THE Union Cabinet has finally decided to hold a caste-wise census from June to September 2011 after the completion of regular enumeration. Collecting caste-based data will be a major challenge for the government as such an exercise has not been undertaken after 1931, except for people in the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes categories. It is nobody's case that the government does not need this information if it wants to implement its development programmes in a targeted manner. However, in the light of apprehensions that the data so collected would strengthen caste differences and increase hostilities, the authorities will have to ensure that information on caste characteristics through census schedule does not encourage respondents to deliberately misrepresent facts. This is because people would know that the data are likely to be used for designing or monitoring policies and programmes for affirmative action.
The Cabinet decision on Thursday enjoins greater responsibility on the census authorities to ensure that the enumerators are trained properly to collect accurate data. The high accent on accuracy is very important as otherwise the whole purpose of caste headcount would be defeated. The authorities need to get the figures right and do an authenticity check by conducting sample surveys. If a particular community's numbers get reduced in the headcount, the government should not hesitate to reduce its share in the reservation regime. Merit — be it with regard to the admissions in educational institutions or government jobs — should not be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
The role of the government — at the Centre and in the states — has increased manifold in the sphere of socio-economic development. It is in need of reliable information to evaluate the impact of major policy shifts or the flagship programmes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). At the same time, the information on castes will help assess the impact of schemes like the reservation system on the backward classes. Thus, the success of the caste headcount would depend upon the authorities' ability to collect authentic, credible and reliable data.
