Context: 

Recently, Patna High Court allowed the Bihar government to go ahead with its caste survey, taking into account its assurance on data protection in the Assembly.

Census in India:

• The Census in India has been conducted sync
• ronously every ten years since 1881, providing a historical record of the population and societal changes.
• Purpose: 
  • Its primary purpose is to capture demographic and socio-economic information about the Indian population.
  • It has been utilized by the government, policy makers, academics, and others for various purposes, including resource allocation and understanding social changes.
• Nodal Ministry: Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs
• First Non-synchronous Census: It was conducted in India in 1872 during the reign of Governor-General Lord Mayo
• First Synchronous Census: The first synchronous census was taken under British rule in 1881.

Importance of Census: 

• Understanding Society: The Census helps in enumerating, describing, and understanding the population of a society, providing valuable demographic and socio-economic information about the people.
• Policy Formulation: The data collected through the Census is crucial for policy makers to develop informed and evidence-based policies, addressing the needs and challenges of the population.
• Mapping Social Change: Over time, the Census allows for the mapping of social change, tracking shifts in demographics, living conditions, and socio-economic indicators.
• Inequality Analysis: Census data aids in identifying disparities and inequalities in various segments of the population, enabling targeted interventions to address these issues.
• Academic Research: The Census serves as a valuable resource for academics and researchers to conduct studies on various aspects of society, including migration, employment, education, and health.

About Caste Census:

• Caste census means inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India’s population in the Census exercise, which is a decennial count of the Indian population.

Demand for Caste Census: 

• In India, every census since 1951 has included information about the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• However, it did not include information about the population of lower and intermediate castes, known as Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which make up about 52% of the population. 
• This has led to calls for a separate census to gather data about the OBC population.

Arguments in favour of Caste Census:

• Recording Demographic Changes: The last caste census was carried out by the British in 1931 and the need for a fresh one is overdue, especially since India has undergone significant demographic changes since then.
• Restructuring affirmative action programmes: A scientific counting of caste groups will help the government restructure affirmative action programmes.
• Effective delivery of welfare programmes:The caste census will give information on educational status and economic status of various castes; such information is crucial in more effective delivery of targeted welfare programmes.
• Bringing Objectivity to Reservations: The census will bring objectivity to the debate on reservations.
• Improved understanding of caste discrimination: It would help to improve our understanding of the prevalence and nature of caste-based discrimination in India.

Arguments against the Caste census:

• Against Vision of Casteless Society: A caste census militates against the country’s social goal of evolving into a casteless society.
• Social and political repercussions: It will trigger caste politics and social conflict, and will set the clock back on nation-building.
• Solidify caste identities:The census will solidify caste identities, accentuate casteism and caste divisions.
• Demands for more reservations: Demands for more reservations that political parties will have to concede will sound the death-knell for meritocracy, adversely affect governance and delivery of services and drive away human capital.
• Dara inaccuracies: There is a risk that the data collected in a caste-based census would be inaccurate. This is because people may be reluctant to disclose their caste status, or they may give false information.

Centre’s Stand:

• In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Union government has stated that a caste census was unfeasible due to administrative difficulties and cumbersome process. 
• It argues that the judiciary cannot direct the government to conduct a caste census because it is a “policy decision” not to do so, and the judiciary cannot interfere with government policy.
• Unlike in the case of the SCs and the STs, there is no constitutional mandate for the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, India, to provide the census figures of the Other Backward Classes  and the Backward classes.

Difference between Census and Socio-Economic Caste Census:

News Source: The Indian Express