Editorial 1: Census Must Count Sub-Caste In
Context:
India’s upcoming first fully digital census in 2027 presents a unique opportunity to collect sophisticated metadata on caste and sub-caste structures. If census data remains limited to broad categories like Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC), the exercise will waste advanced technological capabilities and fail to address the real socio-economic realities of Indian society.
Historical Context:
- The Constituent Assembly envisioned a modern nation committed to equality of status and opportunity.
- To achieve this, affirmative action measures were introduced, such as Articles 15 and 16 which enable reservations for socially and educationally backward groups.
- The Mandal Commission recommendations in 1990 expanded affirmative action beyond SCs and STs by granting 27% reservation for OBCs.
- However, caste enumeration has always been controversial. The 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was the first post-Independence effort to record caste data comprehensively, documenting 4,147 distinct castes, sub-castes, and lineage markers.
- This was a significant jump from the 1,646 categories identified in the 1931 census, the last comprehensive caste enumeration before 2011.
- Yet, the 2011 data was never officially released due to concerns about reliability and integrity.
Sub-Caste Data importance:
- India’s caste system is too complex to be understood through broad general categories alone.
- Sub-caste (jati) affiliations still determine people’s lived social realities, including marriage alliances, social interactions, political mobilization, and economic opportunities.
- For example, while OBCs are considered a single group in policy, within them there are vast inequalities.
- Some dominant OBC groups benefit disproportionately from reservations, while genuinely disadvantaged communities remain under-represented.
- Lineage markers like gotras also often intersect with social capital, work networks, and economic opportunity.
- Without capturing this granularity, policies risk benefitting the already powerful within large caste categories rather than addressing deprivation.
Administrative and Political Dimensions:
- Colonial administrations had carried out detailed caste enumeration for taxation and governance purposes.
- Post-Independence, however, political hesitancy grew around caste counting due to fears of fragmentation, identity politics, and administrative complexity.
- The 2011 SECC revealed just how deeply caste remains entrenched in India, but political reluctance prevented full publication.
- The upcoming 2027 census, as the first digital census, can use advanced data analytics and metadata tools to manage and analyze large-scale caste information accurately.
- If conducted with care and integrity, this data can inform nuanced policy interventions in education, employment, and welfare.
Risks of Ignoring Sub-Caste:
- If the census sticks only to SC, ST, and OBC classifications, it will obscure internal hierarchies and inequalities.
- Such abstraction cannot meet the needs of evidence-based policymaking.
- Instead, it will perpetuate dominance by politically powerful sub-groups, while marginal communities remain invisible.
- For example, smaller sub-castes often get crowded out of benefits by larger and more organized ones.
- Without sub-caste data, resource allocation, affirmative action, and development planning will continue to be blunt instruments that fail to deliver social justice equitably.
- Moreover, this gap risks undermining trust in state institutions, as communities will feel their realities are ignored.
Way Forward:
Caste identity and economic status intersect in complex ways that demand careful analysis. Census 2027 must therefore go beyond broad categories to capture India’s deep social diversity. Only then can data truly become a transformative tool for social justice, equity, and inclusive growth. It should not be reduced to a political headline but must serve as the basis for nuanced and evidence-driven policymaking. With technological tools available, the government can ensure accuracy and avoid duplication.