What are the key objectives of caste count?

Counting more: Patna: Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram beats drum with supporters as they celebrate the Centre’s decision to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census, in Patna, on May 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The story so far: The Union Cabinet has decided that the next Census will include questions on caste to its enumeration of India’s population, for the first time in almost a century. The decision, a reversal of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stance so far, comes ahead of the crucial Bihar elections, and throws up myriad challenges.

Have Indians been counted by caste before?

When the British first started counting India’s population in 1881, caste data was included in the information gathered. For the next half-century, the decennial censuses collected caste information. The last time that data was published was from the 1931 census, which counted 4,147 castes and sub-castes across the country. Though the wartime 1941 census also collected data on individual castes, it was never released. After India gained Independence, the government decided to avoid the question of caste in the census, only counting Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs/STs).

In his report on the 1931 census, then-Census Commissioner J.H. Hutton dismissed the arguments of those who did not wish to collect caste and religion data on the grounds that they would perpetuate divisions, noting that “the census cannot, however, hide its head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, but must record as accurately as possible facts as they exist.” He struck down previous British attempts to list a hierarchy of castes, in accordance with their perceived ranks in society, instead choosing to use occupations as the basis of classification, though this did not account for the fluidity of caste identities and the variations in caste names across time and geographies. The 1931 census data was also the basis for reservation efforts half a century later; its finding that 52% of the country’s population belonged to castes later grouped under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category became the basis of the Mandal Commission’s recommendation for a 27% quota for OBCs in education and government jobs.

In 2011, the Union Ministry of Rural Development kicked off a different kind of caste-counting exercise as part of its Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC). The data collected was meant to be used for research and policy making and to effectively design and implement development and welfare schemes. Though parts of the data were published in 2016, the raw data on specific caste populations was not included. As the SECC left its questions on caste open-ended rather than making them choose their caste from a set list, respondents often entered their surnames, meaning that the SECC enumerators counted more than 46 lakh different castes.

Have individual States counted castes?

At least three States have conducted caste censuses. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led the effort to survey the State’s caste break-up in 2023, finding that OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) accounted for more than 63% of the State’s population, stirring the political pot with demands for higher representation for these castes in politics, education, and employment. The Congress rode to power in Telangana in 2023, partly on the basis of its promise to conduct a caste survey, which was published in 2024 and showed that backward classes make up more than 56% of the State’s population. Karnataka’s caste survey was also commissioned by a Congress government, in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s first term in 2015. The results, however, were published only a decade later, and showed that the State’s OBC population stood at almost 70%.

What will this data be used for?

Apart from its use in academic research and policy making, the key import of caste data from a public and political viewpoint is what changes it will drive in affirmative action or reservation policies. The 27% OBC quota for education and government jobs was set on the basis of a projection from the 1931 census; a new caste count could well upend those estimates.

In Karnataka, for instance, where the caste survey found that the OBC population is significantly higher than estimated, there have been demands to increase their quota in the State from 32% to 51%. The clamour for more reservation, backed by caste population data, is also likely to lead to a challenge of the Supreme Court-mandated 50% cap on reservation.

What is the context for this decision?

The BJP-led government’s decision came as a surprise given that the demand for a caste census has been a major plank of the Opposition’s poll campaigns. The BJP has long resisted the demand, accusing the Congress of using caste to divide Indians. Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai even responded to questions in Parliament insisting that there were no plans to include caste in the next Census, terming it a “matter of policy”.

The Bihar caste survey, however, set off a political tinderbox that carried over into the 2024 general election campaign. The Opposition, in its campaign for social justice also stoked fears among sections of voters that the BJP was seeking a large majority in order to be able to remove reservations and amend the Constitution, which led to lower vote counts for the BJP in many constituencies.

The decision to conduct a caste count “steals the thunder” from the Opposition’s campaign just ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, where it is sure to become a poll issue. The BJP is seeking to reframe the narrative, claiming that the Congress is all talk and no action, as it had never conducted a caste census at the national level while in power at the Centre. Though the Opposition is seeking to claim credit for pressuring the government into taking this decision, it is also pivoting to the logical next step, of demanding that reservations be hiked in response to the caste census findings, seeking to breach the Supreme Court’s 50% cap.

Also read | Govt gave headline but where is deadline: Congress on Centre’s caste census move

What is the timeline for implementation?

The catch in the Centre’s announcement is that no dates have yet been notified for the next Census. The last Census was held in 2011, with the 2021 Census being delayed indefinitely, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The addition of a caste component involves more work for Census officials.

The next step will be to draft a code directory of castes to be used in the Census. Unlike the SECC, which had an open-ended query on the respondent’s caste, the Census is likely to provide a drop-down list of castes for respondents to choose from. How castes will be listed is a thorny political question, given that the Centre and States have differing, and often contentious OBC lists. Linguistic and regional diversity in caste names, splitting of castes into sub-castes over time, and disagreements on whether specific castes fit into SC, OBC, or general categories, are likely to complicate the process. Religion adds another factor into the mix, with questions about how non-Hindu groups will be recognised and whether they will get benefits on the basis of the caste census.