Casteing a census.

The cabinet is brooding over the 2011 census need to be conducted for the 1.1 billion citizens.Its been 80 years since all the castes were taken into account. After that only the SCs/STs were numbered.
The naysayers of caste-census are mainly from the elite and educated . They are mainly against the caste system and are afraid of the neo-nationalism taking birth in the country.Caste is seen as a division but what they are arguing is against the caste system and not the census. For the census they cite the framers of the constitution who decided to do away with the caste based counting. The counter argument can be the fact that the constituent assembly hoped for a caste free society in just 10 years. The reservation for these castes was only till 1960 and since then the articles are amended every 10 years to include the policy.Caste is a reality. A totally caste based party winning a majority in the 16 crore populated state shows how important is caste to a voter.Moreover,till the last census we had reservations only for the SCs/STs and the decennial census kept the count. In 2008 Supreme Court ruled in favour of reserving seats for OBCs and there arises a need to know the numbers for which the policies are framed. We do need the numbers but what the issue is "SHOULD CENSUS BE USED TO COLLECT CASTE STATISTICS OR SOME OTHER METHODS BE EMPLOYED"?
In census each family is asked about the data .As the home minister agrees, the enumerators lacked the sociological sensitivity to record and classify the population on the basis of caste and sub-caste. There are about 3000 castes under OBCs only and each one of them are different in economic and social status.More surprisingly is the fact that if a caste is poor in one region the same caste is the most affluent in another region. Backward classes commissions at the State and Central levels be better placed to conduct a detailed survey.These surveys are mainly sample surveys and are handled keeping in mind the various issues involved with the castes.
The political parties are divided on the issue for the known reason of politics but what we demanded were good debates on a national level . The cabinet is sealing the fate of caste census today and the decision will be out soon. I hope after today's decision we do not remain divided and come together to contribute in "the biggest exercise of humankind".