NEW DELHI: While the findings on the numbers of each caste were intended to be an equally important feature of the socio economic and caste census, these have been withheld by the government for now. Few are, however, surprised as they realize that the precarious equilibrium of upheaval of backward castes would turn fragile once the caste figures come out.
The last caste census was taken way back in 1932 and discontinued since. In the run up to Census 2011, political satraps espousing the cause of OBCs came forward to demand a return to caste census, arguing that discontinuing it was paradoxical, caste being a factor acknowledged in each and every sphere.
However, even as the socio-economic and caste census results were released on Friday, the caste data was held back, possibly due to social and political factors. With the OBC group claiming that their actual numbers far exceed their share in the reservation pie, if the caste census results were to bear them out, it could be the first step towards a sustained assault on the Supreme Court-mandated reservation cap of under 50%. This would have worked against the sections already disadvantaged by the quota regime, leading to a spate of tensions and agitations.
The caste findings, in case they do put the number of OBCs at much more than 50% of the population, would give a valid reason for OBCs to demand their due share in the social benefits. With Bihar elections due later this year, such an eventuality would be ill-advised.
Incidentally, the government has also withheld the religious census data, though it is was reportedly ready in February-March last year. "The timing of its release is a political call," a senior home ministry official had told TOI a few days ago.
According to experts, even though the caste census has been conducted and the voluminous data is in custody of the ministry of social welfare, the presence of large anomalies and inaccuracies in the data recorded in the enumerator's heet has made the data subject to verification. "Without verification, which promises to be an elaborate exercise that would need experts, the raw data may not be useful enough to form a basis for distribution of socio-economic benefits," said a statistical expert.
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