Stepping Stone of Equality?

India's decision to conduct a caste census after nearly a century may rekindle the fight for social justice, offering an opportunity to address entrenched inequalities through data-driven policymaking

- FR. JOHN FELIX RAJ & PRABHAT KUMAR DATTA

FR. JOHN FELIX RAJ is the Vice Chancellor and PRABHAT KUMAR DATTA, an adjunct professor at Xavier Law School. Both at St. Xavier's University, Kolkata.

The French Revolution's resounding declaration that "all humans are born equal" starkly contrasts with the harsh reality of inequality that pervades our lives. While the Indus Valley Civilization may have been casteless, it was likely not classless. The ancient Indian society, as reflected in the Vedas, organised itself into four varnas - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras - laying the foundation for the complex Indian caste system. This system has evolved over centuries, influencing every aspect of Indian life.

The issue of caste census in India has recently gained prominence following the central government's decision to include caste enumeration in the upcoming decennial census. Pioneering anti-caste social reformers like Mahatma Phule and Jyotirao Phule successfully persuaded the British to acknowledge caste as a crucial factor in policymaking, particularly in education and employment. This led to the colonial government's pan-Indian caste enumeration in 1881, marking the beginning of caste-based data collection. The last successful exercise of this kind took place in 1931. Although some open-ended questions were included in the 2011 census, the government found the data unusable due to various limitations.

The Significance of the Decision