CASTE BASED CENSUS – AN AFFIRMATION TO A PROCESS OF RADICAL CHANGE – LET US MAKE CASTE IMPORTANT TO ULTIMATELY OUTSHINE IT

CASTE BASED CENSUS – AN AFFIRMATION TO A PROCESS OF RADICAL CHANGE – LET US MAKE CASTE IMPORTANT TO ULTIMATELY OUTSHINE IT

The institution of caste continues to remain a formidable force in the Indian nation. Right from selection of ‘suitable’ candidates for the elections by political parties to      being the chief criterion for selection of suitable life partners in arranged marriages, caste continues to dominate the mind of rural and urban India, in varying but definitive ways.       

And rightfully so, it has been the basis of social reality in the Indian subcontinent, since thousands of years. And indeed, a stark and cruel reality for millions of ‘commoners’. However, according to several scholars, Caste system, historically, has been a mixed blessing. It has divisively fragmented India, but also effectively sustained it’s vast diversity ; it has ostracized millions into forced ghettos and sub-human living, but at the same time institutionalized division of labour and skills according to heredity and hierarchy, resulting into harmony and order. Caste system has prevented India from disintegrating socially in the events of foreign invasions, but also through it’s ugliest manifestation of untouchability completely destroyed the spirit of egalitarianism.       

Caste system has been a symbol of a well defined and largely inviolable hierarchal social order. We can’t deny this reality. Caste system, in it’s long career, has affected some manifestations. These ugly manifestations clearly are seen in the glaring income inequalities between Forwards Castes on the one side and Backwards Castes, Dalits and tribals, on the other. These manifestations need to be destroyed for the creation of a more egalitarian society.

It is here that we need a complete overhaul. Reservation policy, along with other measures of affirmative action, should be put in their proper perspective. Reservation bar of 50% can be raised, but only if it is genuinely needed. India is a land of unique inequality, it needs special measures to fight this disparity.

Thus this highlights the importance of caste based census. It would give us a much more accurate statistical input about the social and economic status of various castes. And accordingly, a new revised reservation and social justice policy can be effected.

In the last few decades, we have seen the increasing clout of ‘have not castes’. This , per se, is a healthy sign. Caste census will commence a new era, when elimination of social inequalities, will be addressed to, at a war footing. This might lead to a transitory, intermediate stage, where caste would get even more important. But soon this phase will be over, as vertical order gives way to horizontal order.

Thorn has be used to remove other thorns. Similarly caste criterion has to be used to ultimately diminish or even annihilate caste system. If we wish to remove poison from a snake bitten man, we will have to employ harsh methods, there will be pain. “All change is painful”, says Karl Marx. On the same lines, we need to cure society, so there will be some level of unease, disorder, but eventually would lead to equality and order.

The end of social inequality can bring real harmony. And a caste based census is the first concrete step in that direction.

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