Anthropology Foundation 2024-25 Handout#17

Batch - 2.0
COMMENTARY

Can the Caste Census Be Reliable? years or so, that almost every caste is much
more dispersed now than before. So much
so that members of a single endogamous
A M Shah unit may use different names in different
places. The task of aggregating caste data
There are constitutional and ideological arguments on whether the is much more difficult now than it was at
modern Indian state should ask its citizens the caste question as part the censuses during the colonial time.
of the Census of 2001. Leaving aside these arguments, will the The definition of caste as an endoga-
mous unit is also questionable. Anthro-
census organisation ever be able to collect reliable information
pologists and sociologists have known
on caste? widespread practice of inter-caste hyper-
gamy, i e, a lower caste gets its girls
THROUGHOUT the colonial period the English word 'caste' has more than one married into a higher caste but the latter
Census of India used to identify castes and equivalent. In Gujarati, for example, there does not give its girls in return. A caste
enumerate their members. This practice are five words for caste: 4jat', 'jati', 'jnati' , which appears to be strictly endogamous
was given up after independence, except 'varna', 'kaum'. Each of them has its at the top of its internal hierarchy may be
in the case of scheduled castes and sched- complications. Each has more than one loose at its bottom. Anthropologists have
uled tribes. The Census of India is now meaning. Let us choose the word 'jati' also known caste-tribe hypergamy in many
considering a proposal to identify castes which is more common. It means sex (i ,e, parts of India. Where hypergamous mar-
and enumerate their members at the Cen- male/female), religion, sect within a reli- riages take place, many members of the
sus of 2001. gion, caste, tribe, race, and lineage ('kula'. bride-giver caste or tribe use for them-
There are constitutional as well as ideo- 'khandan'). 'Jati' may also get confused selves the bride-taker caste's name as a
logical arguments regarding whether the with 'jat' which has different nuances. In mark of higher status. Hypergamy has
modern Indian state should ask the caste the context of caste, we should realise that been a long established negation of caste/
question to its citizens, the kind of argu- there are several orders of division, i e, tribe endogamy. I wonder how the census
ments which were not made during the caste, sub-caste, sub-sub-caste, etc, as I enumerators would arrive at caste bound-
colonial regime. I leave these arguments have discussed at length elsewhere.1 The aries in such a situation.
aside and ask whether the census word 'jati' is used for divisions of all the Caste endogamy is also being negated
organisation would be able to collect orders and only a close inquiry would increasingly by inter-caste, inter-religious,
reliable information on caste. reveal the order to which the respondent inter-regional and international marriages.
Not only the nature of the state but also refers in a particular context. Such marriages began to take place during
the nature of scholarship on caste has We do not know how the Census of the colonial period and have increased
changed after independence, Sociologists, India proposes to frame the caste question. rapidly after independence. In this con-
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social anthropologists, political scientists, Let us assume it is framed as followes: text, can we assume, as we did earlier, that
historians and others today have much 'What is the 'jati' of your household?' The all members of a household belong to the
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more knowledge about caste than did their respondent is likely to give a name keep- same caste? In an inter-caste marriage the
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predecessors before 1947, Although we ing in mind any one of the meanings of husband and wife belong to different castes,
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have respect for the work of census com- 'jati' mentioned above. Surely, therefore, except where one spouse has accepted the
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missioners like J H Hutton during the there would be confusion in collating other's caste. But to which caste do their
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colonial period, their work is superseded responses. children belong? Over a period of time a
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in many ways by the work of modern Let us presume that the head of the child of one inter-caste marriage may marry
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scholars. This fact should be kept in view household gives only his or her caste name. a child of another such marriage. Since
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while discussing caste in the Census of India. But caste names are not as simple as they such marriages have been taking place for
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We have to consider who in a village appear. They are part of the dynamics of the last several generations a whole new
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or a town would the census enumerator caste. It is well known that frequently social class has emerged all over India
ask the caste question. The individual or members of a caste claim to belong to a which I have elsewhere called 'cosmo-
politan',2 It is a caste-less class, which is
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the household? Do we assume that all caste higher than their own, and therefore
members of a household belong to the different members of a caste use different now sizeable and growing. What will be
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same caste? I will return to this problem names for themselves. The less ambitious its fate in the census?
in the end. Let us assume in the mean while give their traditional name, while the more The problem of collecting information
that all members of a household belong ambitious give a new high-status name. on caste membership is so complicated
to the same caste and that the caste ques- Caste names are used contextually. One that, it seems to me, the census organisation
tion would be asked to the head of the name may be used in the context of will not be able to collect reliable infor-
household, whichever way that term is marriage, another in the context of reli- mation, How do we expect the census enu-
defined. Incidentally, the Census of India gious rituals, and a third in the context of merators in villages and towns - usually
has not faced squarely the complexities of demanding a privilege from the state. There ill-paid primary school teachers and lower
the term 'head of the household'. is rarely a straight answer to the question: government servants - to grasp all the
The next problem is: in which language what is your caste? complications and collect reliable infor-
would the caste question be asked? Surely, Usually members of a caste are spread mation in a short time at their disposal?
not in English, except to those whose over a wide area, sometimes covering more I doubt if the census superintendents in
mother tongue is English. Their number than one state. So many migrations have various states also have the necessary
is very small, In Indian languages the taken place, particularly during the last 50 expertise.

2498
Economic and Political Weekly September 26. 1998
 Many members of the intelligentsia and will be intervening in social processes at of courage to show a mirror to people
even some academics seem to think that various levels. Some of the consequences further aggravated the situation.
caste .is like sex and age about which the of such intervention may be foreseen, but A massive revenue deficit of Rs 5,221
census organisation can collect informa- many more could be unforeseen. crore has emerged in 1998-99 as com-
tion easily. But caste does not really have pared with the deficit of Rs 609 crore,
Notes
the kind of certainty and rigidity frequently Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 411 crore in 1995-96,
[This is a revised version of my presentation at 1996-97 and 1997-98, respectively. This
attributed to it. This is, in fact, the burden the symposium on 'Caste and the Census' held
of much of sociological and anthropologi- at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, on is to be made good by surplus on capital
cal research that has developed during the July 17, 1998.] account of Rs 5,346 crore. Gross fiscal
last 50 years or so. 1 A M Shah and I P Desai, Division and deficit has gone up steeply from Rs 464
Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat, crore in 1980-81 to Rs 1,611 crore in
In this situation, if the Census of India Hindustan, Delhi, 1988.
decides to count castes and their members, 2 The Family in India: Critical Essays, Orient 1990-91 to Rs 5,240 crore in 1996-97 and
it will not be collecting facts as such but Longman, Delhi, 1988. Rs 3,736 crore in 1997-98. The figure for
Maharashtra for 1997-98 was the third
Maharashtra: Where Has All the highest among the states, after Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal. Interest pay-
Money Gone? ments as a ratio of revenue expenditure
has gone up from 6.9 per cent in 1980-81
to 10.1 in 1990-91 and 13.5 in 1997-98.
Madhav Godbole Expenditure on debt service as a percent-
age of total revenue expenditure has gone
The debate on the finances of the Maharashtra government must up steeply over the years from just 8 per
not get hogged down in political semantics or the game of cent in 1980-81 to 10.1 per cent in 1985-86
one-upmanship. Urgent action needs to be taken on at least five and 16.3 per cent in 1997-98. It is expected
counts to stop the current rot to be 15.8 per cent in 1998-99. The ratio
of developmental expenditure has declined
WHERE has all the money gone is ques- ation. What is at stake is not just the from 70-73 per cent during the last 10
tion uppermost in the minds of most people question of whether the state government years to 61 per cent in 1997-98. The ratio
in Maharashtra these days. A raging can pay the huge pending bills of contrac- of non-developmental expenditure to
controversy is on regarding the financial tors expeditiously. It is also not a question aggregate disbursements has increased
health of the state government. There have of how many times each of the previous from 26 per cent in 1980-81 to 36 per cent
been repeated news items in the media governments had taken an overdraft, the in 1997-98. The expenditure on adminis-
regarding the inability of the state govern- point which is being repeatedly made by trative services was just about 10 per cent
ment to pay the bills of contractors, par- the state government to show how good of revenue expenditure through more than
ticularly those working on irrigation pro- its financial management is. It is also not the decade and half of 1980-81 to 1997 98,
jects in Krishna valley, delays in payment just a question of whether the present state Due mainly to the impact of the Fifth Pay
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of salaries to staff, disbursement of grants government is more profligate as com- Commission, it is expected to shoot up to
25 per cent in 1998-99. Total debt of the
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to institutions, and sharp cut-backs in Plan pared to its predecessors. It is a matter of

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expenditure. The contractors whose pay- record that the assiduous efforts made to state government has gone up from
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ments have been delayed have taken re- implement zero-based budgeting in the Rs 18,280 crore in 1995-96 to Rs 31,000
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course to agitations, abusing and manhan- stale from 1986 to 1989 were brought to crore in 1998-99. The liability towards
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dling officers, fasts and have now threat- nought by the Congress government of repayment of internal debt of the state
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ened to file a writ petition in the high court. Sharad Pawar in 1989. The debate on the government was only Rs 294 crore in
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1996-97 and Rs 380 crore in 1997-98. A

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The state government has, on the contrary, finances of the state government should
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taken a position that there is nothing wrong not therefore get bogged down in political huge step-up to Rs 2,145 crore is budgeted
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with the state finances and there are only semantics or the game of one-upmanship. for 1998-99. A large part of the resources
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for the state's Annual Plan are being found

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some temporary problems of liquidity and One must not miss the wood for the trees.
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mismatch between receipts of revenues The issues which are crying for attention by way of borrowed funds. Out of the total
and market borrowings, on the one hand, are likely to become more serious and outlay of Rs 11,600 crore for the Annual
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and expenditure, on the other. It has al- daunting over time, if not addressed with Plan of 1998-99, Rs 5,200 crore is to be
met from the resources of statutory bodies
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leged that a politically motivated smear sagacity, maturity and statesmanship, the
campaign has been deliberately launched qualities which are not evident in any of such as Irrigation Development Corpora-
by some vested interests to tarnish the the major political parties in the state. tion and the Road Development Cor-
image of the government. As is to be It will not be wrong to say that the poration. Only the balance amount of
expected, the Congress Party has been in 1998 99 budget of the state government Rs 6,400 crore is to be provided in the
the forefront in criticising the state gov- was a watershed. It marked the transition state budget.
ernment and has announced that it is not of the state from the position of strength According to the newsreports of the
interested in dislodging the state govern- to one of extreme financial vulnerability, discussion of the state chief minister with
ment to take over the reins of a state which something which could not have happened deputy chairman of the Planning Com-
has practically gone bankrupt, t h e Con- overnight. The warning signals were there mission held on September 16, the Annual
gress wants the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition for all to see but no political party in power Plan outlay of Rs 11,600 crore for 1998-99
government to stew in its own juice. took notice due to its preoccupation with was approved by the Planning Commis-
It is necessary to get away from this politicking. The easy way out of pander- sion, This itself is surprising, looking to
politicisation of the issues and take a ing to populist pressures was taken time the precarious condition of the state's
detached and objective view of the situ- and again. Short time-horizons and lack finances- But, as is seen over the years,

Economic and Political tyeekly September 26, 1998 2499