The Union government, last month, decided to go in for an enumeration of castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Caste-wise enumeration had been given up as a matter of policy after Independence. The last census when caste-wise data was collected, tabulated and published in detail was the 1931 census. So why is the self-proclaimed progressive government harking us back to the past?
It cannot be denied that the caste system does not exist in modern India. It does, but not in the form that it did 2,000 years ago. Today it wears a 21st century garb, and manifests itself in matrimonial advertisements, election manifestos, and of course, the bestial honour killings.
Let’s look at what this caste-wise enumeration seeks to resurrect.
First, it is designed only to be a headcount. A population tally at the end of the day would be meaningless and the purpose would be self-defeating if demographic break-ups like literacy, marital status, life expectancy, occupation, etc, are not collected. If the idea is to give credence to the reasoning that people of lower castes are marginalised, economically at least, then all relevant socio-economic details would be required to come to a conclusion.
Second, this caste-wise enumeration is expected to cost Rs 2000 crore. That’s a lot of money going down the drain, especially since the official census 2011 itself is going to cost around Rs 2,240 crore. Accomplishing a separate caste census is a duplication of effort and doubling of costs. Clearly, not much thought has gone into this. And if it has, then the government is yet to come up with a transparent statement to justify its wastrel attitude.
Third, time and again we are told how much the nation can ill-afford frequent elections. The same contention goes for census operations too. The official census 2011 is expected to wind up in March 2011, while the caste enumeration is expected to get under way in June and carry on through the end of September. There’s very little breathing space there.
Fourth, the official announcement also says that an Expert Group will be constituted to study the findings of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner India after the enumeration has been completed. This is another ridiculous clause since an Expert Group ought to be there before the exercise is undertaken. After the event even a fool is wise. This point, looked at together with the first one, makes the government’s decision to conduct a caste-wise enumeration quite a Tughlaqesque proposition.
It is grandiosity bereft of common sense.
Given this backdrop, one shudders to think what this government would do after the caste census comes up with a set of numbers. As it is, this democratically-elected government is notorious for pushing its agenda through without following a democratic process.
Social persecution and economic deprivation often go hand in hand, but the two do not necessarily operate together. Quite often they do. To eradicate these, affirmative action is indeed required, but the caste-based reservation system is not be the right way to do it.
This process needs to be opposed for almost the same reasons as for going against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act – it has not yielded the desired results in 60 years. It is time to take a re-look and come up with an alternative model. The caste-based reservation system has not perpetuated social persecution and economic deprivation, it has only created a new elite – a new order that scavenges on the politics of marginalisation.
One reason why an alternative model not coming up is that most of the arguments projected against the caste-based reservation system are fallacious.
The anti-reservation brigade always props up the merit card when it comes to a debate on the issue. But then, is India a meritocracy? There is no such thing as a meritocracy; it exists only in the minds of elites and in dictionaries. One gets to see the issue of merit being thrown to the winds in everyday life. From promotions in private companies to selection of nominees for the jury of a film awards committee. Sorry, the merit argument does not hold water at all.
One often gets to see agitations against caste-based reservations in educational institutes being spearheaded by medical students. One fails to understand why existing students should at all agitate? Common sense would say it should be aspiring students who ought to be agitating. It is not important to split hairs about why they agitate, but to look at what they don’t talk about. What the young to-be doctors refuse to say is how rife the practice of capitation fees is in this country. So anyone with a lot of money can get into these MBBS colleges and MBA institutes, irrespective of the fact whether one has the aptitude and talent for it or not. Agreed, caste does not play a role here. But then, neither does merit. To talk of merit, is to crack a sordid joke.
Bottomline: The caste system exists today, but wears a different garb. The existing model to tackle it hasn’t been effective in 60 years; it is time to find an alternative one that works.
