THE DIE IS CASTE FOR 2024 BATTLE

The Bihar census has refocused our attention on age-old divisions. We often talk of caste as if it were a basic need, though it obviously isn't

- HARISH BIJOOR

CASTE is back. The recent release of data by the Bihar government of its specific caste 'survey'remember, a 'census' is not appropriate yet-has set caste among the pigeons. Caste is really the cat that has lived among us all along. A cat we imagine doesn't even exist. But it does.

Caste and its sub-variants of every kind are really the lowest common denominators of differentiation that Indian society has lived with for years. India has believed in this item of differentiation since forever, if the 3,000-plus years of history of the caste system is to be believed. This rather rigid differentiation system has been the operating system of our society for a long time.

In the last several years, caste has become a politically incorrect terminology to seek out, use and talk about in civilised society. You never go out and ask a person his, her or their caste today. Application forms for various government services, which would hitherto ask for this data, are that much more circumspect on this ask today. Caste, however, has gone nowhere despite all this. It lives and thrives in our midst, in our society, in our institutions, and most importantly, in the politics of the land. Whenever the political class has found it expedient to use it, it has. And whenever it has thought it not to be, it has been brushed under the carpet. As of last week, this carpet has just been dusted, and the dust of debate is all around. Let me add my two bits to it as well.

If we peep into our society and our daily lives, caste bothers few in the big metropolis. It starts taking on a life and meaning of its own as we dive deeper into the terrains of the smaller towns, villages, and more so the deep rural spaces. The deeper you go, the more caste you find. Caste is therefore as real as it is being made out to be.