Caste Census? What for?

Today two young teachers who work at Indira Priyadarshini School in J P Nagar came over to conduct a caste census. Amongst other things, I was asked what caste I belong to, and what sub-sect of that caste I belong to!

I cannot understand either the reason or the goal of a caste census. We are officially supposed to have left caste behind several decades ago. So why is a caste census being done? 

There still is so much opacity about these enumerations undertaken by the Government, using public money.

If my mother was a Christian, and my father a Muslim, what caste would I give?

Today’s newspaper reports talk of delays in the census; no one talks of why this is needed at all. Could someone enlighten me?

Comments:

  1. Swamy says:

    Hi Deepa, So much I hate the caste system myself, and I would hate if someone ask which caste I belong to, we have to look at the motive behind this programme, which was going on for several decades in India, which being a Positive Discrimination – a social justice to give the people, who are negatively discriminated in this society by our ugly caste system, an helping hand to raise them up in this society.

    Hope the aim / goal is reached soon, so this system is put to an end.

  2. Mohammed Rafiq says:

    This is the perhaps the legacy of the imperialism that we inherited ” divide and rule “, the English divided based on the religion. Post independence it is the caste that matter the most as it determines the grains from the hey

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