Bihar’s Caste-based Survey

Social Issues Caste system

Context: Patna High Court recently upheld the caste-based survey being conducted by the Bihar government.

In the beginning of this year, the Bihar government began conducting a survey of households to collect and publish data on caste with the aim of “ensuring all-round development of all sections of the State.”

Responding to the petitioner’s argument that the right to privacy of those being surveyed will be infringed due to the queries concerning their religion, caste, and monthly income, the court referred to the triple-requirement test laid down in Puttaswamy judgement.
Court reiterated that permissible restrictions can be imposed on the fundamental right, in the state’s legitimate interests, provided they are proportional and reasonable.
Adding that the disclosures “are voluntary” and aimed at “bringing forth development schemes for the identified backward classes”, the court clarified that the data collected is not for “taxing, branding, labeling or ostracizing individuals or groups” but to “identify the economic, educational and other social aspects of different communities/classes/groups, which require further action by the State” for their upliftment.

The petitioners claimed that only the Union government can conduct a “census”.
The legislative, and by extension, executive, powers of the Centre and States are divided into three lists found in the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule.
Among these, Entry 69 of the Union List contains the Centre’s exclusive power to conduct a “census”, the petitioners said.
They also relied on Article 246, which deals with the Parliament’s power to exclusively legislate “on any of the matters enumerated in List I in the Seventh Schedule”.
Meanwhile, the Bihar government argued that in 2011, a caste census was conducted by the Centre, the details of which weren’t disclosed.
It pointed out that Entry 45 of the Concurrent List, containing subjects over which both the Centre and the states can legislate, is similar to Entry 94 of the Union List, as both confer powers to collect statistics for verifying details, to achieve the economic and social planning goals listed under the Concurrent List.

There is also the question raised of data integrity and security which has to be more elaborately addressed by the state.

A caste census would help us point out those castes that are not represented in the institutions of this country so that steps towards equality can be established.
It would also justify the extension of reservations to various communities.
The aim is that every section of society can progress properly.

last caste census was in 1931 and the government still uses this as a basis to estimate demography and different caste groups.
There have been significant changes in the demography of this country.

The Rohini Commission too, faced difficulties due to the unavailability of data on various communities classified under OBCs.
The Commission was set up to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of OBCs.

A fresh estimate of the population is necessary to ensure more effective delivery of targeted welfare.

Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana had carried out similar counts in the name of “socio-economic surveys”.

Along with Bihar, other states like Jharkhand and Odisha are also reiterating their support for the caste census.

Every Census until 1931 had data on caste. So it was a colonial practice of divide and rule which drove them toward collecting such data.
Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.

the 21st century India should be discussing 'let’s do away with caste' rather than further divide India on those lines.
Caste census may “rekindle divisive feelings among people.

Reservations that were implemented for 10 years have continued for 75 years and a caste-based census may lead to a demand for more.

Unlike in the case of the SCs and the STs, there is no constitutional mandate for the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India, to provide the census figures of the OBCs and the BCCs.

The Union government contended that such an exercise was not feasible given that there are too many castes and sub-castes in each state and Union territory making it difficult to classify them.
People use their clan/gotra, sub-caste and caste names interchangeably.
The government has cited numerous administrative, operational and logistical reasons.
Census data enumerators are part-timers with 6-7 days of training and are “not an investigator or verifier”
There is a fear that such counting could endanger the census exercise itself.

At a deeper level there are politics involved in the matter.
Bihar’s politics has been dominated by the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), the numerically powerful social group.

The Union government cited that the socio-economic caste census (SECC) conducted by the government in 2011 contained too many discrepancies and the data was withheld.

A population census was first carried out by the British colonial state in 1872.
The 65-page census 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.

The categories of ‘Race, Caste or Tribe’ were 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.