Caste politics

A census of this kind isn't good for the country

The rising clamour for a caste census across the political spectrum, including some influential leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, suggests that it may be an inevitability. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met leaders of 10 political parties earlier this week, though the government’s views on the issue are not known as yet. Supporters of the proposal see a strong case for a caste census that updates the last one that was conducted in 1931, when India was under colonial rule, given that affirmative action in government jobs and educational institutions, the bedrock of the post-Independence policy for equality and social