India approves caste-based census

[Chocolate]

The controversial decision was taken by a group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Caste-based parties say the information will help the government target affirmative action benefits better.

But critics say caste is the most regressive feature of Indian society; that it is repressive, reinforces hierarchy and breeds inequity.

India has been conducting the national census since 1872 and this is its 15th.

A caste census was carried out last in 1931 by the former British rulers.

Massive exercise

The census, launched in April, will include photographs and fingerprints of everyone aged over 15 to create a biometric national database.

The government will then use the information to issue identity cards.

Officials will spend a year classifying India's population of around 1.2 billion people according to gender, religion, occupation and education.

The exercise, conducted every 10 years, faces big challenges, not least India's vast area and diversity of cultures.

Census officials must also contend with high levels of illiteracy and millions of homeless people - as well as insurgencies by Maoists and other rebels which have left large parts of the country unsafe.

Over the next year, some 2.5 million census officials will visit households in more than 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages.

The mammoth registration exercise will stretch over 11 months, consume more than 11 million tonnes of paper, and cost 60bn rupees ($1.3bn; £880m).

The national census is the only source of primary and credible data in India and is used not just to formulate government policies but also by private companies to identify markets for their products.

The full census results will be released in mid-2011.
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Good move??

 

[KS]

Its definitely a good move..

Lets not fool ourslves into thinking that if we dopnt take into account the caste for the census that happens once in ten years, caste will go away.

It will be there till India is there.

Atleast now it gives the Govt a direction to move - which castes are economically and socially backward and how to alleviate those problems with a special focus.

 

[somebozo]

Hope to see solid steps towards improvements of outclassed especially economic. Otherwise the title of world largest democracy is far fetched.

 

[Jacobtheindoamerican]

Otherwise the title of world largest democracy is far fetched.

I dont understand? It is the largest democracy, Last elections with an electorate of 714 million (larger than the European Union and United States combined), it was the largest democratic election in the world to date. Free and fair elections.. Indians have voted into power Muslims, Sikhs, Woman, Italian, Dalit, Pathan, Christians, etc, etc, etc as Presidents, PM, etc in a nation of made up of 80% Hindus..

 

[roach]

Its definitely a good move..

Lets not fool ourslves into thinking that if we dopnt take into account the caste for the census that happens once in ten years, caste will go away.

It will be there till India is there.

Atleast now it gives the Govt a direction to move - which castes are economically and socially backward and how to alleviate those problems with a special focus.

You said it, bro. Looking forward to what the census throws up...

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Hope to see solid steps towards improvements of outclassed especially economic. Otherwise the title of world largest democracy is far fetched.

Largest democracy does not necessarily mean the most efficient or powerful democracy like the US.

ontopic
Good move!
It"ll help us track the progress or status and see if really these reservations etc have been of any use.

PS:Chocolate when posting an article always add the source link at the end

 

[Spring Onion]

Why India is not doing away with this plagued cast system instead of legalising it by resorting to census based on casts.

How it is going to help the low cast hindus ?? Dont you think the cast based census is going to single out these lower casts for further discrimination

 

[Jacobtheindoamerican]

Why India is not doing away with this plagued cast system instead of legalising it by resorting to census based on casts.

It just doesn't disappear like that.. At least in the last 60 years there has been more progress compared to the last 6000 years! Caste System is illegal in India.But the poor practice and exploit it. You think slavery was in America in the first 30-40 years or less? Indians elected a Dalit(K. R. Narayanan) as the President of India long before America had the first mixed man. And a Dalit is in the lead of the largest populated state in India Uttar Pradesh.

Through time caste system will be crushed by globalization, and the man with the most money is the one thats going to have the most say instead of the man with the higher caste.

 

[roach]

Why India is not doing away with this plagued cast system instead of legalising it by resorting to census based on casts.

How it is going to help the low cast hindus ?? Dont you think the cast based census is going to single out these lower casts for further discrimination

Yes, well, the whole point is to do away with it....one can't just snap one's fingers and make a law which says "caste will no longer matter".

The census will help to identify numbers, locations and income levels / economic conditions.

It has been around for thousands of years now, and it is very very deeply ingrained in the psyche of the nation and in particular Hindus. Our second names are, in a way, badges of caste. Caste matters more in rural India, but it is proving to be surprisingly resilient among well-educated and travelled urban populace.

One look at the matrimonial columns will tell you how obsessed people in India are with caste- and it's not just the Hindus. Christians and Sikhs, too, have a de facto caste system

The prevalent school of thought says that the way forward is to identify the castes which are traditionally poor and oppressed and provide positive discrimination (reservations) for them so that their socio-economic status improves.

If all are equal, the theory goes, one day caste won't matter any more.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Why India is not doing away with this plagued cast system instead of legalising it by resorting to census based on casts.

Even we hate that part,like there goes a saying "You Can not Make an Omelette without Breaking the Eggs"

How it is going to help the low cast hindus ?? Dont you think the cast based census is going to single out these lower casts for further discrimination

How else can we know about their status economically and socially as a group,also if our schemes to promote them has worked or not?

The lower caste Hindus themselves singled out when the reservation system was introduced and don't seem to be so uncomfortable about it.

 

[Materialistic]

The prevalent school of thought says that the way forward is to identify the castes which are traditionally poor and oppressed and provide positive discrimination (reservations) for them so that their socio-economic status improves.

If it is so then its the right solution.

But it might also make a different but still a sense of alienation. A sense of being different. It might create a feeling, that their basic right given to them is a favor!

 

[notsuperstitious]

If it is so then its the right solution.

But it might also make a different but still a sense of alienation. A sense of being different. It might create a feeling, that their basic right given to them is a favor!

In case you do not know, India has been giving caste based positive discrimination for the last 60 years. 50% govt jobs and education seats (excluding minority educational institutions) are reserved by law for those castes considered backward. But there is no good data on who really is backward and needs more affirmative action. This move is to provide the data and not to 'legalise' caste based distrimination as the habitual india basher said.

All parties are supporting the move, including those who typically champion the lower castes.

 

[Nahraf]

The last caste census was in 1931 and new figures will show current caste make up of India. As as long as caste remains important in the lives of Indian it should be enumerated in the census. The caste affiliation is most important in Indian marriage. The political parties gives seats according to caste population of the constituency. More than half of seats in colleges and jobs are already allocated according to caste.

 

[OTTOMAN]

Hi, Fellows, I have different understanding of word CAST.
It cannot be interpreted as religous segregation, it has to be segregation on blood lineage, basis.

Had to be condemed strongly in either case?

 

[Dash]

Hi, Fellows, I have different understanding of word CAST.
It cannot be interpreted as religous segregation, it has to be segregation on blood lineage, basis.

Had to be condemed strongly in either case?

Nothing to be condemned here.

Most people out here, basically Non Indians are forgetting that this is to create a unique indintification for all Indians like US SSN.

Now that Unique ID based on biometric systems will also include caste in its detail. Its not that it will be shown in the ID but it will have all the details about an Indian, complete stuff.