Why caste census will not annihilate the foundations of inequality

Anand Teltumbde mines data and history to analyse the narrow framing, as well as futility, of a caste census

- Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Teltumbde argues that the inherent definition of caste is divisive, and that the number of castes has recently multiplied.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

Anand Teltumbde, an academic and an activist, has written an unusual book that seeks to combine scholarship with popular political rhetoric that is not always negative.

Rhetoric is a way of speaking or writing that is intended to impress or influence people but is not always considered sincere. Teltumbde is not insincere. However, he is convinced that he has to provoke people to challenge the notion that the impending all-India caste census, the first since 1931, on which there is consensus cutting across political party lines and apparent ideological divisions, could represent a new beginning in re-emphasising the importance of caste in the country’s society and politics.

The author seeks to refute the view that only after a caste census is conducted can there be a forward movement towards identifying and then resolving the complex and multifarious issues surrounding social divisions in India to eventually achieve the laudable goal of the “annihilation of caste”—the title of the speech written in 1936 by B.R. Ambedkar that he was supposed to deliver in Lahore but did not.