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Caste Census

Cabinet clears caste census in 2011

'er several delibera6ons

within the government on
the poli6cally-sensi6ve
issue, the Union cabinet decided
to carry out a separate house-tohouse caste enumera6on from
June to September next year
Giving in to demands from almost all poli6cal par6es, government on Sep 9 2010. decided to
hold caste census next year
under an exercise to be carried
out separately from the enumera6on of popula6on.
A'er several delibera6ons within
the government on the poli6cally-sensi6ve issue, the Union
cabinet decided to carry out a
.

separate house-to-house caste

enumera6on from June to September next year.
According to home minister P.
Chidambaram, a'er considering
various op6ons, the op6on that
we have approved is, based on
the responses of various poli6cal
par6es, that caste must be canvassed and the integrity of the
headcount must not be aected.
The caste enumera6on will be
conducted in a phased manner
a'er the popula6on enumera6on, which will include biometric
capture and headcount, is completed by March next year, he
said. He evaded a reply when

By : Avadhesh Kumar Pandey

asked whether caste enumera6on would be merged with the

headcount.
The decision has been taken
a'er considering op6ons suggested by the Group of Ministers
(GoM) set up on the issue and
the consulta6ons that nance
minister Pranab Mukherjee held
with leaders of various par6es.
Par6es like Rashtriya Janata
Dal, Samajwadi Party and Janata
Dal (United) had disrupted proceedings in Parliament for several
days during the Budget and Monsoon sessions while pressing for
caste census.
The Bhara6ya Janata Party,
.

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which was divided ini6ally, later

decided to support it. The issue
even divided the Congress as well
as the Union cabinet with some
favouring caste census and others
opposing it, promp6ng the government to set up a GoM to consider all aspects related to such a
move.
Chidambaram said a suitable
legal regime for collec6on of data
on castes would be formulated in
consulta6on with the ministry of
law and jus6ce.
There will be an addi6onal
cost for the exercise which will be
assessed at a separate mee6ng.
The oce of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner
would conduct the eld opera6ons of the caste enumera6on.
The Central government will
cons6tute an expert group to
classify the caste/tribe returns
a'er the enumera6on is completed. The oce of the Registrar
General and Census Commissioner would hand over the details of the castes/tribes returned
in the enumera6on to the proposed expert group.
The last caste-wise census
was held in 1931 and such a prac6ce had been given up as a matter of policy a'er Independence.
In response to the demands
for enumera6ng castes other
than Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in the Census
2011 raised inside Parliament as
well as by various groups outside,
the ministry of home aairs submi7ed a note to the Union cabinet in May 2010 pertaining to this
issue.

India launches Census

2011, the biggest-ever in
history

India on Apr 01, 2010 launched

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Census 2011,'' the biggest-ever

census a7empted in the history
of mankind enumera6ng the
country's 1.2 billion popula6on
and classifying usual residents according to their gender, religion,
occupa6on and educa6on.
The massive exercise, to be
spread over next 11 months, will
mark a milestone as the rst-ever
Na6onal Popula6on Register
(NPR) will also be prepared in
which all persons aged over 15
years will be photographed and
ngerprinted to create a biometric na6onal database. With this
India will probably become the
rst democra6c na6on in the
world which would have got its
popula6on ngerprinted in a year
from now.
As the rst ci6zen of the
country, President Pra6bha Devisingh Pa6l was the rst person
to be listed in the decennial exercise. She appealed to her compatriots to follow her example for
the good of the na6on.''
The 15th Na6onal Census exercise, since 1872, will see over
25 lakh ocials
capturing
the
socio-economiccultural prole of
its ci6zens. It will
cost around Rs.
2,209 crore while
the expenditure on
NPR will be Rs.
3,539.24
crore.
The exercise will
also
consume
more than 11 million tonnes of
paper.
During
the
massive exercise,
the enumerators
for the rst 6me
will collect informa6on like owner-

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ship of mobile phones, computers, internet, having treated or

untreated drinking water facility
and usage of banking services.
They will also seek addi6onal informa6on for the crea6on of
NPR. The government has already said that no informa6on
will be collected on castes as no
caste-based census has ever been
conducted in independent India.
The second phase, called the
Popula6on Enumera6on phase,
will be conducted simultaneously
all over the country from February 9 to 28, 2011, and the en6re
exercise would be completed by
March 5, 2011.
All 640 districts, 5,767 tehsils,
7,742 towns and more than six
lakh villages will be covered.

What is Census

The Indian Census is the most

credible source of informa6on on
Demography (Popula6on characteris6cs), Economic Ac6vity, Literacy & Educa6on, Housing &

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Household Ameni6es, Urbaniza6on, Fer6lity and Mortality,

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, Language, Religion, Migra6on, Disability and many other
socio-cultural and demographic
data since 1872. Census 2011 will
be the 15th Na6onal Census of
the country. This is the only
source of primary data at village,
town and ward level. It provides
valuable informa6on for planning
and formula6on of polices for
Central & State Governments and
is widely used by Na6onal & Interna6onal agencies, scholars,
business people, industrialists,
and many more. The delimita6on/reserva6on of Cons6tuencies
Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is
also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the
Census. Census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in
the past decade, monitoring the
on-going schemes of the Government and most importantly, plan
for the future. That is why the slogan of Census 2011 is "Our Census, Our Future".
.

Na$onal Popula$on
Register

The NPR would be a Register of

usual residents of the country.
The NPR will be a comprehensive
iden6ty database that would help
in be7er targe6ng of the benets
and services under the Government schemes/programmes, improve planning and help
strengthen security of the country. This is being done for the rst
6me in the country.
How will both these exercises be
conducted?
The Census is a statutory exercise
conducted under the provisions
of the Census Act 1948 and Rules
made there under. The NPR is
being created under the provisions of the Ci6zenship Act and
Rules.

Census Process

The Census process involves visi6ng each and every household

and gathering par6culars by ask-

ing ques6ons and lling up Census Forms. The informa6on collected about individuals is kept
absolutely conden6al. In fact
this informa6on is not accessible
even to Courts of law. A'er the
eld work is over the forms are
transported to data processing
centres located at 15 ci6es across
the country. The data processing
will be done using sophis6cated
so'ware called Intelligent Character Recogni6on So'ware (ICR).
This technology was pioneered
by India in Census 2001 has become the benchmark for Censuses all around the globe. This
involves the scanning of the Census Forms at high speed and extrac6ng the data automa6cally
using computer so'ware. This
revolu6onary technology has enabled the processing of the voluminous data in a very short 6me
and saving a huge amount of
manual labour and cost.

NPR Process

Details such as Name, Date of

Birth, Sex, Present Address, Permanent Address, Names of Father, Mother and Spouse etc will
be gathered by visi6ng each and
every household. All usual residents will be eligible to be included irrespec6ve of their
Na6onality. Each and every
household will be given an Acknowledgement Slip at the 6me
of enumera6on. The data will
then be entered into computers
in the local language of the State
as well as in English. Once this
database has been created, biometrics such as photograph, 10
ngerprints and probably Iris informa6on will be added for all
persons aged 15 years and above.
This will be done by arranging
.

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camps at every village and at the

ward level in every town. Each
household will be required to
bring the Acknowledgement Slip
to such camps. Those who miss
these camps will be given the opportunity to present themselves
at permanent NPR Centres to be
set up at the Tehsil/Town level. In
the next step, data will be printed
out and displayed at prominent
places within the village and ward
for the public to see. Objec6ons
will be sought and registered at
this stage. Each of these objec6ons will then be enquired into
by the local Revenue Department
Ocer and a proper disposal
given in wri6ng.
Persons aggrieved by such
order have a right of appeal to
the Tehsildar and then to the District Collector. Once this process
is over, the lists will be placed in
the Gram Sabha in villages and
the Ward Commi7ee in towns.
Claims and Objec6ons will be received at this stage also and dealt
with in the same manner described above. The Gram
Sabha/Ward Commi7ee has to
give its clearance or objec6on
within a xed period of 6me a'er
which it will be deemed that the
lists have been cleared. The lists
thus authen6cated will then be
sent to the Unique Iden6ty Authority of India (UIDAI) for de-duplica6on and issue of UID
Numbers. All duplicates will be
eliminated at this stage based on
comparison of biometrics.
Unique ID numbers will also be
generated for every person. The
cleaned database along with the
UID Number will then be sent
back to the Oce of the Registrar
General and Census Commissioner, India (ORG&CCI) and
would form the Na6onal Popula6on Register. As the UID system
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works on the basis of biometric

de-duplica6on, in the case of persons of age 15 years and above
(for whom biometrics is available), the UID Number will be
available for each individual. For
those below the age of 15 years
(for whom biometrics is not available), the UID Number will be
linked to the parent or guardian.

Will Caste Census in

India Change Anything?

The recent approval by the Government of India for caste based

census has aroused concerns
among poli6cal par6es as well as
social scien6sts and ethnographers. For the self-proclaimed
modernists such regressive
measures are likely to heighten
caste consciousness among Indians. While the pragma6sts argue
that data on caste can help the
government to be7er target arma6ve ac6on policies and
thereby address caste dierences
ra6onally. The fact however is the
that caste as a social reality in
India draws succour from mul6ple sources which will remain untouched by either the proposed
census or the resultant ocial
policies. Caste issues inuence
everyday life of Indians in countless ways.
For those who think that
caste in India is merely a tool of
poli6cal opportunism or a remnant of ancient Hindu culture,
visit to the rural regions of North
Kerala during the winter months
can be surprising and unnerving.
Every year as the winter sets in,
rural areas of North Kerala prepare for a unique transforma6on
of social rela6ons. Theyyam is an
art form where performers, belonging to lower castes, are be-

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lieved to be incarnated by local

dei6es and members of higher
castes ock to seek their blessing.
For three months of the year individuals from the lower castes are
elevated to the status of God but
have to live as untouchables once
the Theyyam season culminates.
Numerous rituals and customs like Theyyam con6nue to
nourish the prac6ce of caste differences in India. One only needs
to skim through the matrimonial
columns in leading English dailies
to get a sense that caste is an important considera6on even for
the modern elite segment of the
urban Indian popula6on.
Stephen P. Rosen in his book
Socie6es and Military Power:
India and its Army discuss the
con6nuing salience of caste in
Indias army. Though many would
consider Rosens conclusions
somewhat extreme but he does
raise several valid concerns. The
ba7alions in the Indian Army con6nue to be organised as the Jat,
Sikh, Dogra or Rajput regiments.
The Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar in 1932 gran6ng reserva6on
for depressed classes in the
provincial legislatures was a precursor for the phenomenal poli6cal salience of caste in Indian
poli6cs. From the Backward
Classes Commissions endeavour
to create a master list of other
backwards classes in 1955 to
KHAM (Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims) poli6cs of the
Congress (I) in the 1980s; from
the Mandal Commission uproar
in the 1990s to growing mass appeal of Dalit based poli6cal par6es like the Bahujan Samaj Party,
Indias poli6cal arena has witnessed countless caste inspired
s6rrings. No observer of Indian
poli6cs can ignore the role of
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caste in determining electoral

outcomes.
Moreover, even before the
on-going controversy over the
2010 caste census erupted, the
Government of India had been involved in many projects categorizing its popula6on along caste
lines. Despite cri6cisms from historians, poli6cal scien6sts and anthropologists the Government of
India did not abandon the colonial states prac6se of dieren6a6ng people along lines of caste
and religion in the People of India
projects. According to Susan
Bayly, in the late 1990s the Anthropological Survey of India was
undertaking massive exercise in
caste-based data collec6on- the
People of India Project- with
funding from Planning Commission. The project has used DNA
sampling to iden6fy dierence
between individual castes and
tribes. Readers are told that as
composite type, the Schduled
Castes have rela6vely broad
noses; chamars says another
entry are characterized by a long,
narrow head shape and a long
moderately broad nasal shape.
Such, outrageous dis6nc6ons
based on caste in a report sponsored by a State agency had gone
completely unno6ced by the
modernists and pragma6cs involved in recent debate. Though
previous censuses have not included ques6ons of caste directly,
the ethnographic notes in the
census reports have contributed
much to literature on caste in
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India.
According to the pragma6sts India cannot simply
assume modernity by ignoring caste. They see
caste as a form of social
stra6ca6on much like
class in Britain or race in
the U.S. The U.S. census
and job applica6ons have a voluntary disclosure segment requiring informa6on about the
individuals race. Comparing
caste with class and race appears
incorrect if one realises that unlike other forms of social stra6ca6ons, caste in India is allegedly
sanc6oned by the sacred scriptures. Even though the scriptural
sanc6ty of caste is open to debate many Indians cite the
Manusmri6 and Bhagavad Gita to
support arguments in favour of
caste. It is much simpler to address dieren6a6ons based on
skin colour or na6onality than
stra6ca6ons perceived to be ordained by religious texts.
Caste based social prac6ces
in India go beyond the more visible poli6cal and economic dimensions and these subtle aspects
are unlikely to be impacted by
the enumera6on of caste through
the census.

Brief History of Census

The earliest literature 'Rig-Veda'

reveals that some kind of popula6on count was maintained in during 800-600 BC in India. The
celebrated 'Arthashastr' by 'Kau6lya' wri7en in the 3rd Century
BC prescribed the collec6on of
popula6on sta6s6cs as a measure
of state policy for taxa6on. It contained a detailed descrip6on of
methods of conduc6ng popula6on, economic and agricultural

censuses. During the regime of

the Mughal king Akbar, the administra6ve report 'Ain-e-Akbari'
included comprehensive data
pertaining to popula6on, industry, wealth and many other characteris6cs.
A systema6c and modern
popula6on census, in its present
form was conducted non synchronously between 1865 and
1872 in dierent parts of the
country. This eort culmina6ng in
1872 has been popularly labeled
as the rst popula6on census of
India However, the rst synchronous census in India was held in
1881. Since then, censuses have
been undertaken uninterruptedly
once every ten year.
The Census of India 2001 was
the fourteenth census in the con6nuous series as reckoned
from1872 and the sixth since independence. The gigan6c task of
census taking was completed in
two phases. In the rst phase,
known as House -lis6ng Opera6ons, all building and structures,
residen6al, partly residen6al or
non- residen6al were iden6ed
and listed and the uses to which
they were put recorded. Informa6on on houses, household
ameni6es and assets were also
collected. In the second phase,
known as Popula6on Enumera6on, more detailed informa6on
on each individual residing in the
country, Indian na6onal or otherwise, during the enumera6on period was collected.
At the Census 2001, more
than 2 million (or 20 lakh) enumerators were deployed to collect the informa6on by visi6ng
every household. The Indian Census is one of the largest administra6ve exercises undertaken in
the world.
.

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