The government’s decision to include a caste count in the next census has chosen the mixed response. While some experts argue that it will provide vital data to solve long -standing problems such as subcategorization and better orientation or well -being schemes, others fear that social divisions can deepen when reinforcing caste lines. But is there a strong case to include this data in the census?
The data presented in the Social Welfare Statistics Manual – 2024, published by the Ministry of Justice and Social Empowerment, show back sections, including scheduled castes (SC), programmed tribes (another Baceward Government). The correct use of the data at the caste count could directly help schemes in the right direction.
Twice the impoverishment
Between 2004-05 and 2011-12, poverty rates in India decreased in all the main groups of caste. SCS, who was the period with the highest poverty levels, experienced the greatest absolute reductions.
Rural poverty among the SC fell from 53.5 percent to 31.5 percent, which implies that many have moved away from extreme impoverishment since 2005. Urban SCS saw a drop of 18.9 percentage points in poverty levels of 40.6 percent. Poverty between OBC was also reduced by half to 22.6 percent in rural areas and 15.4 percent in urban areas.
But despite these improvements, poverty between SCS and OBC was much higher compared to the category of ‘others’ most privileged. The percentage of people below the level of poverty in 2011-12 in the ‘group of others’ in urban areas was only 8.2 percent in urban areas and 15.5 percent in rural areas.
The continuous concentration of poverty between the SC and the dominant groups highlights the continuous disparity of income in the country.
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Participation in government works stagnates
The data on the representation of SC, ST and OBC in the services of the central government show that the total number of employees of these groups numbered 12.69 Lakh in 2014-15. The number has gradually decreased over the years and stood at 8.71 Lakh in 2022-23, registering a 31 percent decrease in eight years.
The decrease seems to be in line with the general reduction of the workforce of the central government of 29.5 Lakh in 2014-15 to 18.9 Lakh in 2022-23. But its participation in the workforce of the central government has remained stable, with only marginal changes.
The representation of SC has been around 17-18 percent, the representation of ST around 7.3-8.5 percent, and the representation of OBC has increased slightly 17.7 percent to around 22 percent. In spite of the affirmative action policies, the data suggest limited growth in the proportional representation, especially for SC and STS, which increases the conerns on the effectiveness of the implementation of the reserve and the reduced size of the employment of the government.
The data also reveal a decline trend both in the total workforce and in the absolute number of employees SC, ST and OBC in companies of the central public sector (CPSE) of 2016-17 to 2022-23. While the percentage of SC and STS representation remained relatively stable, the SC decreased slightly 18.59 percent to 16.89 percent and STS of 11.29 percent to 13.41 percent, the OBC participation increased modestly from 31.50 percent to 40.43 percent to 40.43 percent to 40.43 percent to 40.43 percent to 40.43.
Meanwhile, the total workforce was significantly reduced from 71,572 to 49,949 employees. This suggests that Althegh The proportional representation of OBC improved, general work opportunities in the CPSE have contracted abruptly, limiting ascending mobility for all reserved categories.
Divided into the census
A senior government official said that in an affidavit presented to the Supreme Court on September 23, the Government of the Union had declared that a cast census was harmful, citing administrative difficulties and complexity. While logistics challenges remain, the political landscape has changed, presenting a new challenge for the administration when executing said exercise.
The RSS, which has traditionally opposed a census with the argument that it could obtain social divisions, has remained silent with the recent announcement of the government. Mrunal Dhole-Patil of the OBC Welfare Foundation suggested that the decision may be influenced by the next Bihar elections and other states. They urged the Government to honor their current commitment and process with the Cool Census, highlighting that the Government had considered it unhappy.
Posted on May 1, 2025