Mahesh Shah, on the left, stands as family members look while the census worker Rumima Das, writes information on an article on the first day of the national census of the village of Ramsingh Chapori, east of Gauhati, India in 2010.
Anupam Nath / AP
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Anupam Nath / AP
New Delhi – India will include caste details in its next census, in a decision likely to have radical socio -economic and political ramifications for the most populous country in the world.
Information Minister Ashwini Vahnaw did not say when the census begins when he announced that he would include caste information on Wednesday. He said that the decision had demonstrated New Delhi’s commitment to “the values and interests of society and the country”.
The counting is probably led to requests to increase the quotas of the country which reserve government jobs, university admissions and elected offices for certain categories of caste, in particular for a band of lower and intermediate castes which are recognized as other backward classes. India’s current policy caps the 50% quotas, with 27% reserved for OBS.
Caste is an old system of social hierarchy in India and is essential to Indian life and policy. There are hundreds of caste groups based on occupation and economic status across India, in particular among Hindus, but the country has limited or exceeded data on the number of people who belong to them.
Successive Indian governments have resisted the update of caste data, arguing that this could lead to social troubles. But his supporters say that detailed demographic information is necessary to properly implement the many social justice programs of India.
The colonial sovereign of Great Britain began an Indian census in 1872 and counted all the castes until 1931. However, independent India since 1951 only counted the Dalits and Adivasis, which are called caste and tribes planned, respectively. Everyone’s caste was marked as general.
The population survey once in a decade was originally planned in 2021, but was mainly delayed by COVVI-19 pandemic and logistical obstacles. The latest official census in 2011 had 1.21 billion people, including planned castes and 104 million planned tribes.
India exceeded China to become the most populous country in April 2023 with around 1.425 billion people, according to the UN economic and social affairs department.
The announcement of the census has months before a crucial election in the poorest state of Bihar in India, where caste is a key problem. Modi’s party heads a coalition government at Bihar.
Modi’s opposition and partners pushed the government to count the caste in a new census. The Hindu Nationalist Party of Modi opposed the idea of counting people by the caste, claiming that it would deepen social divisions in the country.
The chief of the opposition Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party wrote on X that “it is clear that the pressure we have exerted on the government for the caste census worked”.
Two Indian states, northern bihar and southern Karnataka, have already published caste surveys, both showing a higher number of backwards and causing requests to increase quotas.
Two southern states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, also plan to undertake similar investigations.
Vaishnaw said that the inclusion of caste details in the national census would improve transparency, while adding that certain states led by the opposition parties have made their own caste surveys for political purposes.
The fortune of many of these political parties, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata party, depend on the caste alliance, in particular those in the OBC category.
Amit Shah, the powerful Minister of India from India on Wednesday, described the “historic” move and declared that he “would empower all economically and socially backwards”.
