How will it affect the Muslims?
A Cabinet press release titled ‘Methodology for conducting the Below Poverty Line Census and Enumeration of Castes’, dated 19-May, 2011 has set December 2011 as the target date to complete the census exercise. This hybrid Census of the BPL and the Caste would be conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development in association with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) and the Registrar General of India (RGI) and expected to be completed by December 2011. However, the so called methodology for the caste census is only a single line statement – ‘The enumeration of castes will also be done simultaneously along with the BPL census’.
The announcement about the BPL census is welcome, although there are many methodological controversies in terms of a methodology and variables which will be used to identify the poor. What is underplayed and not adequately highlighted in this cabinet note is the fact that the Caste Census will be undertaken for the first time since the Independence. Such data are likely to be used in determining and revising the cast and class linked quotas in national and state government jobs, admissions in educational institutions such as in colleges and universities and access to targeted social services. The caste census is being conducted without adequate methodological and analytical preparedness and since caste, class and religious identities have complex inter-relationships there will be ramifications which will be difficult to resolve in future. In the following therefore, is a brief discussion as to how will the caste census affect the Muslim community of India.
Muslims in India is a highly diverse community; while adopting the diversity emerging from the Islamic religion such as the Sunni, Shia, Bhora, Agakhani and so on; many also carried along the respective identity from the Hindu caste system even after their conversion. The social structure, therefore, amongst the Muslims is complex, and it further gets accentuated by cultural difference emanating from language and region/state of domical. For example, only about 40% of Muslims report Urdu as mother tongue. There are millions of Muslims who speak Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi and so on as their mother tongue. Of course due to dominance of Urdu in the northern parts of India especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Muslims do not report Hindi as their mother tongue and they intend to do so in future as well. Muslims besides being highly diverse are experiencing uniformly deep levels of deprivation in various social, educational and economic facets of life across all the states in India.
The collection of caste data has emerged from certain political corners and is expected to provide structured information so as to allocate or enhance respective shares in reservations for the SCs, the STs and the OBCs. The Indian Caste Census (ICC-2011) is likely to trigger a drive for Indian citizens of all castes and communities to get enrolled into deprived categorizations and this process can be labled as Competitive Backwardness. In case of Muslims there is an inherent complication; in spite of the presence of dalit type identity (being converts from erstwhile Hindu dalits) and their desire to report as such, the census enumerators may not recognize such reporting due to the ‘Census Filtering Procedures’ adopted during the canvassing. Since constitutionally there is a pre-existing- codified list for the SCs and STs, the ICC-2011 will use it. The procedures will authenticate the categorization as the SCs only when the reported religion is Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist. Therefore, all those Muslims who have dalit type identities will be excluded from being identified as the SCs. Similar situation may occur in case of Christians as well. Note also that there is a pending case of judgment in this regard in the Supreme Court of India.
The Census will also collect data on selected economic and education indicators and asset ownership so as to categorize households / people into the ‘below poverty line’ or ‘above poverty line’ status. Such data along with religion and caste are expected to be used to compute the relative backwardness or forwardness of a caste group; which will have ramifications in determining the eligibility to jobs and higher level educational admissions under the quota system. In the following is a discussion as how the misclassified Caste data will not only be detrimental to the social, economic and educational development of the Muslim community in India; but also becomes stumbling block in the efforts of mainstreaming of the Muslims community in Indian economic and social spaces.
As mentioned earlier a pre-determined list will be used to identify the SCs and STs for any given geographic or administrative area; as they have guarantee and authentication under the seal of the Indian constitution since the Independence. The OBC categorisation on the other hand, is a post-Mandal scheme and supported only through government orders. The demands for ICC-2011 were made by caste groups which can be grouped as the OBCs (other backward classes). Will the ICC-2011 be based on Mandal Commission list of OBCs? The Census Commissioner during a meeting recently clarified that the Mandal Commission list will not be used during the ICC-2011. However, it will be helpful if at the outset central and independent state level lists of the OBCs are finalized and used before canvassing the ICC-2011.
Lessons can be drawn from the OBC reporting status during the NSS surveys collected annually. The NSSO 61 round data for the reference year 2004-5 suggests that only about 26% of all Hindus are considered as the High Castes or socio-economically better offs; whereas, about 60% of Muslims fall into the non-OBC and thus socio-economically better off category. This is because none from the Muslims are classified under the SCs/STs category and all such Muslims with the SC / ST identity could actually be listed as the high castes / class. This is a serious problem and an anomaly which must be addressed before any major effort to collect castes data in India.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caste / Class Classification and Proportions of Hindus and Muslims in India
(Estimates from NSS Surveys)
Religion-------SCs+STs-------OBCs-------All Others /(High Caste/Class)
Hindus----------31.3---------42.8---------26
Muslims----------1.3---------39.2---------59.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Extracts from the Sachar Report
What should be done?
In view of these facts it is recommended:
1. That the Cast Census should be undertaken only after the pending Supreme Court judgment in the matter of the recognition of the presence of ‘dalit’ type identities amongst the Muslims and Christens in India is decided.
2. Now that the ICC-2011 is announced and a certainty beginning June-2011, the Muslims who intend to report their castes as dalits / SCs / STs, should do as they wish. The ICC-2011 enumerators should be instructed to collect this information as reported and not to filter out caste reporting linked to religion. Note that, practically all Muslims in India are converts and are hardly any original Muslims who migrated from out of erstwhile Indian territory now reside in India. Further, it is historically documented that most of those converted to Islam belong to low castes such as the dalits and the tribes. The ‘Sachar Committee’ (2006) on status of Muslims in India has also clearly revealed the distressing socio-economic and educational conditions of Muslims which are closer to the levels recorded for the SCs and STs belonging to the Hindu Community.
3. It will be almost impossible to prepare a list of Muslim caste/class for classifying them as Muslim-OBCs. Therefore, a ‘list of exclusion’ can be prepared so as to determine the social forwardness or backwardness of a large section of Muslims who are not reported themselves as the SC or ST. Such list of exclusion can be prepared for each state separately after consultations with the state level Muslim intellectuals and religious bodies. Thus, once a list of exclusion is prepared, all other Muslims who do not belong to this list can be identified as the “Muslim OBCs”.
Showing posts with label Caste Census. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caste Census. Show all posts
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Proposed Caste Census 2011 in India
There is a renewed demand from many corners, especially a segment of political leadership to collect a citizen’s caste affiliation during the 2011 census of India. The GOI in principle has agreed to collect information on caste in 2011 census; but what is not clear is as to what kind of information on caste will be collected; will it be collected during the house listing operation or during the population census. It appears the whole process of ‘upward social mobility’ will get up-side-down to ‘downward social mobility’ or what we can call as Competitive Backwardness. In the following, however, I identify the difficulties in collecting caste data through the ongoing operations relating to census 2011.
1. Operational Difficulties in Collecting Caste in Census 2011:
Census Operation
The census is undertaken in two phases. A house listing operation (Phase 1) precedes the population enumeration (phase 2) usually scheduled during months of February and March of the census years. The house listing for census 2011 is already in progress.
House Listing Operation collects information on SCs & STs (see item 15 in the attached proforma):
Item 15: If SC* (1) or ST* (2) Other (3)
* Note: Scheduled Caste can be only from Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists and not from other religion. Schedule Tribe can be from any religion.
However, information on Religion is not collected during house listing operations. Since information on the SCs and STs are collected using a list provided by the government as a check list similar arrangement can be made to collect information on other castes but all clubbed in an additional category OBC (other backward classes). There is some logical problem in such an effort as it is the caste identity (not class) which will be used to classify them as ‘Other Backward Class’. Yet this is an easier process to compile OBC information provided there is a checklist of OBC castes provided by government of India.
OPTION 1:
Suggested format of the new Item 15 in the ‘house listing proforma:
if SC* (1) or ST* (2) OBC (3) Other (4)
However, this is not feasible now; due to the fact that the phase 1 or the house listing operation is already on all over India and it is too late to incorporate this information. Further according to news paper announcements, the caste data will be collected as an additional question – “what is your cast”. This question now can be asked only in phase 2 which is known as Population Enumeration Operation undertaken during March-April 2011. Since there is no ready list of OBCs for cross checking during the data collection stage itself, it has to be an open question asked immediacy after the questions on religion (Q. 7), SC (Q.8) and ST (Q.9) as follows:
Phase II : Population Enumeration| February –March 2011
Q. 7: Religion (Write name of the religion in full)
Q. 8: If Scheduled Caste, Write name of the SC from the list supplied
Q .9: If Scheduled Tribe, write name of the ST from the list supplied
OPTION 2:
Proposed Q.10: What is your Caste? _____________________
Such a question will generate a lot of caste reporting exclusive to each state and regions within state. Often the same caste is identified/pronounced and spelled differently and also the same caste has different status in different states. Collating such information subsequent to conclusion of Census will be a herculean effort and can be the basis for controversies. Therefore one needs to be clear and careful as to what kind of caste data have to be collected in Q.10 of the population enumeration proforma using the currently proposed question ‘what is your caste?’.
OPTION 3:
Another option is to consider collecting information only on ‘as to whether the individual belongs to a OBC category? As discussed earlier (see Option 1above) this can be done only if there is an approved list of OBCs provided apriori by Government of India. In the absence of approved OBC list, self-reported categorization will generate huge errors. Since, eliciting OBC information during enumeration will have to be done as an additional question after the question on religion there can be errors due to misreporting and confounding effects. Thus self-reporting of the OBC status will be affected considerably by the religious affiliation. Note that if the OBC information is collected during the house listing such errors would be low as no question on religion precedes. The recent debates on extension of ‘reservation’ benefits to individuals belonging to religions other than Hindus have indeed generated anxiety and also expectations especially amongst the minorities.
2. Possible Contamination of Census Information
India has a long uninterrupted history of undertaking census every 10 years since the late 19th century and certainly a regular pan-Indian census since the Independence. Indian Census is respected across the world for its quality and academic content. A lot of debates and research has fed the number and type of question to be included in the ‘house listing’ and ‘population enumeration’ exercises. It is useful to note that the last time caste information was collected was during census 1931.
Further, the concepts, definitions and questions are standardized in such a way that the inter-censal comparisons are possible. Such comparisons are the basis to evaluate a number of economic, social, educational and work/employment parameters for India and its many states and even districts. Therefore, any addition or alteration and even change in placement of a question, both in the listing and enumeration proforme can cause changes in the quality of data in other words can contaminate census information.
(a) For example, the errors in self-reported SCs/STs and OBCs category can be enormous by boosting the respective population shares which can prompt increase in the quota shares. This can happen because – those not SCs/STs may get motivated to report themselves as such; so will be the case for OBCs. Since the OBC reservation debate is in its peak one can expect an extra caution amongst the OBCs to ensure reporting; while there can also be misreporting thus boosting the share of OBCs in the population. Even communities with no caste identities may innovate or identify a caste for themselves.
(b) Distorted Occupations: It is likely that caste question can affect the reporting of occupations. The possibility is large due to expected gains offered by the government based on caste/occupation linked targeting such as programs for ‘weavers’ and so on. There can many other distortions or contamination of data.
3. What we know about OBC Identity? What can be Done?
‘Mid-Term Census’ (MTC)
There are two types of demands in the recent past with respect to additional data to be collected from the Indian decennial census. (a) The caste data with a focus on identifying correct share of OBCs since the Mandal commission linked reservations are based on old data from 1931 and not so valid local level surveys. (b) Another demand has been to collect information so as to assess the accessibility to the human capital enhancing government investments and provisioning of social services/safety nets.
It is therefore conceived that time is ripe for a ‘Mid-Term Census (MTC)’ say every five years after the main Census which can collected data on caste as well as on social parameters and other qualitative variables. The mega programs such as the MG-NREGA, PDS and ICDS have not been evaluated so as to find out the efficacy of the program and undertake cost benefit estimates. Further delinking such data collection through a MTC will help in keeping the comprehensive nature of the main census that too with no contamination which is essential in inter-censal comparisons. There are many other countries around the world who conduct census with 5 year interval. However, cost considerations will be important aspects in such a decision making, which is not enunciated in this note.
Special Surveys by Independent Agencies / National Sample Surveys
The other possibility is to commission special surveys and improve the scope and coverage of the National Sample Surveys. The current sample size in the NSSO is around two hundred thousand if both the central and state samples are merged. The NSSO in its 55th and 61st round have collected OBC data, so are a few other independent surveys such as the National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) human development surveys, and the National Health and Family Surveys. The state specific distribution of population according to broad caste categories are presented in the following table and graphs. One notices a large disparity between states especially Kerala and West Bengal which needs further discussion.
1. Operational Difficulties in Collecting Caste in Census 2011:
Census Operation
The census is undertaken in two phases. A house listing operation (Phase 1) precedes the population enumeration (phase 2) usually scheduled during months of February and March of the census years. The house listing for census 2011 is already in progress.
House Listing Operation collects information on SCs & STs (see item 15 in the attached proforma):
Item 15: If SC* (1) or ST* (2) Other (3)
* Note: Scheduled Caste can be only from Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists and not from other religion. Schedule Tribe can be from any religion.
However, information on Religion is not collected during house listing operations. Since information on the SCs and STs are collected using a list provided by the government as a check list similar arrangement can be made to collect information on other castes but all clubbed in an additional category OBC (other backward classes). There is some logical problem in such an effort as it is the caste identity (not class) which will be used to classify them as ‘Other Backward Class’. Yet this is an easier process to compile OBC information provided there is a checklist of OBC castes provided by government of India.
OPTION 1:
Suggested format of the new Item 15 in the ‘house listing proforma:
if SC* (1) or ST* (2) OBC (3) Other (4)
However, this is not feasible now; due to the fact that the phase 1 or the house listing operation is already on all over India and it is too late to incorporate this information. Further according to news paper announcements, the caste data will be collected as an additional question – “what is your cast”. This question now can be asked only in phase 2 which is known as Population Enumeration Operation undertaken during March-April 2011. Since there is no ready list of OBCs for cross checking during the data collection stage itself, it has to be an open question asked immediacy after the questions on religion (Q. 7), SC (Q.8) and ST (Q.9) as follows:
Phase II : Population Enumeration| February –March 2011
Q. 7: Religion (Write name of the religion in full)
Q. 8: If Scheduled Caste, Write name of the SC from the list supplied
Q .9: If Scheduled Tribe, write name of the ST from the list supplied
OPTION 2:
Proposed Q.10: What is your Caste? _____________________
Such a question will generate a lot of caste reporting exclusive to each state and regions within state. Often the same caste is identified/pronounced and spelled differently and also the same caste has different status in different states. Collating such information subsequent to conclusion of Census will be a herculean effort and can be the basis for controversies. Therefore one needs to be clear and careful as to what kind of caste data have to be collected in Q.10 of the population enumeration proforma using the currently proposed question ‘what is your caste?’.
OPTION 3:
Another option is to consider collecting information only on ‘as to whether the individual belongs to a OBC category? As discussed earlier (see Option 1above) this can be done only if there is an approved list of OBCs provided apriori by Government of India. In the absence of approved OBC list, self-reported categorization will generate huge errors. Since, eliciting OBC information during enumeration will have to be done as an additional question after the question on religion there can be errors due to misreporting and confounding effects. Thus self-reporting of the OBC status will be affected considerably by the religious affiliation. Note that if the OBC information is collected during the house listing such errors would be low as no question on religion precedes. The recent debates on extension of ‘reservation’ benefits to individuals belonging to religions other than Hindus have indeed generated anxiety and also expectations especially amongst the minorities.
2. Possible Contamination of Census Information
India has a long uninterrupted history of undertaking census every 10 years since the late 19th century and certainly a regular pan-Indian census since the Independence. Indian Census is respected across the world for its quality and academic content. A lot of debates and research has fed the number and type of question to be included in the ‘house listing’ and ‘population enumeration’ exercises. It is useful to note that the last time caste information was collected was during census 1931.
Further, the concepts, definitions and questions are standardized in such a way that the inter-censal comparisons are possible. Such comparisons are the basis to evaluate a number of economic, social, educational and work/employment parameters for India and its many states and even districts. Therefore, any addition or alteration and even change in placement of a question, both in the listing and enumeration proforme can cause changes in the quality of data in other words can contaminate census information.
(a) For example, the errors in self-reported SCs/STs and OBCs category can be enormous by boosting the respective population shares which can prompt increase in the quota shares. This can happen because – those not SCs/STs may get motivated to report themselves as such; so will be the case for OBCs. Since the OBC reservation debate is in its peak one can expect an extra caution amongst the OBCs to ensure reporting; while there can also be misreporting thus boosting the share of OBCs in the population. Even communities with no caste identities may innovate or identify a caste for themselves.
(b) Distorted Occupations: It is likely that caste question can affect the reporting of occupations. The possibility is large due to expected gains offered by the government based on caste/occupation linked targeting such as programs for ‘weavers’ and so on. There can many other distortions or contamination of data.
3. What we know about OBC Identity? What can be Done?
‘Mid-Term Census’ (MTC)
There are two types of demands in the recent past with respect to additional data to be collected from the Indian decennial census. (a) The caste data with a focus on identifying correct share of OBCs since the Mandal commission linked reservations are based on old data from 1931 and not so valid local level surveys. (b) Another demand has been to collect information so as to assess the accessibility to the human capital enhancing government investments and provisioning of social services/safety nets.
It is therefore conceived that time is ripe for a ‘Mid-Term Census (MTC)’ say every five years after the main Census which can collected data on caste as well as on social parameters and other qualitative variables. The mega programs such as the MG-NREGA, PDS and ICDS have not been evaluated so as to find out the efficacy of the program and undertake cost benefit estimates. Further delinking such data collection through a MTC will help in keeping the comprehensive nature of the main census that too with no contamination which is essential in inter-censal comparisons. There are many other countries around the world who conduct census with 5 year interval. However, cost considerations will be important aspects in such a decision making, which is not enunciated in this note.
Special Surveys by Independent Agencies / National Sample Surveys
The other possibility is to commission special surveys and improve the scope and coverage of the National Sample Surveys. The current sample size in the NSSO is around two hundred thousand if both the central and state samples are merged. The NSSO in its 55th and 61st round have collected OBC data, so are a few other independent surveys such as the National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) human development surveys, and the National Health and Family Surveys. The state specific distribution of population according to broad caste categories are presented in the following table and graphs. One notices a large disparity between states especially Kerala and West Bengal which needs further discussion.
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