For millions across India, a rigid caste system thousands of years old still dictates much of daily life – from social circles to dating pools to job opportunities and schooling.
The Indian government has long insisted that the social hierarchy has no place in the world’s most populous nation, which banned caste discrimination in 1950.
So, it came as a surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced that caste would be counted in the upcoming national census for the first time since 1931 – when India was still a British colony.
Counting caste will “ensure that our social fabric does not come under political pressure,” the government said in its April press release. “This will ensure that society becomes stronger economically and socially, and the country’s progress continues without hindrance.”
The release didn’t include any detail on how the caste data would be collected, or even when the census will take place (it has been repeatedly delayed from its original 2021 date). But the announcement has revived a longstanding debate about whether counting caste will uplift disadvantaged groups – or further entrench divisions.
The proposal is so controversial because a caste census “forces the state to confront structural inequalities that are often politically and socially inconvenient,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India.
The lack of caste data over the past century means “we are effectively flying blind, designing policies in the dark while claiming to pursue social justice,” she added. “So, the next census is going to be a historical census.”