Union Government Decides to Enumerate Caste in Upcoming Census
With the Union Government planning to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census, top anthropologists and population scientists are concerned about the challenge of accurately listing the total number of castes and communities in India. Currently, there is no comprehensive repository of these groups, except for the Constitutional lists of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The 1931 Census of India, the last one to enumerate castes, counted over 4,147 different castes and sub-castes across the country, including 300 groups with Christianity as their religion and 500 that followed Islam. Notably, the 1931 exercise asked enumerators not to insist on caste information for "Moslems, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Aryan or Brahman Hindus," but to record it if provided.
Today, there are over 3,651 communities classified as OBCs, 1,170 as SCs, and around 850 as STs (including repetitions, given that many groups are found across multiple States and regions). The only record of total castes or communities living in India is contained in the Anthropological Survey of India’s "People of India" volumes, published after a seven-year-long project that tabulated 4,635 "communities" and hundreds of their sub-castes and sub-groups. This list included communities classified as SC, ST, and OBC, apart from which it counted 2,203 castes and communities (mostly General category).
The Office of the Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner must consult with academics, people, caste groups, political groupings, and the public at large to arrive at a comprehensive listing of castes and communities to be enumerated. This is one of the failures of the SECC (2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census), according to Professor Ram B. Bhagat, former Head of Migration and Urban Studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences.
In the absence of a concrete listing of castes and communities to be enumerated, the SECC in 2011 yielded as many as over 46 lakh different "castes," with many citizens entering their surnames under the field for caste, thereby inflating the numbers. The Census Commissioner in charge of the 1931 Census, J.J. Hutton, had led with the same methodology. According to the Census reports published from the time, it took months for them to publish draft lists of castes and communities, consider public protests, incorporate their suggestions and preferences before arriving at a listing.
A top official of the Anthropological Survey of India, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed with Prof. Bhagat’s argument about the starting point for any caste enumeration exercise. The 1931 Census report also acknowledged that caste is a dynamic phenomenon, with new caste names now that did not exist before. Enumerators must account for linguistic variations in caste names and the regional diversity.
Once there is a consensus on the listing of castes and communities that need to be enumerated, another challenge will be of classifying them. The Census reports of 1931 also noted that the then government could not arrive at how to classify these communities, leading to many of them featuring in the list of castes, tribes, and races all at the same time, depending on regional variation. Even now, there are several communities whose classification varies based on the State they are residing in.
Regardless, listing the castes and public notification of these lists for discussion is of paramount importance. At least now, there is a precedent in the way that Bihar or other States have done theirs, arguing that the only foreseeable way for this [listing] to be done was to make it "regionally disaggregated."
Reference : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/experts-say-listing-of-castes-will-be-first-challenge-in-census/article69522195.ece
