Electoral battlelines drawn in Bihar over caste survey
The last data on the caste composition is found in the 1931 census, nine decades ago. In 1941, though caste was enumerated, the report wasn’t published
Caste survey versus caste census. The battleline has once again been drawn in the run-up of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. The Union government on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court, the Bihar government’s caste survey, asserting that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census or “any action akin to census”.
In a short affidavit filed through the ministry of home affairs, the Union government maintained that census is enumerated as a subject under Entry 69 in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
The Centre’s affidavit has triggered a bout of political slugfest in Bihar’s political arena which may or may not have ramifications in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and for the 2025 battle for Bihar, the state assembly polls.
Census versus Survey
Caste census means the inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India's population in the census exercise. India started counting its people in 1872. From 1952, the country also counted and published separate data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). India also publishes data related to the religions, languages and socio-economic status of its people.
“In terms of the provisions contained under the Census Act 1948, it is the central government alone that has been empowered to conduct census where the exercise of counting of the entire population is carried out. The nature of the caste survey undertaken by the state government is akin to census where the entire population is being counted and data under different parameters in relation to the citizens residing in the state and also residing outside the state of Bihar are being collected; and therefore, the state government is clearly acting in excess of its power and authority under the constitutional scheme,” said advocate Abhinav Srivastava, who argued the case on behalf of Youth for Equality, an organisation against caste-based policies and reservations.
On June 2, 2022, the Bihar cabinet gave its nod for conducting a caste survey by February 2023. However, two months later, chief minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA).
The survey eventually began on January 7, and the first round went on until January 21. The second round began on April 15 and was scheduled to continue until May 15, but mid-way through the process, the Patna high court issued a stay on May 4 after several petitions were filed by the organisation Youth for Equality against the legitimacy of the caste survey.
The state moved an interlocutory application (IA) for an early hearing, which was rejected. It then filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging the HC stay. However, the apex court refused to hear the matter until its disposal by the HC.
Finally, nearly three months after the survey was suspended, an HC bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy dismissed all challenges to the survey.
Fate of caste surveys in other states
In 2014, Karnataka under the Congress-led Siddaramaiah government ordered a Social and Educational Survey. The objective of the survey said it was to be conducted to decide upon the proportionate reservations of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in accordance with the 127th Constitution Amendment Bill. The survey covering around 1.3 crore households was conducted by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission under the chairmanship of H Kantharaj. The reports were to be submitted by June 2016 -- those reports were, however, never made public.
In 2021, the State Commission for Backward Classes in Telangana decided to proceed with the massive exercise of surveying the caste composition among the backward classes (BCs).
The primary plan was to rope in several expert agencies like the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Centre of Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Bureau of Economics and Statistics, and Centre for Good Governance. However, the fate of the exercise is still unclear.
Odisha has also recently started its caste-based survey from May 1 to understand the educational and social conditions of the backward caste communities. According to media reports, the survey asks questions related to livelihood and accessibility to basic infrastructures.
In the backdrop of the ongoing controversy, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the future of the Bihar caste census report.
“We demand that Nitish Kumar's government release the report within 24 hours. By the order of the court, the Extremely Backward Commission was formed, but till now its report has not come out. The report of the upper caste commission also did not come,” said BJP Bihar president Samrat Chowdhary.
The last data on the caste composition of the Indian population could be found in the 1931 census.
In 1941, though caste was enumerated, the report didn’t publish the data. M W M Yeatts, the then Census Commissioner said in a note, “The time is past for this enormous and costly table as part of the central undertaking.”
Since then, the census only took into consideration the number of SCs and STs. While the Mandal Commission pegged the population of OBC at 52%, several other studies have put forth different numbers.
Impact on Polls
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has said the state was not doing a census but only counting. The primary reason is that no official data is available on the actual numbers of different castes: All estimates are based on projections from the last time a caste census was done and its information was made public over 90 years ago in 1931. But everybody seems to know what the exercise is aimed at – Politics.
Experts said that the caste census will play an important role in the upcoming 2024 elections as it will allow political parties to determine the electoral strength of communities. What’s more, it also has the potential to upset existing reservations.
Until now, the decadal census only counts religion and SC/ST population — not any other caste. Thus, based only on projections from the 1931 census, Bihar’s OBC population is estimated to be 51.3%.
In 1990, Prime Minister the late VP Singh -- seemingly as a matter of political exigency given ally BJP’s Kamandal (Ram temple) politics and counter-caste consolidation in the name of Hindutva -- dusted off the Mandal Commission report, which was prepared based on the 1931 caste census.
Singh announced 27% reservation for the OBCs like Yadavs, Kurmi/Koiris and sections of Baniyas who were better off than Dalits but found to be sufficiently marginalised on socio-economic parameters to merit quota benefits.
Back to the past?
The 1991 formula seems to be at work again. The BJP has been pushing the agenda of “Hindu Rashtra” and the Uniform Civil Code in a bid to polarise the Hindu vote bank ahead of the 2024 polls. To counter that very-planned push, veteran leader and former Bihar CM, Lalu Prasad, and Nitish Kumar are likely to use the caste enumeration data to divert the fight: From the seemingly Hindu vs Muslim agenda to the “Mandal vs Kamandal” battle as it had yielded rich dividends for the Mahagathbandhan (the Grand Alliance or the RJD-JD(U)-led combine) ) in the 2015 Assembly elections.
“We are not doing Census. It has been made clear at the outset. It is counting. While conducting a census, information is collected about people under the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and minorities. We have been telling for a long time that the same should be done for others also, but it was not done. It should have been done in 2021. So much time has elapsed, but Census could not be started,” Nitish Kumar said on August 29.
“They want to revive Mandal politics which has outlived its utility. The Grand Alliance parties led by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have realised that this can be a big tool to oust the Modi government from the centre. If nurtured well, it could turn out to be a Bramhashtra for the INDIA to oust the BJP from power,” Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, social analyst and former head of economics department, Patna University, said.
“Caste is a reality but to revive it for political gains is going to be disastrous. You don’t need these figures for development,” he said.
Anand Mandal, social activist and grandson of late B P Mandal, on whose name the Mandal Commission was formed, also referred to the 1991 Mandal Commission-related agitation.
“The way BJP has handled the issue it (seems) to have almost a similar impact that of an anti- Mandal agitation of 1991… (it) has created the same division, (and) with general election round the corner it would be foolhardy to expect any other result than that of 1991,” he said.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s decision, Mandal justified the caste survey. “The Supreme Court judgment has not only confirmed the claim of present dispensation in Bihar that to ameliorate the social and educational positions of castes accurate data is required but it also strengthens the case of continuation of protective discrimination on the part of government,” he added.
The issue may be Bihar-centric but the answer has its national implications, at least at a time when the Opposition unity is envisaged as the only way to combat the BJP
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