The enumerated

Should India start incorporating information about caste into its 10-yearly census? While colonial administrators meticulously if misguidedly recorded caste identities,the postcolonial Indian establishment has followed Sardar Patels lead in severely opposing the idea. But after the Mandal Commissions implications for caste-based mobilisation and policies,the question has acquired a sharp and urgent edge. Currently,West Bengal,long the dominion of comrades who view everything through a class prism,is the only state to have requested that the census include caste parameters. Various political parties and other identity groupings have petitioned in the past last April,the PMK was told by the Supreme Court that immense strife would follow such a decision,which is why it has never been attempted in the last 60 years.

Those in favour of including caste information argue that recognising groups is necessary even to subvert these distinctions. Given how much,in terms of rights and recognition,rides on this marker,it seems absurd not to officially enumerate who is what,and to know the dimensions of every claim. Questions of employment,education and political office hinge on this classification. The size of various caste populations has direct political utility.

On the other hand,officially assigning categories can reinforce distinctions they are meant to undermine. Whats more,caste is not a discrete,easily definable thing. It is not comparable across geographical contexts,even a single caste is wildly variegated,it shifts according to marriage,economic mobility and migration. People respond differently depending on the frame whether it is about social placing or about claiming government benefits. In such a situation of flux,should the state simplify and pin citizens to their castes? Either way,given the conceptual and practical knottiness of a caste-based census,the government has its work cut out for Census 2011.