Strong opinions — that is what one should expect when there’s a national debate on something as “sensitive” as caste-based Census, especially from the younger generation.
As a 22-year-old Public Policy student Sonjuhi Singh says, “It’s a matter of national interest and we have every right to express our views.” She thinks the caste census would divide our “already divided society” further. “Who cares about caste these days? I don’t. I don’t care if my friends belong to a backward caste. Being a responsible citizen, the only thing I care about is that everyone should get the right education and thus the opportunity to work,” she says, adding that caste would take us decades back.
Sushant, pursuing Ph.D in Law & Governance from Jawaharlal Nehru University, also an ABVP member has a very liberal point of view. He says like every other thing both sides have pros and cons. “Including caste in the census could solve a few problems like reservation. But I’m more inclined towards caste not being included. We have different surveys and data from different parts of the country that could bring down caste-based disparity. Also, once we’d be aware of the low percentage of a certain caste, we may easily ignore their development as it would not have much affect on the polls,” he says.
He adds with an example from his study based on Bihar, where one caste is almost 32 per cent while the other comprises only two per cent.
He feels the politicians could take advantage and may ignore those who don’t count in the vote bank.
But this is where there’s a conflict of thought. Reasonable minds differ. Faiz Ashrafi, pursuing Ph.D in Regional Development from JNU, also a NSUI member, says that the awareness about caste percentage would help politicians working for backward castes. “My research on land distribution shows that there’s a great disparity between social groups. We need to achieve a balance. Caste census would give us a clear picture and thus a better working methodology,” he says, pointing at the fact that the last Caste Census was done more than 80 years ago.
“Do we want more corruption in politics? If we do then we should be promoting caste census,” says Manoj Chaudhary, president, DUSU, who thinks it would only add fuel to the issues of regionalism and casteism.
But Aman Panwar, a 21-year-old law student and a Youth Congress member, says the public can always protest if politicians use it wrongly. “But in the long run, caste census would uplift those who are less privileged,” he says.