Census 2027 will count caste – but the data it produces won’t be usabale

A trial for the second phase of the census now underway is testing an open column for counting caste. But by the government’s own admission, it is likely to produce data that reservation or welfare policy cannot actually use.

Since July 6, a “pre-test” for the second phase of Census 2027 has been underway across 16 states and Union Territories. In the first phase, data was collected on housing conditions and amenities. In the second phase, significantly, caste will be counted for the first time since 1931.

The form for the trial carries an “open column” for caste, officials told the media. Instead of a fixed list or boxes to tick, the form has a blank space for respondents to write down their caste.

The pre-test finishes on July 20. The government’s lessons from it will shape how caste is counted and governed for the next decade.

The open column sounds respectful, asking nothing of the state and everything of self-description. But the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census used an identical method, which returned over 46 lakh distinct “caste names” such as Gupta, Agarwal and dozens of variants for what was, each time, the same caste.

The dataset was unusable for policy. Successive governments of different political persuasions chose not...

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