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kaleidoscope 21st Century cast(e)aways! The Caste Census will do irreparable damage to the fabric of society MYTHILI BHUSNURMATH AChittapavan Brahmin a group traditionally known for integrity and intellectual honesty Bhave was not keen to be the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) because,as the head of National Securities Depository Ltd he was fighting with the regulator and there was a clear conflict of interest. On the face of it,a perfectly innocuous statement! Really Except that how is Bhaves caste or its purported integrity and intellectual honesty relevant in a serious assessment of the Sebi chiefs performance I have no clue.It should be a completely irrelevant detail in 21st century India.Yet the author clearly thought it a detail worth mentioning. Just as the bhel-puri wallah in the local market had sought to allay my fears about his chutney on the grounds that he is a Brahmin and hence would never cheat.What was the connection,I asked,aghast.What does caste have to do with honesty Are there no cheats among Brahmins The two statements,from the two ends of the social spectrum,show how pervasive is the hold of caste over the Indian consciousness.But does it follow that we should give such consciousness official sanction,turn the clock back and include caste enumeration in the on-going Census Should we blindly pursue something that even the British,with their fondness for divide and rule,eschewed (the last caste census was in 1931) As the political class demonstrates,once again,its ability to close ranks on anything that furthers its own interests,it is time all good men (and women) show the same unity of purpose as their political masters and oppose the move tooth and nail.Lest we all become cast(e)aways of a State that is not a patch on what we had in 1947! In a society that is already deeply stratified on the lines of religion,language,culture,ethnicity,one would imagine any responsible polity would try to paper over existing differences rather than dig up divisive forces that are slowly,but surely,becoming less important.True,caste is still an unpleasant reality in much of rural India but urbanisation and the greater social mobility that has come with increased prosperity have slowly made inroads into caste barriers.Inter-caste marriages are far more common than before and though khap panchayats are a depressing reality,unlike in the past,caste is no longer the sole defining factor in modern India,especially in metros and big towns. In such a scenario no purpose other than furthering narrow identity politics will be served by raking up the injustices,real or perceived,of the past.Should we not,instead,be taking a leaf from the books of South Africa that opted for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission instead of trying to settle scores with those guilty of atrocities under the apartheid regime