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Resolution on Hold Caste wise Census, make law to Remove Cap of 50% on Reservation

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.

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