Obc calculus

Obc calculus

Census 2021 data on caste should be used to rationalise reservations.

In a significant move, the Centre has decided to collect data on caste as part of the next Census exercise in 2021. This will mark a restoration of the caste index in Census after 1931 and will be the first time that data on Other Backward Classes will be collected. True, data on caste was collected during the Socio-Economic Caste Census in 2011-2013. But strangely this still hasn’t been released. And to think that 27% reservation for OBCs after the implementation of the Mandal Commission has been in operation for nearly three decades without such precise caste data.

In fact, dominant OBC groups have long been demanding such enumeration based on the belief that they constitute more than 50% of the population and want this reality reflected in the reservation system. But the Centre has been moving for sub-categorisation of OBCs and the next Census will be part of this process. BJP’s game plan here seems to be to reach out to non-dominant OBCs before the 2024 elections. If this is true, it will only lead to further balkanisation of society with adverse consequences.

As it is, the current reservation paradigm has created circumstances where dominant, well-off communities are demanding OBC status to avail quota benefits. This bizarre race to the bottom will worsen if the caste data in the next Census is not used to rationalise quotas but expand their scope. Plus, it will be a defeat of the original logic of reservations which were meant to empower the most downtrodden sections of society. The only way forward is to enact policies that lift all boats and grow the jobs and education pie. In that sense, what the Centre does with the Census caste data is more crucial.