Caste a doubt
2 months, 1 week ago

Caste a doubt

Times of India  

A former associate editor with the Times of India, Jug Suraiya writes two regular columns for the print edition, Jugular Vein, which appears every Friday, and Second Opinion, which appears on Wednesdays. MORE A questionnaire asking me for my pecking order in the social hierarchy would leave me dumbfounded Along with Bunny I find myself caught in the crossfire of a caste war. Advocates of a caste-based census largely belong to opposition parties who argue that to break the age-old stranglehold of social and economic discrimination that the lower castes have suffered, it is necessary to obtain a numeric valuation of the various castes. While addressing the compelling need for social justice, this argument Opponents of the caste census claim this would exacerbate such schisms by highlighting them and lead to further inter-caste friction.

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History of this topic

Emerging dimensions of caste politics in India
7 months, 1 week ago

Emerging dimensions of caste politics in India

Hindustan Times  

The discourse on the politics of caste in India seems stuck in the binary of supporting or opposing caste-based reservations. The third phase of reservation politics has already begun with quota benefits to economically weaker sections and political mobilisation around conducting a caste census. In some ways, the mobilisation around social groups in India is a result of political competition …

Caste survey will do no good, will aggravate inequality: RSS
1 year, 3 months ago

Caste survey will do no good, will aggravate inequality: RSS

Hindustan Times  

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not support the demand of a nationwide caste census, its functionary Shridhar Ghadge said on Tuesday, adding that caste-based enumeration would exacerbate societal inequalities in the country. Union home minister Amit Shah had last month said that the BJP has never opposed the idea of caste census, but a decision in this regard would be …

We need well-designed and nationally-accepted tools to measure social inequality
1 year, 4 months ago

We need well-designed and nationally-accepted tools to measure social inequality

Live Mint  

Several states in India have collected detailed caste and sub-caste data over the past few years. There are three key reasons behind the reluctance to conduct a nation-wide caste census: fear of legitimizing caste, vested interests, and concerns related to data integrity. In a comprehensive caste count, demands to club different caste names in one group or split one name …

The politics of a caste census, its impact on secularism
1 year, 5 months ago

The politics of a caste census, its impact on secularism

The Hindu  

October 21, 2023 12:08 am | Updated 12:04 pm IST By consistently championing the issue of having a caste census, various Opposition party leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, from Nitish Kumar to Rahul Gandhi, have set the agenda on this one issue at least — which they have otherwise failed ever since Narendra Modi emerged on India’s …

The caste imperative: The Hindu Editorial on the subject of an updated caste census
1 year, 11 months ago

The caste imperative: The Hindu Editorial on the subject of an updated caste census

The Hindu  

With the Congress party joining the chorus for an updated caste census, there seems to be an emerging consensus among the political opposition on the need for this exercise. While the parties committed to reservations in the northern belt — the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in particular — have made this demand as a reaction to the …

Complex count: The Hindu Editorial on caste census
3 years, 6 months ago

Complex count: The Hindu Editorial on caste census

The Hindu  

The idea of a national caste census might be abhorrent when the stated policy is to strive for a casteless society, but it will be useful to establish statistical justification for preserving caste-based affirmative action programmes. Political parties with their base in particular social groups may find a caste enumeration useful, if their favoured groups are established as dominant in …

Caste counts: The Hindu Editorial on census and partisan political gains
3 years, 7 months ago

Caste counts: The Hindu Editorial on census and partisan political gains

The Hindu  

The clamour for a fresh caste census is getting louder in the country. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led a delegation of 10 political parties of the State to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. There is a strong argument that the colonial census was about creating and reinforcing caste and religious categories in India rather than recording them …

Census and caste
14 years, 10 months ago

Census and caste

The Hindu  

Should the Census of India 2011 be tasked with the collection of caste data, returning in a sense to the practice of the pre-Independence, colonial era? By not collecting caste data, the Census, a great national undertaking, strikes a blow for social equality. Supporters of caste enumeration tend to argue the opposite, namely that by collecting data on the caste-inequality …

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