Caste census gives us an opportunity to examine and reinforce affirmative action

Indian Express

13-05-2025

Written by Venkatanarayanan Sethuraman
The Centre's decision to enumerate caste in the upcoming census will play a significant role in restructuring the reservation system in India. Reservation breaks occupational homogeneity. Part III (Article 15 and 16) and Part IV (Directive Principles of State Policy) of the Constitution offer scope for introducing affirmative actions. However, even after 75 years since Independence, we are unable to achieve the intended objectives of the reservation policy. Caste-based hierarchy and discrimination are pervasive in government and private sector employment and educational institutions.
Backward Classes Commissions: Looking back
While the Constitution ensured reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), the identification of backward classes was a post-Constituent Assembly phenomenon. Responding to the demands for extending reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the Congress government in 1953 set up the First Backward Classes Commission under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar, to identify the 'socially and educationally backward' communities. The commission identified 2,399 castes as 'socially and educationally backward' based on their social position in the caste hierarchy, educational advancement, and representation in government services, trade, commerce and industry. As the commission considered caste as the only criterion, instead of economic status, to identify the backwardness, the then Congress government rejected the report and gave the states a free hand to identify the backward classes in their respective regions.
The Second Backward Classes Commission, popularly known as the Mandal commission, under the chairmanship of B P Mandal, was set up in 1979 by the Janata Dal government. The commission did a detailed survey based on social, educational and economic indicators and identified 3,743 castes as backward and recommended reservation in educational institutions and government sector employment. Again, due to its emphasis on caste, the Congress government didn't implement it.
The V P Singh government in 1990 issued an office memorandum for implementing the Mandal Commission Report, and in 1991, when the Congress came back to power, it added 10 per cent reservation for 'other economically backward sections of the people who are not covered by any of the existing schemes of reservation' along with 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. In Indra Sawhney vs Union of India (1992), the Supreme Court of India upheld the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs but rejected 10 per cent reservation for EWS as economic status cannot be the sole criterion for reservation without the evidence of structural discrimination. Further, it added that EWS as a reservation category cannot be created through an office memorandum. This is why the current government created EWS reservation through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment. The Supreme Court also interpreted the word 'Class' in article 16(4) as 'Social Class' and not economic status-based 'Marxist Class'.
The Court identified two important criteria for providing reservation to any social class. One is a test of backwardness, and another is a test of inadequate representation. Such interventions historically made significant changes, but we are still far away from achieving the core objectives of affirmative action.
Caste census and reservation
The All India Survey on Higher Education (2021-22) report details the representation of different social groups in government and private educational institutions in India. The dismal representation of the marginalised communities in the teaching positions of higher education institutions opens the cracks in the system. In public universities, only around 10.8 per cent of teachers are from SC community, whereas for STs, the share stands at merely 3.4 per cent, and for OBCs, it is 21 per cent. However, the general category represents around 49.3 per cent of teachers in public universities and 60.7 per cent in private universities. Across Union and state public universities, along with affiliated and constituent colleges, SC teachers represent 9.6 per cent, STs 2.6 per cent, and OBCs 34 per cent. In contrast, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, during a reply in Rajya Sabha in 2021, said that 97 per cent of manual scavengers in India belong to the Dalit community.
Caste based notions are so entrenched that it becomes very difficult for the marginalised communities to get employed, even if they are well qualified. In 2007, while studying the employability of the non-general castes, Sukhdeo Thorat and his team sent out resumes to private companies in Delhi based on newspaper advertisements. All the resumes had similar qualifications and skills. But the Hindu upper caste names received more calls for interviews compared to Dalits and Muslims. Surinder Jodhka and Newman's study in 2007 also revealed how the HR managers insist on certain factors like family background and locality, instead of directly asking for the caste of the candidates.
These experiences show that we need to implement reservation even in the private sector to combat such constraints. A census that enumerates caste is an opportunity to strengthen the reservation system to create an inclusive society. But at the same time, it can strengthen the numerically dominant communities politically, which may affect the rights and opportunities for numerically non-dominant communities. We must be prepared to handle the political outcomes.
The writer is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History at Christ University, BGR Campus, Bengaluru. The views expressed are his personal