BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF RESERVATION

HE Lok Sabha elections drew a sharp debate on reservation policies in general and caste census in particular.

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After the results, the formation of a coalition government with at least one key player, JD(U), having been supportive of a caste census, and the Lok Sabha leader of opposition's unequivocal statement on such a census kept the spotlight on the issue. Further, the Supreme Court recently placed both caste census and reservation on the Centre-state scale.

One needs to add a caveat here. The demand for a caste census has distinctly different overtones as compared to the Supreme Court's stand on reservations, especially among the Scheduled Castes. This narrative focuses much more on the caste census and its linkages with the debate on Other Backward Classes' reservation.

To capture the public mood in the issue, we can draw on data from the Lokniti-CSDS pre-poll survey done during the run-up to the 2024 elections.

When respondents were asked whether they thought the Congress and its allies were serious about a caste census or merely wished to use it as a political tool, around half the respondents felt there was a seriousness in the move. Close to a third (31 percent) felt it was being taken recourse to as a political tool. The rest were either unaware of the demand or did not take a stand on it.