The Bihar government’s caste-count

Why has the State BJP backed the exercise, while the Centre is
opposed to a caste census?
Amarnath Tewary

The story so far: On Thursday, the Bihar Cabinet approved a proposal to carry out a
caste-based ‘count’ in the State. Stopping short of calling it a census, the Janata Dal
(United) government, which is an ally of the BharaLya Janata Party (BJP), said the
State would spend its own resources for the exercise. The BJP at the Centre has been
against holding a caste census, but Chief Minister NiLsh Kumar and the JD(U) had
been pushing for it. All poliLcal parLes of Bihar, including the State BJP, had proposed
conducLng a caste count.

When will the exercise begin?

Details are awaited but Mr. NiLsh Kumar said the exercise will be Lme-bound and that
its report will be published. The Union Government had, earlier, snubbed the Bihar
government’s request for a caste census on the grounds that it would be a “divisive
exercise”. However, the State BJP members parLcipated in the all-party meeLng over
the issue.
Why do all poliLcal parLes support it in Bihar?

Almost all poliLcal parLes in Bihar idenLfy themselves with a parLcular caste, sub-
caste or community for representaLon, and leaders cannot afford to take their poliLcal
idenLty out of that caste or group. The objecLve behind this demand is to bring out
the recent changes in caste groups and how resources may be best shared. The data
will help the State government understand the exact populaLon of various caste
groups and assess the socio-economic development in every group, and the welfare
schemes needed for their benefit.

Why is the BJP at the Centre against a caste census? What about the State unit?

The Union Government has categorically ruled out conducLng a Socio-Economic

Caste Census (SECC), staLng that a caste census (except that for Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes done tradiLonally) is unfeasible, “administraLvely difficult and
cumbersome.” In the case of Bihar, the BJP’s central leaders feel that the demand for a
caste census in the State is an a\empt to revive Mandal poliLcs by idenLfying castes
and sub-castes and their present status for electoral benefits. For the party, the upper
castes, which according to a rough esLmate comprise 14% of the populaLon, largely
consLtute its vote bank, and it fears that if there is a caste census the number of other
castes, sub-castes and communiLes will be known and other parLes who claim to
represent different subsets of castes might unite against them poliLcally and
electorally. Months back senior BJP leader from Bihar and Union Minister of State for
Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had told Parliament that a caste census could not be
carried out. The party’s naLonal spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan said a caste
census alone would not ensure social jusLce; but the party’s Rajya Sabha member and
former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi has been backing a caste
census through his social media posts. Mr. Sushil Modi even said that the BJP always
supported the idea within and outside the State Assembly. Again, the State BJP chief
Sanjay Jaiswal recently said, “nothing happens in BJP without the will of the central
party leadership”. The BJP’s ruling alliance partner JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh
alias Lalan Singh pointed out that “the BJP in Bihar was part of a House resoluLon on
caste census” . The Bihar legislature, earlier, in 2019 and 2020, had passed a
resoluLon for a caste-based census in the State. Ager Thursday’s Cabinet meeLng, the
NiLsh Kumar government said there would be a ‘ganana’ or count, and refrained from
calling it a census.

What are the benefits of a caste count?

Social equality programmes and welfare measures cannot be successfully
implemented without comprehensive data and for this a caste count is necessary in a
State known to be fragmented into several castes, sub-castes, groups and
communiLes. In a modern state, a count of every category of ciLzens is necessary so
that they can get the benefit of all welfare measures, says poliLcal analyst Ajay Kumar.
In the absence of such data, there is no proper esLmate for the populaLon of other
backward classes (OBC)s, extremely backward classes (EBCs) and several other groups
within them, he added. A caste-based count goes a long way in bringing a measure of
objecLvity to the debate on reservaLons, according to Mr. Ajay Kumar. However,
Sudhanshu Kumar, an associate professor at the Centre for Economic Policy and Public
Finance, Patna, said, “if the objecLve of conducLng a caste-based count is to get the
caste distribuLon of the populaLon, it does not require a costly exercise like a census.
A proper staLsLcal processing or analysis of the informaLon with the government is
sufficient for the purpose of public policy design. The usual Census data already
provides informaLon useful for formulaLng public policy.”

Have such exercises happened in other States?

The Tamil Nadu government has appointed a commission to formulate a methodology

to collect caste-wise parLculars of its populaLon and use that to come up with a
report. States like Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana have carried out caste counts,
calling it a "socio-economic survey".