CASTE BASED CENSUS: A LEAP TOWARDS INCLUSIVE SOCIETY

Authors: Yogendra Samyak & Alok Kumar

ABSTRACT

Caste is a system of birth-ascribed stratification of the Indian society which places certain castes at the top and deprives certain castes in every sphere of life. India runs massive affirmative programmes to level the caste-based deprivations of the weaker sections (SC/STs and OBCs). A new policy in the form of a quota of 10 percent for the economically weaker sections (EWS) has emerged. All the affirmative programmes and a new EWS (economically weaker sections) quota are running on hazy projections and blurry extrapolations in the absence of caste-based data. The issue of caste-based census has surfaced once again in the lie of the forthcoming Census of 2021. This paper addresses the issue of the caste-based census. It advocates for the count of the castes in the census of 2021. It also advocates that the caste-based census is an inevitable move for the Inclusive Society.

Keywords: Caste, Caste based census, Census of India, Social Justice, affirmative programs, inclusive society

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