The registration of caste with the census in India divides Indians – that can have major consequences

As a teenager, Ritanjan Das was home alone in Calcutta when the employee of the census came to the door. For his six family members, Das had to answer lengthy questionnaires. Who lived at this location, what was their source of income, religion, how many rooms did the house have, did the family have a car, a television, a toilet?

In his youth it was “common” that every ten years the entire Indian population was mapped through a census, Das remembers. The census that was announced by the Ministry of the Interior at the beginning of this year feels ‘less regular’. If only because the ten-year regularity has been broken, says Das, who is associated with Contemporary Politics in South Asia as Leiden University. In terms of content, the count will also have a different character next year: for the first time since 1931, the caste to which someone belongs will be recorded. The latter in particular has been working in India since the announcement in May.

Estimates

The count that should have taken place in 2021 was postponed because of the Coronapandemie. The fact that the census was not organized in the following years gave food to all kinds of theories. Questions about the postponement have never been answered properly by the government, says Das. Government party BJP would not want it because the effects of policy also become measurable by the counts. For example, in his first term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the Indians more access to sanitary facilities. What if the counts in his third term show that very few households still have a toilet? The consequences can also be great for social assistance if more people prove to be entitled to it.

Das thinks that there was a practical reason for the delay in addition to political motives. “When Corona was really over, the general elections of 2024 were just around the corner in India.” They are also an immense operation in this country. “Two such events cannot be organized too close together.”

Next year is the day. The count starts in 2026 and continues until spring 2027. Then it will become clear whether the Indian estimates about its own population scope are correct. Based on those estimates, the UN concluded that the population of India that of China in 2023 was surpassed by 1.4 billion inhabitants.

The count consists of two parts: determining the number of homes, then counting residents and their characteristics such as age, profession and religion

Just like previous times, millions of government employees will travel to all corners of the country for this edition. Answers they get are no longer written with pen and paper, but entered digitally. Citizens with access to electronic devices can enter data themselves via an app.

The count consists of two parts. First of all, the number of homes is determined, ranging from apartments to lemen huts. Then the number of residents and their characteristics such as age, profession and religion.

Castle determines rights

Most of the discussion in India is about the decision of the BJP to note which caste someone belongs to – something that the opposition has long been asked for. Hindus are born in a hierarchical social system that allows them specific roles, rights and limitations. The fact that the constitution stipulates that discrimination on the basis of caste is not allowed, it did not banish it in daily life.

The registration of caste in the census is controversial, because it is expected that lower cabinets will be a much larger part of the population than is now assumed. That would mean that they can make a greater claim to social services and jobs. The leader of opposition party Congress, Rahul Gandhi, said that if the lower cupboards get to know their size “the country will change forever. ”

“The casting system is daily reality in India,” says Das. In practice it still determines where you can live and what work you can do. For a Dalit [de groep die nog onder de laagste kaste ‘hangt’] It means that they can only do ‘dirty’ work, such as collecting waste or carrying out sewerage work. But it goes further: in practice, police officers get away with it if they do not include a report of rape by a Dalit victim. The caste also determines the caste: Das: “Outside the cities, children of lower cupboards are sometimes forced to sit on the ground during class, because parents from higher cupboards do not want them to be taught at the same height as their children.”

Reserved jobs

Paradoxically, it is precisely the government programs that combat the disadvantages of being a low caste that keep the ranking in society alive. For example, since the 1990s, part of the government jobs has been reserved for members of the lower cupboards. Presenter Akshita Nandagopal from Business Today India called the “Main criticism of the Kasteteling ” That it stagnates the formation of a meritocracy. “Members of disadvantaged cupboards rely on their caste to get a job instead of their qualities.”

At present, a maximum of 50 percent of government jobs can be reserved for the disadvantaged cupboards (and disadvantaged tribes). The census will make visible whether it is not too low.

The timing of this census can be favorable for the ruling BJP

Although no national research into the size of cupboards has been published since 1931, this did happen at state level. For example, in 2023 it turned out Bihar That the highest Kastes did not form 20 percent of the population, but 15.5 percent. Based on the figures, the state government increased the share of reserved jobs for lower cupboards in Bihar to 65 percent. But that decision did not last at the Supreme Court of the state, which typed it as ‘unconstitutional’.

Polarize

The previous national census, in 2011, also asked about Kaste, but the results were never published because they would be ‘inaccurate’. According to the then government Cabinet names were spelled in thousands of different ways, making them unusable to determine the size of a caste. DAS does not expect a repeat of 2011. “The opposition parties have always insisted on this. Now that the BJP has said that she is going to do this, there is no longer really one way back.”

The timing of this census can be favorable for the BJP, says Das, because the number of inhabitants determines the number of parliament seats per state. The BJP is more in the north and it is expected that the population there has grown stronger than in the south. It could lead to more parliamentary seats for the federal states where the BJP is leading. Certainly because a reclassification of constituencies has been announced by the BJP, which leads to further speculation about political motives.

Zoom in

The visibility of the different cabinets can have another consequence. For example, political observer Bhaskara Rao told Reuters news agency that “more caste -focused political parties will come up to meet the desires of a caste. That will further distribute the country and politize politics.” As a Hindu nationalist party, the BJP tries to emphasize the unity of all Hindus.

DAS expects the Indians to be very willing to share their caste with the employee of the population screening. “This is about representing your caste, in politics and in social life.”

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