Counting Caste

Why in the News?

The Bihar govt. has released the results of its survey of castes in the state, which was a result of unanimous decision of an all-party meeting in the state.

• It is the first such large-scale exercise where results have been made public (comprehensive caste data collected by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as well as the Union government in the past have been unrevealed).
• The survey involved a 17-question form on caste, religion, and economic status.
• An app was used to collect the data for tabulation and processing.
• It is yet to make social sense of the bare caste counts made public.

Key findings of the Caste survey:

1. The share of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) stand at more than 63%. 
2. The EBCs form 36.01% and OBCs account for 27.12% of the state’s population.
3.  The “unreserved” category of so-called “forward” castes is about 15.5%.
4. The Scheduled castes form 19.65% and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) form about 1.68% of the state population.
5. Hindus comprise 81.99% of the population, and Muslims 17.72%, while Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and other religious denominations form a minuscule population.

Significance of the survey findings:

1. The changed proportion of share of castes in the increasing population can be used to pressure for holding a nationwide caste census in the coming days.
2. The results from the survey can support demands for increasing the OBC quota beyond 27%, and for a quota within quota for the EBCs.
3. The Bihar survey may push other states to carry out similar exercises.
   1. When Bihar started to conduct the exercise, the Patna High Court paused it stating that the state government was not competent to conduct what appeared to be a census.
   2. However, it signalled a green light after the state submitted that it was a “survey”, and assured that no one’s data would be disclosed.
4. The survey data will reopen the longstanding debate over the 50% ceiling on reservation.
   1. In the Indra Sawhney v Union of India (1992) case, a 50% ceiling on reservation was imposed to ensure “efficiency” in administration.
   2. This ruling has been used by courts to block several attempts by states to breach it.

With EBCs, OBCs, and SCs together accounting for more than 82% of the state’s population, a vote bank for which fierce battles among political parties will be fought in the upcoming elections.