Caste away: On the Court and caste count
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition to halt the caste census, which is planned as part of the delayed Census 2027. The Chief Justice of India emphasized the need for the government to know the number of backward people requiring welfare. This marks a significant policy shift for the Narendra Modi government, which had previously opposed the idea. The last comprehensive caste enumeration was in 1931. Post-independence, early governments avoided caste enumeration to discourage caste reinforcement, despite simultaneously implementing positive discrimination policies. The 2027 census will involve asking individuals their specific caste, unlike previous censuses that only recorded Scheduled Caste/Tribe status. A previous attempt, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, faced significant data errors and its findings remain largely unpublished. The article highlights the paradox of using caste data for welfare while aiming for a casteless society, noting that while it can help target welfare, it may also ossify identities.
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition to halt the caste census, which is planned as part of the delayed Census 2027. The Chief Justice of India emphasized the need for the government to know the number of backward people requiring welfare. This marks a significant policy shift for the Narendra Modi government, which had previously opposed the idea. The last comprehensive caste enumeration was in 1931. Post-independence, early governments avoided caste enumeration to discourage caste reinforcement, despite simultaneously implementing positive discrimination policies. The 2027 census will involve asking individuals their specific caste, unlike previous censuses that only recorded Scheduled Caste/Tribe status. A previous attempt, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, faced significant data errors and its findings remain largely unpublished. The article highlights the paradox of using caste data for welfare while aiming for a casteless society, noting that while it can help target welfare, it may also ossify identities.
Exam linkage
GS Paper II: Social Justice (Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections, mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections); Governance (Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation).
Syllabus mapping
This topic appears in Mains
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