*CASTE COUNT* *It is hypocritical to argue a caste-based census will divide society* *Sankarshan Thakur http://tehelka.com/story_main28.asp?filename=Ne140407Caste_count_PRO.asp *
Congress spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi makes eminent nonsense when he argues against a caste-based census on the plea that it will create social fissures. But he is not the only one and this is not the first time we have had such baloney pedalled on us. Caste, like it or not, is one of India's most insistent realities, fundamental to the identity and conduct of lives of most Indians. And this is not merely true of Manu-stratified Hindu society; caste runs so deep in India, it has branded layers even in theoretically egalitarian communities like Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. Caste is the essential index of our lives, key to how we, consciously or sub-consciously, conduct ourselves personally and in public it leaps from every Indian name, it is emblazoned on the huge matrimonial bazaar, it is the cutting edge of our democracy. Name a party that does not pick a candidate without attention to the caste demography of a constituency. No use shying away from that. Much better to recognise this typically Indian social plurality and devise ways of so ordering our society that differences do not mean discrimination, that they cease to promote utterly illogical and effete notions of superiority and inferiority. In eschewing a caste count on the grounds that it will divide society, we have done the typically Indian thing we have chosen not to look reality in the face in order not to have to deal with it squarely. We have been like a billion ostriches with our heads buried in the sand for the better part of a century. Refusal to conduct a caste-based census has not prevented any of the caste system's pernicious symptoms from flourishing. Bigotry of mind and conduct, social and political animosity, conflict and wanton violence. On the contrary, it may have prevented us as a nation from getting a clearer sense of the proportion of inequity that we lumber on with. There aren't any less or more Thakurs or Yadavs in this country merely because they have not told a government surveyor they are Thakurs or Yadavs. They have not behaved any more or less like Thakurs or Yadavs because they have not been registered in the books as that. We are in the middle of controversial, and essential, socio-economic corrections, but the obc reservations initiative needs to progress on hard data. Perhaps those who find fault with reservations based on amplified 1931 data have a point who knows what the real quantum of backward communities is? For all you know, they might be more in number than we estimate them to be. Let's get the real Indian numbers, let's then proceed more scientifically and logically with social engineering. *Apr 14 , 2007* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
