This National Council of Communist Party of India demands a caste wise census and also
enactment of a law to remove the cap of 50% on reservation imposed by the Supreme Court.
Caste census is essential to understand and address caste-based inequalities and social
stratification accurately. Caste has been a predominant and foundational social construct in
India.
Constitutionally mandated policies such as reservations in education, employment, and
legislative bodies rely on caste-based data to ensure effective implementation.
Constitutionally-mandated policies of social justice which include reservations in electoral
constituencies, education and public employment cannot be pursued effectively without
detailed caste-wise data
The extreme social and economic inequality persistent in India has no equal elsewhere in the
world. The recent caste wise census survey conducted in Bihar report revealed that 63 per
cent of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) 21% SCs and STs constituted the state's total
population of 13 crore. The General category constituted 15%. The economic divide in the
state is commensurate with the social strata as revealed by the report.
Various rulings of the Supreme Court have held caste as a ‘relevant criterion’, ‘sole criterion’
or ‘dominant criterion’ for defining a backward class, and have demanded detailed caste-wise
data for upholding reservation policies.
There has been a strong reluctance to collect or release caste-based data publicly, as seen in
the case of the Socio Economic and Caste Census of 2011 and the Government of
Karnataka’s socio-economic survey report of 2015. Odisha, too, surveyed caste-based
information in May 2023, but its report is not yet officially released. The BJP government is
in absolute denial to hold a Caste wise census because their ideology is opposed to social
equality upholding the caste stratification.
This council demands that the Census Act, 1948 be amended appropriately to make
enumeration by caste mandatory. it is a legal imperative.
It is an administrative imperative since a caste-wise data is necessary to avoid or to correct
wrongful inclusions of undeserving castes and exclusions of deserving castes, and to guard
against a few dominant castes in a reserved category crowding out others. It is also needed
for sub-categorising castes within a reserved category and to determine the income and
wealth criterion for the creamy layer.
This council reiterates that caste wise data is a moral imperative to address the centuries old
subjugation and discrimination suffered by the oppressed castes determined by their birth.
The absence of detailed caste-wise data has helped a coterie of elites, among upper castes
and dominant Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to corner a disproportionate share of the
nation’s assets, incomes, and positions of power.
Caste wise data is a constitutional imperative since the Indian constitution envisages social
justice. Social justice cannot be fulfilled without a data of indiscriminate deep fissures
created among the people due to the unscientific social stratification of castes. Casteism will
not wither away by not counting caste in the Census.
Besides, availability of caste-wise is imperative to distinguish the arbitrary demands from
caste groups and capricious decision-making by governments. Governments cannot and
should not rely on fuzzy data because it gives them the latitude to implement reservations
arbitrarily for electoral considerations.
Along with the caste wise data, to make it implementable, it is essential to enact a law to
effectively remove the 50% restriction imposed by the Supreme Court.
This limit has been in place since a Supreme Court judgment in 1992.
Comentários