What would be the purpose of a caste survey, except to accentuate awareness amongst citizens of an attribute which has no place in government schemes for the people?
After more than two decades, a complete census of the population of India is being done. This is a necessary input, including for economic planning, and is therefore a welcome step. The exercise is expected to take place during 2025-26. Controversies are already swirling, including on whether queries concerning caste should be included in the data sheet. Another is how seats in Parliament need to be apportioned between the different states, once the census gets completed. As a state moves up the locus of economic development moves up among individuals, family size usually begins to decrease. Globally, countries with higher per capita incomes have slower rates of population growth than countries with lower levels of per capita incomes. If we were to reach beyond the present and the immediate past into more faraway times, an explanation could be for lower income families to have had more children, as infant mortality could be expected to be higher than for families with higher levels of income. Another factor could be the need for such families to rely within themselves rather than on hired labour for carrying out work. In India, despite lower levels of income, figures for infant mortality have fallen because of the easier availability of better healthcare. Average life expectancy has more than doubled since 1947. Overall, India is now having a greater population than China, a demographic opportunity that could be seized as education and job opportunities improve. Since 1971, the distribution of parliamentary seats between different states has followed the population proportions given in the 1971 census. Such a distribution has not been altered since then, nor should it be now. While the number of Parliamentary seats needs to increase, such increases should reflect the proportionality reflected in the 1971 census, else states that have done well in population control would lose out to states less successful in such a measure. As a consequence, Lok Sabha seats in states with higher population growth would on average have a larger voter base than seats in states with lower population growth. There is a reason why proportions have remained constant since 1971, and this is the importance of ensuring equity between states. Equity between individuals can and is being addressed by ameliorative measures of the kind being undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. They have ensured benefits to almost 80 crore individuals in Bharat, i.e., India, a welfare program the scale of which has been unmatched in history.
It is being urged by some political parties that caste ought to be explicitly brought into the 2025 Census. While in the past, asking for the caste of an individual while meeting him was regarded as socially acceptable, the same is not the case now. Among the reasons why this is so is the reality that the system of caste by birth (rather than, as ought to have been the case if ancient codes were followed, by occupation) is no longer a reliable indicator of the economic or educational levels of an individual. There are a large number of economically deprived individuals in every caste. For decades, this columnist defined what he labelled as the Mercedes caste, individuals who were able to afford that luxury car. Irrespective of what we call caste, those having such vehicles were given attention and respect by substantial sections of society. We may differentiate between the luxury car caste, standard car caste, scooter caste, bicycle caste and the final category in which are individuals who lack the means to possess or use any of the modes of vehicular transportation mentioned. What would be the purpose of a caste survey, except to accentuate awareness amongst citizens of an attribute which has no place in government schemes for the people? Rather, the effort ought to be focused towards hastening the transition to a post-caste era. Of course, reservations on the existing basis would continue where the state sector is concerned. Were these to be foisted on the private sector as well, investment both within and from outside India would dry up. The ruling establishments in China and Pakistan would of course be gleeful. If India is still a country where double digit GDP growth remains unattained, it is because so many oppose measures such as the farm laws were, or oppose horizontal recruitment into the administrative services. It is important that from primary school onwards, our minds be trained to adjust and equip ourselves to the needs and conditions of the 21st century, and this is a period where every citizen ought to have a chance at a better life, and at the attainment of excellence, rather than get divided on the basis of caste, region, religion or lifestyle. The census is an enumeration of We the people of Bharat i.e. India, a people that need to be united rather than split apart, a point emphatically made by Prime Minister Modi as he spoke to the nation on Diwali day.
The onset of Cold War 2.0 has brought with it an opportunity for Bharat i.e. India to take advantage of it by getting substantial investment, while skilling hundreds of millions of youth and thereby also attracting investment. Such measures boost growth and thereby social justice. Each of us needs to assist in making that possibility a reality during the coming years rather than remain trapped in mindsets that have no relevance and no utility in the 21st century.