Cry For Caste Census
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The demand for caste census is picking up steam in theseAssembly electionsby almost all Opposition parties. The need for equitable opportunities for the OBCs, including the extremely backward castes (EBCs) is increasingly becoming part of campaign strategy. As against this, the BJP has chosen to skirt the issue saying it will divide the country. Will the voter get any wiser?
Early this month, the Congress Working Committee promised a government led by it will conduct a nationwide caste census as part of the normal decadal census which was due in 2021, would find the number of OBCs, remove cap of 50% reservation for OBCs, SCs and STs through an Act of Parliament, and finally, offer 33 per cent quota to women lawmakers, including a separate quota for OBC women, at the earliest.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did put it simply: “it would set a new paradigm of development in the country as it will establish the actual status of the OBCs, Dalits, the Adivasis and the poor…Today, two Indias are being created — one for the Adanis and the other for everyone. The caste census will clearly show the kind of people and the number of people in India. This is not a matter of caste or religion, it is a matter of poverty.”
The neglect of OBCs by the ruling dispensation has been well manifest, though a section of analysts is not in favour of this caste-based approach. Such a census would obviously expose those who are at the bottom of the ladder and the need to bring them into the mainstream of life and activity. This hasn’t been done over the years and development opportunities have been cornered by the rich and middle-income sections.
It cannot be allowed to continue for long. High growth is, no doubt, necessary but its benefits must reach the bottom tiers of society. The media focusses only on accelerated growth but not about equitable sharing of benefits of development. Why should there be such a wide gap in incomes of urban and rural class or between the upper castes and EBCs? These are, no doubt, daunting questions which have yet to be analysed and strategies in this regard adopted.
It is a fact that most chief ministers who have been repeatedly returned by the electorate in the last two decades or so have delivered high growth or at least significantly higher than their predecessors. But the question arises how much of this growth percolates to EBCs or the EWS? While tall claims are made by the Centre about mega welfare schemes, a precise answer of how many have benefited is elusive and country’s poor continue to languish in poverty and squalor.
The impoverishment of masses is reflected in recently released 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) where India ranked 111th out of 125 countries, slipping four places since last year. With a score of 28.7 the GHI, India has a level of hunger that is serious. In 2022, India ranked 107.
There are thus welfare schemes galore being announced for the poor and the EWS. For example, the Congress is reaching out to the electorate promising gas cylinders for Rs 500 each to beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme in Rajasthan, in Madhya Pradesh it promises Rs 1500 per month for women, in Telangana the promise is of Rs 2500 every month. The BJP instead prefers to highlight the strides the country has taken under Modi’s leadership, including infrastructure development, while calling itself the biggest proponent of OBCs. Not to forget the sharp focus on the Ram temple.
The BJP also speaks of GDP growth of the economy. However, though it may give an overall picture of the economy, it doesn’t reflect the economic conditions of the poor or the state of development of villages, speciallyin backward districts. Not even in the Economic Survey that is presented in Parliament, is there a reflection of the state of improvement of the backward districts or of the lower castes, the STs and the Dalits.
There is a tendency to paint a somewhat false picture of the progress of the country based on incomes of the super-rich, the rich and the upper sections of the middle class. Politicians and planners are very well versed with this, both at the Centre and in States. That is why questions have been raised what portions of government, even private, jobs are occupied by the EBCs or the EWS or what is the percentage of enrolment of these categories in post-graduate institutions.
Added to the widespread economic deprivation, there is also manifest of social deprivationled by it, resulting in centralisation of power at Central and State levels leaving the gram panchayats virtually having no say in matters of development of the village. Everything is dictated from the top and the vision of panchayati raj, involving the people at the grassroot level,turns out largely to be a misnomer.
The upper crust of politicians and bureaucrats feel that panchayat members are not educated enough to plan or develop their village. How this process can be changed, and true decentralisation ushered in is a big challenge. Only when women and lower caste members become educated and assertive, things may change. But this process shall take a long time. The poor are deprived of benefits such as money for building a room or a toilet or even the designated amount for a day’s work. There are reports that around 40-50% of the funds released are siphoned off by influential political leaders at the village level.
The ground situation at grass-root level is totally dichotomous with the grandeur and pomp that was demonstrated during the recent G-20 summit in New Delhi. India is totally different. Modernisation of airports, building palatial auditoriums, allowing corporate entities to build five-star styled nursing homes and the likes are not the picture of development that we see in metros. To understand the real picture, politicians need to concentrate more on remote villages and see reality.
There has been a tendency of some State governments to increase the number of districts, which obviously is not the solution. Posting bureaucrats in these districts who are expected to promptly carry out orders from the central or state authorities does not solve the problem. The real answer needs to be found at the grassroot and ensuring that adequate benefits reach the impoverished through better governance and a decentralised socio-economic order, as visualised by Mahatma Gandhi and emphasised by many others.
There is need to think of an alternative strategy of cooperation where development from below becomes the motto and the underlying principle. The strategy of top-down approach must be discarded, and the people must be the centre of planning and development. Once the noise and dust settles down of the elections, it would be worth a watch to see what progress the caste census will make. — INFA