EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

On the return of caste in the Census

In a country living with the reality of caste and striving constantly to offset disadvantages created on the basis of social hierarchy, the central government's decision to hold a caste census does have wide appeal. The enumeration of castes is to be undertaken along with a ‘Below Poverty Line' census in such a way that there is a simultaneous mapping of the economic, caste, and religious backgrounds of the entire population. A mere caste census may have meant just a headcount of diverse communities, but with the plan to integrate socio-economic data with the caste count, there is hope that the country might at last have a set of quantifiable data that would justify key administrative measures predicated on caste identity. Over the years, the debate over the use of caste as the basis for ensuring social justice in education and public employment has been resolved in favour of caste-based reservation for ‘socially and educationally backward classes.' Once caste was accepted as the main parameter on which social justice would be measured, it was only a matter of time before the country came round to the view that a restoration of the pre-Independence system of including caste in the decennial Census was necessary. The continuance of existing levels of caste-based reservation also hinges on collection of caste-wise data. For the judicially imposed limit of 50 per cent on the quantum of reservation — flowing from a constitutional scheme that says the extent of reservation, being the exception, cannot exceed equal treatment, the norm — can be overcome only by providing hard data to the court.

However, a caste census will be much more challenging than a lay view suggests. For one thing, a precise headcount of a particular caste may ultimately prove elusive, given the number of sub-castes and sects that the Indian caste system has spawned, and the inevitable scope for confusion over the inclusion or exclusion of a sect from a larger caste umbrella. The nomenclature used by a caste group to refer to itself may vary from region to region, while there could be confounding similarities in name between different sects. And even more scientifically challenging would be the exercise of integrating the headcount of a caste with the socio-economic profile of the population falling under it and coming to a reasonable conclusion about its precise state of backwardness. There are other questions, too, such as whether the final caste-wise breakdown of the population would be used to parcel out all opportunities under the state solely in proportion to the strength of the communities or whether there would be some exiguous space for open competition so that the longer-term goal of a caste-free society is not lost sight of.

Dual message from Spain

As young — and not-so-young — people continued to occupy the centres of over 50 Spanish cities in defiance of a ban on such gatherings immediately before elections, the Spanish socialist party (PSOE) of Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero suffered a crushing defeat in Spain's local and regional polls on May 22. The main opposition, the conservative Popular Party (PP), won in 11 of the 13 regions where elections took place, including Castilla-La Mancha, which the PSOE had held since the first post-Franco elections in 1978. The socialists' municipal results were as bad as their regional ones, and saw them lose Barcelona, the country's second city and PSOE stronghold, to Catalan nationalists; the conservatives also gained control of Seville, and the ruling party's municipal vote share of 27.79 per cent left it nearly 10 percentage points behind the PP. Mr. Zapatero has taken responsibility for the debacle, recognising that many Spaniards face grave difficulties and that the young are deeply anxious about their future; but he has ruled out an early general election and will hold on until his second term ends early in 2012.

That Spanish voters have been motivated to express their anger with the PSOE government is not in doubt; the 66.23 per cent turnout was nearly 2.3 percentage points higher than that for the 2007 municipal polls. Spain has faced a severe economic crisis since the financial and property bubble burst in 2008, and its current unemployment rate of over 21 per cent is the highest in the eurozone. It would, however, be premature to conclude that the results signify an endorsement of the conservative ideology. Blank and spoilt ballot papers added up to 4.2 per cent of the total, and the protesters camping in city squares seemed almost indifferent to the outcome. Secondly, young Spanish adults are in a particularly dire position, with unemployment rate approaching 45 per cent in the 18-25 age cohort. It is also highly unlikely that the new PP administrations at regional or municipal level can do much about the national economic condition. Furthermore, the PP's social conservatism, manifested in a confrontational attitude to many of Mr. Zapatero's first-term reforms — such as the legalisation of same-sex marriages — is likely to invite great hostility among the kinds of young people who use social networks to communicate and who have likened their occupation of Madrid's Puerta del Sol to the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The results of these elections, in effect, conceal much deeper fissures in the Spanish body politic; those are probably the last things the PP wants to address.