HISTORY OF CASTE CENSUS
Post by Vishwajeet Mamadge
INTRODUCTION:
At some point in its history every civilization on earth has embarked upon the
idea of classification of its people. There has been much debate going on
regarding the need for this classification, nonetheless this classification
exists. The reasons might be varying from sheer need of gaining knowledge about
the various people that live in the civilization, to the administrative issues
of land revenue and taxation. Various civilizations have used various criteria
to categorize people ethnicity, race, tribe etc. However in the Indian context
caste seems to be the most appropriate of the criteria.
Caste along with religion is one
of the most important identities of Indians. But in the Indian censuses caste has
not been given appropriate treatment in demographic literature. It is generally
believed that caste is a status based on social origin in the Hindu society.
Generally what is assumed is that the caste structure ranges from Brahmins (priestly
castes) at the top, followed by Kshatriya (warrior
castes), Vaishyas (trading castes) to Shudras (laboring
castes) at the bottom of the social ladder. However, in reality, within each of
the Varna category there
existed numerous castes and sub-castes whose names were not same in the
different parts of India .The
position of these various castes and sub castes in social hierarchy was also
not clear.
CENSUS IN PRE-INDEPENDENT INDIA:
In the pre-British era too census enumeration existed. In earlier times it was particularly
practiced by the Mauryas and the Moguls. But the fact still remains that the
earlier enumerations were done basically to decide on issues of land revenue
and taxation. Another striking feature is that these censuses were geographically
very much limited. In contrast to this, the colonial census was interested in
anthropological knowledge and was carried out covering most parts of the
country.
(A)
CENSUS OF 1872:
In 1856 the British Government decided to hold census in 1861 in India. But the
census could not be held due to mutiny in 1857. In 1865, the Government of
India and the Home Government again agreed that a general population census
would be taken in 1871. But, the years 1867-72 were actually spent in census
taking. This series of census is in fact known as the Census of 1872. This
census was neither a synchronous census nor covered the entire territory
controlled by the British.
From its very first census of 1872, the colonial Government decided to incorporate
caste and religious categories in the census enumeration of the Indian
population. Along with category of caste, the census also included the
categories of tribe and race, but the distinction between them was not very
clear. From the census side, no attempt had been made to define caste, race or
tribe. From the remarks made by E.A. Gait and J. H. Hutton, the Census
Commissioners of 1911 and 1931 respectively it is evident that caste had been a
dynamic and mobile category of Indian society. As each caste further contained an
endless number of sub-castes, their boundaries were very internal and were
liable to change over time and space. It is for this reason that scholars have
observed that caste boundaries remained fluid, fuzzy and dynamic historically
in Indian society.
(B)
EFFECTS OF 1872 CASTE CENSUS:
(i) Anchored the idea of caste
in space and time: The census carried out during British
India not only updated the population figures, but also gave these castes
specific names/labels and ranks. This census tried to standardize and anchor
castes in time and space. This led to classification of castes as superior,
intermediate, trading, pastoral, and so on (Memorandum on the Census of British
India 1871-72, page 21, available on the website of La Trobe University). This
legitimized certain caste notions of superiority and inferiority by the state
itself.
(ii) Claim by certain castes that they
descended from higher castes: Many people thought that the objective of the
census was to fix the relative social positions of the different social classes
and also to deal with questions of social superiority. Hence, castes in order
to raise their social status many lower caste people placed themselves in
higher. Thus, the census indirectly provided the underprivileged with an
opportunity to express their aspiration and to acquire a new identity, if
possible, during the enumeration. This in turn resulted in several caste
associations adopting honorific caste names and claiming descent from higher
castes like Brahmin and Rajputs etc.
(iii) Changes in names of certain castes:
There was widespread resentment over the fact that a number of castes were entered
and grouped in the census in a manner in which they were not content. For
example in Bengal, Chandala was
traditionally used as a generic term to identify all the low caste people.
However, the census officials entered this name as a caste in the census. The
people who were numerated as Chandala protested and changed
their name to the respectable name of Namasudra.
(iv) Creation of new castes: We
also find that census helped to create new castes such as ‘Yadava’ and Vishwakarma or Jangida by
merging the diverse castes spread over different geographical areas but with a
common occupation.
(C)CENSUSES
AFTER 1872:
In addition to the identification
and enumeration of caste, the people under the British rule were also grouped
into broad homogeneous and mutually exclusive categories. While grouping the
castes, census officials kept in mind the ritual hierarchy in terms of the Varna system, in determining caste status in
social hierarchy. In the 1881 census, the Census Commissioner, W.C. Plowden
decided to group the various castes into the five categories, namely Brahmans,
Castes of Good Social Position, Rajputs, Inferior Castes and Non-Hindus or
Aboriginal Castes. The census carried out in 1921 made an attempt to identify
the depressed classes. However, the term of depressed classes was
found not to be favorable and in the 1931 census was replaced by the term exterior
castes. Here it is important to note that such categorization in the census
was followed by the Scheduled Caste Order of 1936 that
officially recognized the listing of castes in every province of India.
CENSUS IN INDEPENDENT INDIA:
In independent India, under
the provision of article 341 of the Indian Constitution, Scheduled Castes (SCs)
and Scheduled Tribes (STs) were accepted as new official social categories.
According to this article, after consultation with the Governor of a
State/Union Territory (UT), the President of India may declare castes, races or
tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races of tribes as Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes belonging to that State or UT. The official listing of
castes and tribes was justified on the grounds that these social groups have
remained underprivileged and discriminated by the higher castes. Hence, it was
imperative for the state to protect their interest which in turn required a
clear idea of the population of each group. Accordingly, the Govt. of India as
well State Governments granted them reservation of jobs and other benefits and
privileges. One alarming fact is that it is believed that the state granting
privileges to the SCs and STs has strengthened caste identities.
In order to assess the progress
and achievement of Government policies in raising the socio-economic status of
SCs and STs, it was essential to collect data on the demographic and
socio-economic conditions of these categories. The census was thought to be the
most appropriate method to do so. But the Govt. did not allow the census to
enumerate all castes and sub-castes as practiced in British
India. One of the reasons could be that the Government was afraid
of the resurgence of more than 4000 caste and sub-caste identities, which could
demolish the secular and democratic foundation of independent India. Keeping
this in mind the Government of India has ceased the enumeration of caste since
the 1951 census with the only exception of the enumeration of scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes.
Before the 2001 Census began,
there was an argument to include enumeration of all castes in the census. This
was observed to be necessary to reserve jobs granted to the Other Backward
Classes (OBCs). In the early 1990s the
Mandal Commision, further suggested monitoring the progress of OBCs after 20
years. As a result, census information on OBCs similar to that of the SCs and
STs was also required. But, this argument was not favored by the Central
Government and the proposal to enumerate all castes was turned down by the
Ministry of Home Affairs, which controls the census organization.
Thus, we find that in independent India we have
eight broad categories of ethnic classification, namely: Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, SCs and STs. As can be clearly seen this
is obtained by combining religions and the two social categories of SC and ST. According
to the census, an individual who does not fall in any of the eight categories
has an opportunity to be enumerated in the category called ‘Other’. Overall, it
can be seen that modern India has
always proposed the creation of broader and more homogeneous communities in contrast
to the British who mainly focused on revealing enormous differentiations and
differences.
References:
(1) Memorandum on the Census of British India 1871-72
(2) Srivastava
1972
(3) Ramaiah
1992
(4) Bandyopdhyay 1992
(5) Kaviraj 1993
(6) Das 1994
(7) Krishnakumar 2000
(8)
Dirk 2001
(9) Randeria 2001
(10) Bhagat 2001
(11) Guha 2003
