BIHAR CASTE SURVEY: A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE NATION

By: Arja Kakkad

The recent caste survey in Bihar has found itself at the centre of a whirlwind of political controversies surrounding issues of caste, reservation, and the need for an empirical approach to social divisions. Although the word ‘caste census’ has been bandied about a lot in the media, the terminology used is also questionable. That is because the Census Act of 1948 only granted the Central Government the right to conduct a ‘census.’ Therefore, sticking to the official nomenclature, this article shall use the term ‘caste survey’ to denote the recent exercise conducted in Bihar.

The survey, completed in August 2023, was conducted by collecting the caste, sub-caste, and socio-economic conditions of 2.9 crore households. Its finding revealed the socio-economic profile of the population where, out of the 13.07 crore Bihar population, 36% belonged to Extremely Backward Communities (EBCs), 27% belonged to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 20% belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs), and 1.6% belonged to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) category. 

Considering the high percentage of backward castes, the findings raised concern regarding the insufficiency of the current reservation policies, and a call to revise them in a manner that reflected the caste demographic better. Scholars argued for the removal of the 50% cap on the reservation since the share of disadvantaged castes in the population exceeded 50% by a large margin. In fact, after the survey, the Bihar Cabinet recently cleared the proposal to increase the caste quota to 65%. 

There is, however, a question regarding the effectiveness of an arbitrary increase in reservation based on survey findings. Historically, these policies, meant to be a temporary support for the disadvantaged to attain level playing ground, became a method of appeasement exploited by various political parties to garner more votes. 

Moreover, a large proportion of benefits of reservation policies reach only a marginal, often undeserving proportion of the backward communities. Before increasing the quota from the existing 50%, a more nuanced and practical approach would be to objectively analyse the effectiveness of these policies if they failed to bring positive change even seventy years after being implemented. In fact, the data also reveals the need for a structural change in public policy. This could take the form of more specific and comprehensive skill and education programmes, as well as targeted welfare schemes whose benefits reach the ones who need them. A more detailed overview of their problems must be collected, followed by a careful design of policies based on the new, accurate data as well as their stricter implementation to address those problems at their roots. 

Despite the attention the survey has received, India has had a long history with caste census with the first one conducted in 1931 by the British. However, its data was never published. The data on caste that is used today to understand the population is based on the estimates of the Mandal Commission, the National Sample Survey, as well as those done by political parties for their election campaigns. A Socio-Economic and Caste census was also conducted in 2011, but the data, considered to be flawed and unreliable due to faulty methods of collection, was not revealed. 

Thus, while a caste census has been on the agenda of many Central Governments, there is always slight reluctance on their part to implement it due to various reasons. Firstly, there is the apprehension that a caste census might make caste lines more rigid and end up reinforcing the caste system. It may also lead to caste-based political mobilisation and diverse demands for representation, thus endangering harmony. Also, ‘caste’ itself is a fluid term, and it is difficult to create mutually exclusive categories to define and distinguish castes clearly. 

Yet, at the same time, turning a blind eye or denying the existence of caste divisions is not the solution. A caste census would help estimate reality better, and evaluate if the government's affirmative actions are benefiting the right people and improving their socio-economic condition.  

A caste census, despite being a risky endeavour, is the need of the hour. Risks such as the potential underestimation of income and caste could be combated by also integrating values such as sales and property values to help predict income and ownership accurately. The classification of castes must be made before the survey to avoid confusion and minimise errors. The success of a caste census also rests upon centre-state cooperation to help tailor state-specific policies that cater to the caste demographic of every state. The Bihar caste survey is a wake-up call to realize the need for a nationwide caste census. As B.P. Mandal famously stated in his report, ‘To equate unequals is to perpetuate inequality.’