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Caste CensusCabinet clears caste census in 2011er several deliberaons
within the government on
the polically-sensive
issue, the Union cabinet decided
to carry out a separate house-to-
house caste enumeraon from
June to September next yearGiving in to demands from al-
most all polical pares, govern-
ment on Sep 9 2010. decided to
hold caste census next year
under an exercise to be carried
out separately from the enumer-
aon of populaon.
Aer several deliberaons within
the government on the poli-
cally-sensive issue, the Union
cabinet decided to carry out a
separate house-to-house caste
enumeraon from June to Sep-
tember next year.
According to home minister P.
Chidambaram, aer considering
various opons, the opon that
we have approved is, based onthe responses of various polical
pares, that caste must be can-
vassed and the integrity of the
headcount must not be affected.
The caste enumeraon will be
conducted in a phased manner
aer the populaon enumera-
on, which will include biometric
capture and headcount, is com-
pleted by March next year, he
said. He evaded a reply when
asked whether caste enumera-
on would be merged with the
headcount.
The decision has been taken
aer considering opons sug-
gested by the Group of Ministers
(GoM) set up on the issue andthe consultaons that finance
minister Pranab Mukherjee held
with leaders of various pares.
Pares like Rashtriya Janata
Dal, Samajwadi Party and Janata
Dal (United) had disrupted pro-
ceedings in Parliament for several
days during the Budget and Mon-
soon sessions while pressing for
caste census.
The Bharaya Janata Party,
By : Avadhesh Kumar Pandey
A
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which was divided inially, later
decided to support it. The issue
even divided the Congress as well
as the Union cabinet with some
favouring caste census and others
opposing it, prompng the gov-
ernment to set up a GoM to con-sider all aspects related to such a
move.
Chidambaram said a suitable
legal regime for collecon of data
on castes would be formulated in
consultaon with the ministry of
law and jusce.
There will be an addional
cost for the exercise which will be
assessed at a separate meeng.
The office of the Registrar Gen-eral and Census Commissioner
would conduct the field opera-
ons of the caste enumeraon.
The Central government will
constute an expert group to
classify the caste/tribe returns
aer the enumeraon is com-
pleted. The office of the Registrar
General and Census Commis-
sioner would hand over the de-
tails of the castes/tribes returnedin the enumeraon to the pro-
posed expert group.
The last caste-wise census
was held in 1931 and such a prac-
ce had been given up as a mat-
ter of policy aer Independence.
In response to the demands
for enumerang castes other
than Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in the Census
2011 raised inside Parliament aswell as by various groups outside,
the ministry of home affairs sub-
mied a note to the Union cabi-
net in May 2010 pertaining to this
issue.
India launches Census
2011, the biggest-ever in
history
India on Apr 01, 2010 launched
Census 2011,'' the biggest-ever
census aempted in the history
of mankind enumerang the
country's 1.2 billion populaon
and classifying usual residents ac-
cording to their gender, religion,
occupaon and educaon.The massive exercise, to be
spread over next 11 months, will
mark a milestone as the first-ever
Naonal Populaon Register
(NPR) will also be prepared in
which all persons aged over 15
years will be photographed and
fingerprinted to create a biomet-
ric naonal database. With this
India will probably become the
first democrac naon in theworld which would have got its
populaon fingerprinted in a year
from now.
As the first cizen of the
country, President Prabha De-
visingh Pal was the first person
to be listed in the decennial exer-
cise. She appealed to her compa-
triots to follow her example for
the good of the naon.''
The 15th Naonal Census ex-ercise, since 1872, will see over
25 lakh officials
capturing the
socio-economic-
cultural profile of
its cizens. It will
cost around Rs.
2,209 crore while
the expenditure on
NPR will be Rs.
3,539.24 crore.The exercise will
also consume
more than 11 mil-
lion tonnes of
paper.
During the
massive exercise,
the enumerators
for the first me
will collect infor-
maon like owner-
ship of mobile phones, comput-
ers, internet, having treated or
untreated drinking water facility
and usage of banking services.
They will also seek addional in-
formaon for the creaon of
NPR. The government has al-ready said that no informaon
will be collected on castes as no
caste-based census has ever been
conducted in independent India.
The second phase, called the
Populaon Enumeraon phase,
will be conducted simultaneously
all over the country from Febru-
ary 9 to 28, 2011, and the enre
exercise would be completed by
March 5, 2011.All 640 districts, 5,767 tehsils,
7,742 towns and more than six
lakh villages will be covered.
What is Census
The Indian Census is the most
credible source of informaon on
Demography (Populaon charac-
teriscs), Economic Acvity, Liter-acy & Educaon, Housing &
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Household Amenies, Urbaniza-
on, Ferlity and Mortality,
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, Language, Religion, Migra-
on, Disability and many other
socio-cultural and demographic
data since 1872. Census 2011 will
be the 15th Naonal Census of
the country. This is the only
source of primary data at village,town and ward level. It provides
valuable informaon for planning
and formulaon of polices for
Central & State Governments and
is widely used by Naonal & In-
ternaonal agencies, scholars,
business people, industrialists,
and many more. The delimita-
on/reservaon of Constuen-
cies -
Parliamentary/Assembly/Pan-
chayats and other Local Bodies is
also done on the basis of the de-
mographic data thrown up by the
Census. Census is the basis for re-
viewing the country's progress in
the past decade, monitoring the
on-going schemes of the Govern-
ment and most importantly, plan
for the future. That is why the slo-
gan of Census 2011 is "Our Cen-
sus, Our Future".
Naonal PopulaonRegister
The NPR would be a Register of
usual residents of the country.
The NPR will be a comprehensive
identy database that would help
in beer targeng of the benefitsand services under the Govern-
ment schemes/programmes, im-
prove planning and help
strengthen security of the coun-
try. This is being done for the first
me in the country.
How will both these exercises be
conducted?
The Census is a statutory exercise
conducted under the provisions
of the Census Act 1948 and Rules
made there under. The NPR is
being created under the provi-
sions of the Cizenship Act and
Rules.
Census Process
The Census process involves vis-
ing each and every household
and gathering parculars by ask-
ing quesons and filling up Cen-
sus Forms. The informaon col-
lected about individuals is kept
absolutely confidenal. In fact
this informaon is not accessible
even to Courts of law. Aer the
field work is over the forms aretransported to data processing
centres located at 15 cies across
the country. The data processing
will be done using sophiscated
soware called Intelligent Char-
acter Recognion Soware (ICR).
This technology was pioneered
by India in Census 2001 has be-
come the benchmark for Cen-
suses all around the globe. This
involves the scanning of the Cen-sus Forms at high speed and ex-
tracng the data automacally
using computer soware. This
revoluonary technology has en-
abled the processing of the volu-
minous data in a very short me
and saving a huge amount of
manual labour and cost.
NPR Process
Details such as Name, Date of
Birth, Sex, Present Address, Per-
manent Address, Names of Fa-
ther, Mother and Spouse etc will
be gathered by vising each and
every household. All usual resi-
dents will be eligible to be in-
cluded irrespecve of their
Naonality. Each and every
household will be given an Ac-knowledgement Slip at the me
of enumeraon. The data will
then be entered into computers
in the local language of the State
as well as in English. Once this
database has been created, bio-
metrics such as photograph, 10
fingerprints and probably Iris in-
formaon will be added for all
persons aged 15 years and above.
This will be done by arranging
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camps at every village and at the
ward level in every town. Each
household will be required to
bring the Acknowledgement Slip
to such camps. Those who miss
these camps will be given the op-
portunity to present themselvesat permanent NPR Centres to be
set up at the Tehsil/Town level. In
the next step, data will be printed
out and displayed at prominent
places within the village and ward
for the public to see. Objecons
will be sought and registered at
this stage. Each of these objec-
ons will then be enquired into
by the local Revenue Department
Officer and a proper disposalgiven in wring.
Persons aggrieved by such
order have a right of appeal to
the Tehsildar and then to the Dis-
trict Collector. Once this process
is over, the lists will be placed in
the Gram Sabha in villages and
the Ward Commiee in towns.
Claims and Objecons will be re-
ceived at this stage also and dealt
with in the same manner de-scribed above. The Gram
Sabha/Ward Commiee has to
give its clearance or objecon
within a fixed period of me aer
which it will be deemed that the
lists have been cleared. The lists
thus authencated will then be
sent to the Unique Identy Au-
thority of India (UIDAI) for de-du-
plicaon and issue of UID
Numbers. All duplicates will beeliminated at this stage based on
comparison of biometrics.
Unique ID numbers will also be
generated for every person. The
cleaned database along with the
UID Number will then be sent
back to the Office of the Registrar
General and Census Commis-
sioner, India (ORG&CCI) and
would form the Naonal Popula-
on Register. As the UID system
works on the basis of biometric
de-duplicaon, in the case of per-
sons of age 15 years and above
(for whom biometrics is avail-
able), the UID Number will be
available for each individual. For
those below the age of 15 years(for whom biometrics is not avail-
able), the UID Number will be
linked to the parent or guardian.
Will Caste Census in
India Change Anything?
The recent approval by the Gov-
ernment of India for caste based
census has aroused concernsamong polical pares as well as
social sciensts and ethnogra-
phers. For the self-proclaimed
modernists such regressive
measures are likely to heighten
caste consciousness among Indi-
ans. While the pragmasts argue
that data on caste can help the
government to beer target affir-
mave acon policies and
thereby address caste differencesraonally. The fact however is the
that caste as a social reality in
India draws succour from mul-
ple sources which will remain un-
touched by either the proposed
census or the resultant official
policies. Caste issues influence
everyday life of Indians in count-
less ways.
For those who think that
caste in India is merely a tool ofpolical opportunism or a rem-
nant of ancient Hindu culture,
visit to the rural regions of North
Kerala during the winter months
can be surprising and unnerving.
Every year as the winter sets in,
rural areas of North Kerala pre-
pare for a unique transformaon
of social relaons. Theyyam is an
art form where performers, be-
longing to lower castes, are be-
lieved to be incarnated by local
deies and members of higher
castes flock to seek their blessing.
For three months of the year indi-
viduals from the lower castes are
elevated to the status of God but
have to live as untouchables oncethe Theyyam season culminates.
Numerous rituals and cus-
toms like Theyyam connue to
nourish the pracce of caste dif-
ferences in India. One only needs
to skim through the matrimonial
columns in leading English dailies
to get a sense that caste is an im-
portant consideraon even for
the modern elite segment of the
urban Indian populaon.Stephen P. Rosen in his book
Sociees and Military Power:
India and its Army discuss the
connuing salience of caste in
Indias army. Though many would
consider Rosens conclusions
somewhat extreme but he does
raise several valid concerns. The
baalions in the Indian Army con-
nue to be organised as the Jat,
Sikh, Dogra or Rajput regiments.The Poona Pact between Ma-
hatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambed-
kar in 1932 granng reservaon
for depressed classes in the
provincial legislatures was a pre-
cursor for the phenomenal poli-
cal salience of caste in Indian
polics. From the Backward
Classes Commissions endeavour
to create a master list of other
backwards classes in 1955 toKHAM (Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adi-
vasis and Muslims) polics of the
Congress (I) in the 1980s; from
the Mandal Commission uproar
in the 1990s to growing mass ap-
peal of Dalit based polical par-
es like the Bahujan Samaj Party,
Indias polical arena has wit-
nessed countless caste inspired
srrings. No observer of Indian
polics can ignore the role of
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caste in determining electoral
outcomes.
Moreover, even before the
on-going controversy over the
2010 caste census erupted, the
Government of India had been in-
volved in many projects catego-
rizing its populaon along caste
lines. Despite cricisms from his-
torians, polical sciensts and an-
thropologists the Government of
India did not abandon the colo-
nial states pracse of differen-
ang people along lines of caste
and religion in the People of India
projects. According to Susan
Bayly, in the late 1990s the An-
thropological Survey of India was
undertaking massive exercise in
caste-based data collecon- the
People of India Project- with
funding from Planning Commis-
sion. The project has used DNA
sampling to idenfy difference
between individual castes and
tribes. Readers are told that as
composite type, the Schduled
Castes have relavely broad
noses; chamars says another
entry are characterized by a long,
narrow head shape and a long
moderately broad nasal shape.
Such, outrageous disncons
based on caste in a report spon-
sored by a State agency had gone
completely unnoced by the
modernists and pragmacs in-
volved in recent debate. Though
previous censuses have not in-
cluded quesons of caste directly,
the ethnographic notes in the
census reports have contributed
much to literature on caste in
India.
According to the pragma-
sts India cannot simply
assume modernity by ig-
noring caste. They see
caste as a form of social
straficaon much like
class in Britain or race in
the U.S. The U.S. census
and job applicaons have a vol-
untary disclosure segment requir-
ing informaon about the
individuals race. Comparing
caste with class and race appears
incorrect if one realises that un-
like other forms of social strafi-
caons, caste in India is allegedly
sanconed by the sacred scrip-tures. Even though the scriptural
sancty of caste is open to de-
bate many Indians cite the
Manusmri and Bhagavad Gita to
support arguments in favour of
caste. It is much simpler to ad-
dress differenaons based on
skin colour or naonality than
straficaons perceived to be or-
dained by religious texts.
Caste based social praccesin India go beyond the more visi-
ble polical and economic dimen-
sions and these subtle aspects
are unlikely to be impacted by
the enumeraon of caste through
the census.
Brief History of Census
The earliest literature 'Rig-Veda'reveals that some kind of popula-
on count was maintained in dur-
ing 800-600 BC in India. The
celebrated 'Arthashastr' by 'Kau-
lya' wrien in the 3rd Century
BC prescribed the collecon of
populaon stascs as a measure
of state policy for taxaon. It con-
tained a detailed descripon of
methods of conducng popula-
on, economic and agricultural
censuses. During the regime of
the Mughal king Akbar, the ad-
ministrave report 'Ain-e-Akbari'
included comprehensive data
pertaining to populaon, indus-
try, wealth and many other char-
acteriscs.
A systemac and modern
populaon census, in its present
form was conducted non syn-
chronously between 1865 and
1872 in different parts of the
country. This effort culminang in
1872 has been popularly labeled
as the first populaon census of
India However, the first synchro-
nous census in India was held in
1881. Since then, censuses havebeen undertaken uninterruptedly
once every ten year.
The Census of India 2001 was
the fourteenth census in the con-
nuous series as reckoned
from1872 and the sixth since in-
dependence. The giganc task of
census taking was completed in
two phases. In the first phase,
known as House -lisng Opera-
ons, all building and structures,residenal, partly residenal or
non- residenal were idenfied
and listed and the uses to which
they were put recorded. Informa-
on on houses, household
amenies and assets were also
collected. In the second phase,
known as Populaon Enumera-
on, more detailed informaon
on each individual residing in the
country, Indian naonal or other-wise, during the enumeraon pe-
riod was collected.
At the Census 2001, more
than 2 million (or 20 lakh) enu-
merators were deployed to col-
lect the informaon by vising
every household. The Indian Cen-
sus is one of the largest adminis-
trave exercises undertaken in
the world.
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