Caste Census

Caste Census –

Indian home ministry released the census official notification on 16 jun 2015 ,and it’s publish in official gazette , as per provision of section 3 of census Act 1948 . The census of India is conducted under the provision of the census Act 1948 and the census Rule , 1990. The last census of India was conducted in 2011  in two phases , namely ..

1. I) Phase I – House Listing Operation (HLO) (1 April to 30 September 2010) and (ii) Phase II – Population Enumeration (PE) (09 February to 28 February 2011)  with reference date – 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for which it was conducted during 11 to 30 September 2010 with reference date as 00.00 hours of the first day of October 2010.

Around  34 lakh govt. volunteer  and supervisor , and  1.3 lakh census functionaries would be deployed for the exercise . The census will conducted by March 1, 2027 .

The Home Ministry also notified , the census would  be conducted through digitally , that means using mobile application where provision would also be made available to the people . Also census will be open multiple dimension on which the Indian citizen would thinking ……

1. Data security :

Data security is a major topic of discussion b/w thinkers . On this aspect the Indian Home Ministry also clearly said , the data will be collected , transmitted and stored in very hight secured way .

The census would be conducted in two phases ,

1. i) House Listing Operation ,in this phase the housing condition , assets and amenities of each household will be collected .
2. ii) Population Enumeration , in this phase would captured the demographic , sociol-economic ,cultural and other details of every person in the household.

The ministry also said , in census Caste Enumeration also be done .

2. Redraw Constituencies :

As per the constitutional mandate the first census after 2026 can be used as the basis to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies .

Analysis of Caste Enumeration :

What is the Caste Enumeration ?

Cast Enumeration is the process of collecting data on caste identity during a census or separate survey .

Historical Background :

1. colonial period , the British government was collect the cast based data in 18^th century , for institutionalize cast division . And again the British Government was collect cast data in 1941 but not published due to world war second .
2. After Independence , in 1951 the Indian government was enumerated only Schedules Castes and Schedule Tribe data , but used in making policies and schemes to target  SC/ST and reduce cast based identities & inequality.
3. In 2011 , UPA Government conduct the socio-economic and cast census ,but data was never officially released due to quality and security concerns.
4. In 2022-2023 , the Bihar Government released detailed caste and socio-economic data .

Argument for caste enumeration :

In policy formation accurate data enables better identification of disadvantage communities for reservation, scholarship , education and welfare schemes. Also accurate data allows to marginalized communities to assert their demographic strength and demand equitable representation .

Argument against cast enumeration :

The major risk of caste enumeration can be , the data used for Vote Bank Politics and increase polarization during election. Administrative risk also seen because it can be become standard cast classification .

Caste Enumeration is both a tool for social justice and a potential source of division . If it’s handled scientifically , transparently ,and sensitively , it can help to design more inclusive policies .