OBC Count In Census

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The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has urged the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to collect data on the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country “as part of Census of India 2021 exercise”.

Background

• The panel had written to the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister on December 12, 2018, requesting for appropriate Budget provision for a proposed all-India survey for an estimate of the caste-wise population of OBCs.

Recent instances

• In January 2021, both the Odisha and the Maharashtra governments had adopted similar resolutions urging the government to determine the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country.
• Bihar became the third state to pass a resolution in its assembly demanding that the 2021 Census exercise be based on caste.

Need for OBC count in the census

• There have been growing demands for a caste census with the general census in 2022 since Justice G Rohini-led commission submitted a draft proposal recommending a sub-categorisation of the reservation for the OBC.
  • The Rohini Commission, too, is facing difficulties due to the unavailability of data on various communities classified under OBCs.
• Experts believe the idea of sub-categorisation would be a meaningless exercise without the caste census that could help the government understand the exact deprivation levels.
  • They also say it would perpetuate the historical injustice as those deprived among OBCs can be left out because the present reservation is based on the 1931 caste census when India’s population was 270 million.
    • The 1931 caste census included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh also.

Beginning of Caste Census

• A population census was first carried out by the British colonial state in 1872.
•  The 65-page census volume enumerated the populations of various castes, including Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Rajputs, across several provinces.
• Caste populations were specifically counted based on their traditional occupations at the time.
  • For instance, “Hindoos” in the Madras province were counted in 17 sets, which included “priests, warriors, traders, agriculturists, shepherds and pastoral castes” among others.
• The last time comprehensive data on caste was collected was in the 1931 Census.

Why has it not been carried out since 1931?

• The categories of ‘Race, Caste or Tribe’ was replaced by the ‘Scheduled Tribe/ Scheduled Caste’.
  • There is little documentation about the discussion or debate that had transpired between leaders of the time on what the census would include.
• Subsequent reports and studies have attributed to the belief that “including caste data in census enumeration will perpetuate the caste system and deepen social divisions”.
  • Recording of caste was abandoned after Indian Independence in 1947, to help smooth the growth of a secular state.

Source :IE