The Centre’s proposed caste census is expected to face multiple challenges, including the difficulty of disentangling caste from surname and gotra from the often muddled answers given by survey respondents, former bureaucrats and statisticians have said.
They said the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) conducted by the rural development ministry, housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry, and the Registrar General of India in 2011-12 threw up a thicket of mixed-up or incorrect data, provided by people confused about what their caste was.
Asked about their caste during the survey, many people mentioned their sub-caste, surname or gotra (line of descent, usually from a rishi). The SECC therefore came up with the implausible figure of 46 lakh “caste” names which — apart from actual caste names — included surnames, sub-castes, clans and gotras as well as synonyms for all of these.
The government set up a committee under the then Niti Aayog vice-chairman, Arvind Panagariya, to put order and clarity into the SECC’s messy findings. However, the committee has not sent in its report yet, and the government has not published the caste data.
P.C. Mohanan, former acting chairperson of the National Statistical Commission, said the same caste may have different names in different regions and different castes have the same name in different areas.
“The caste names are in local languages. Two castes may have the same name (in different languages),” he said.
“In some areas, different people may spell the name of the same caste differently. Because of this, caste enumeration can be a challenge.”
Mohanan suggested the government publicise the names of all the castes available in its records, seeking claims and objections before starting the census.
“When district and locality-wise data of all the castes are published online and offline, people will go through them and suggest the inclusion of any caste missing from the list, or any modifications they think necessary. Then the enumeration will be smooth,” Mohanan said.
Mohanan argued that the caste census should not be limited to Hindus.
“Muslims, Christians and Buddhists are not homogenous groups, either. There are social categories (within them). Their populations too should be counted according to these categories,” he said.
N.K. Sahu, who was in charge of the SECC as then economic adviser to the rural development ministry, said the census enumerators should be given manuals mentioning the correct caste names and told not to enter any other “caste name” mentioned by the respondents.
“Caste is related to a family’s religion-assigned occupation. Different families from a particular caste may have different surnames,” he said.
“The manual (for the surveyors) should be prepared in such a way that accurate caste data is collected along with the families’ economic data.”
Sahu said the enumerators are usually schoolteachers unacquainted with the niceties of caste surveys. Therefore, their training is as important as the proper design and planning of the caste census.
He said the upcoming caste census would have become easier had the government analysed the findings of the SECC and identified the various gaps and weaknesses.
G. Karunanidhi, secretary of the All India Other Backward Classes Employees Federation, said the caste census should also record the socio-economic data of people from every caste to allow better policy planning.
The Union cabinet on Wednesday decided that the next population census would include a caste census.