that the absence of a caste census has paralysed policy formulation. In fact, extensive data on caste-based disparities already exists.
• Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) have been consistently enumerated in national Censuses, and supplementary surveys such as the National Sample Survey, National Family Health Survey.
• Also, reports by the National Crime Records Bureau have revealed stark disparities in education, employment, and safety for these groups.
• The Bihar Caste Survey and the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) have further exposed the precarious economic conditions and internal diversity within the OBC category.
• Despite this, transformative policy action, particularly for OBCs, remains elusive. Representation in the private sector, judiciary, media, higher education, and the upper echelons of bureaucracy remains disproportionately low for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
• Yet, no substantial measures have been enacted to address this underrepresentation, underscoring the gap between data availability and political action.

The Way Forward: Political Will as the Driving Force

• While a caste census may enrich our understanding of social hierarchies and inform more equitable policymaking, it is not a panacea.
• Data can illuminate disparities, but it cannot rectify them.
• The decisive factor in the pursuit of social justice is not the quality or quantity of data, but the resolve of the ruling elite and the pressure exerted by a democratic populace.
• A caste census might sharpen the diagnosis, but the treatment demands moral clarity, political courage, and institutional action. 

Conclusion

• India's future as an inclusive democracy hinges not on statistical exercises but on the commitment of its leaders to dismantle entrenched hierarchies and expand opportunities for its most marginalized citizens.
• Without robust political will, even the most detailed data will remain inert, a map with no journey. It is in action, not enumeration, that justice finds its true expression.