Caste census

Also called: Caste enumeration · Topic: Gender, Religion and Caste in Politics · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "Gender, Religion and Caste"

Meaning

A caste census (also called caste enumeration) means counting every person in the national Census by their caste. It does not stop at only Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). From 1951 to 2011, the Census counted only SCs and STs, as a policy choice [2]. Census 2027 will count all castes again [2].

Why it matters:

• Reservation and welfare depend on knowing how big each group is.
• India's only full caste count is still the old one from 1931.

Explanation

How caste counting has changed

• Census: a count of every person in the country. It collects demographic, social, cultural and economic data about each person [2].
• 1865-1872: the first population count. It was not done at the same time everywhere [2].
• 1881: the first synchronous census, meaning the whole country was counted at the same time. Caste was counted [2].
• 1881-1931: caste was counted in every census.

• 1931 was the last full caste count.

• 1941: caste data were collected but not tabulated (never put together into tables).

• 1951-2011: only SCs and STs were counted, as a policy choice [2].
• Census 2011: SCs were 16.6% of the population and STs were 8.6%.

• Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were not counted. Only estimates exist:

  • Mandal Commission (1980): 52%, worked out from 1931 census data.
  • NSS 2004-05: about 41%.

• 2027: all castes will be counted again [2].

How the 2027 caste count will work

• Decision: on 30 April 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) decided to count castes in Census 2027 [2].
• Notification: the plan to hold the census was published in the Gazette of India on 16 June 2025 [2].
• Budget: ₹11,718.24 crore [2].
• Boundaries frozen: administrative boundaries are fixed as on 1 January 2026, so districts and towns do not change during the count [2].

• The count has two phases: 1. Phase I: Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO). It lists every building and household, with housing conditions, amenities and assets. It runs from April to September 2026. Each state or UT gets a 30-day window, and before it an optional 15-day self-enumeration period [2]. 2. Phase II: Population Enumeration (PE). It records details of each person. Caste is counted in this phase. It runs in February 2027 [2].

• Reference date ("Census Moment"): the exact moment the count is fixed to. It decides who is included [2].

• 00:00 hours on 1 March 2027 for most of India [2].

• 00:00 hours on 1 October 2026 for Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Phase II is held there early, in September 2026 [2].

• First digital census [2]:

• Enumerators use a mobile app that works offline, in 16 languages.
• Households can self-enumerate (fill in their own details) online. They get a Self-Enumeration ID, and the enumerator checks the details during the house visit.

• About 31 lakh enumerators and supervisors will do the work [2].

• Census 2027 is the 16th census overall and the 8th since Independence. The 2021 Census was delayed by COVID-19 [2].

Limits and problems

• The naming problem: an open question like "What is your caste?" with no fixed list gives millions of names that cannot be compared.
• SECC 2011 returned about 46 lakh different caste or sub-caste names, synonyms, surnames, clan and gotra names [4].

• Census 2027 faces the same risk.

• Only the Union can hold a census. So states can only run caste surveys, and their figures cannot be compared with each other.

• Secrecy: under Section 15 of the Census Act, each person's answers are secret. They cannot be released under RTI or used as evidence in court [2].

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional and legal base:
• The census is a Union subject: entry 69 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule [2].
• It runs under the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 [2].
• Article 341: the President notifies the list of SCs for each state.
• Article 342: the President notifies the list of STs.

• Article 340: the President may appoint a commission to study backward classes. Both the Mandal Commission and the Rohini Commission were set up under it.

• SECC 2011 (Socio-Economic and Caste Census):

• A door-to-door household survey that was not held under the Census Act.
• It was run by the Ministry of Rural Development (rural areas) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (urban areas).
• Provisional rural socio-economic data were released in 2015 [3]. They are used to pick beneficiaries for PMAY-G (rural housing) and Ayushman Bharat (health insurance).
• In July 2015, the Cabinet set up an Expert Group under Arvind Panagariya (then Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog) to classify the caste names [4].

• The government later told Parliament that all SECC data except caste had been published. It said there was "no proposal to release the caste data" [5].

• Bihar caste survey (2023):

• EBCs 36.01%, BCs 27.12%, SCs 19.65%, STs 1.68%, Unreserved 15.52%.
• EBCs and BCs together come to 63.13%, well above Mandal's 52%.
• The Patna High Court upheld the survey (August 2023).
• Bihar then raised caste reservation to 65%. The Patna High Court struck this down in June 2024, mainly because it crossed the 50% ceiling.

• 50% ceiling: the rule from Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992) that reservations should normally not go above 50% of seats.

• Other states:

• Karnataka: the Kantharaj Commission survey (2015) was finalised as the Jayaprakash Hegde report (2024). The report was not acted on, and a fresh re-survey was held in 2025 (verify current).

• Telangana (2024-25): its survey found BCs at more than half the population. The state moved to give BCs 42% reservation in local bodies (verify current).

• Rohini Commission: set up on 2 October 2017 under Article 340 to study sub-categorisation of OBCs, meaning splitting the OBC list into smaller groups so the most backward also get a share. It reported to the President on 31 July 2023 [6].

• Political link: the first census after 2026 sets off two more changes.
• Delimitation (redrawing constituencies and seat numbers) under Articles 82 and 170.
• Women's reservation: under the 106th Amendment (2023), Article 334A, one-third reservation for women starts only after the delimitation that follows this census.

Don't confuse with

• SECC 2011 vs. caste census: SECC was a survey run by ministries outside the Census Act, and its caste data were never published. Census 2027 counts caste under the Census Act, 1948, with Section 15 secrecy.
• State caste survey vs. census: only the Union can hold a census (entry 69, Union List). States like Bihar can only run surveys.
• Phase I (Houselisting) vs. Phase II (Population Enumeration): caste is recorded only in Phase II (February 2027), not in Phase I (April-September 2026).
• Caste census vs. casteism: a caste census is a count. Casteism means treating caste as the only basis of community. NCERT's cartoon asks whether talking about caste promotes casteism.

Prelims Hooks

• Census is entry 69 of the Union List. It is governed by the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990. Section 15 keeps individual answers secret, even from RTI [2].
• 1931 was the last full caste count. In 1941, caste data were collected but not tabulated. From 1951 to 2011, only SCs and STs were counted [2].
• Trap: SECC 2011 was not held under the Census Act. Its caste data were never released, but its socio-economic data are used for PMAY-G and Ayushman Bharat.
• The CCPA decided on 30 April 2025 to count caste. Caste is counted in Phase II (Population Enumeration) [2].
• Reference date: 1 March 2027 generally. It is 1 October 2026 for Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of J&K, HP and Uttarakhand [2].
• Article 340 is the basis of both the Mandal Commission (52% OBC estimate) and the Rohini Commission (OBC sub-categorisation; report on 31 July 2023) [6].

Mains Points

• Data for justice vs. hardening identity:
• Caste data can make reservation and welfare evidence-based, for example OBC sub-classification after the Rohini exercise.
• But a count may make caste identity stronger and lead groups to compete to be counted as more numerous or more backward.

• SECC 2011's 46 lakh unclassified names [4] show the need for a pre-fixed caste code list, linked to state OBC lists, before counting starts.

• Union-state tension and the 50% ceiling:

• State surveys (Bihar, Karnataka, Telangana) filled the data gap, but their figures cannot be compared.

• A national count makes the data uniform, but states may use it to push quotas above the Indra Sawhney (1992) 50% limit, as Bihar did with 65%.

• Census as a political trigger (GS-II):

• Census 2027 links caste data to delimitation (Articles 82, 170) and women's reservation (Article 334A, 106th Amendment).
• Reform ideas:
  • Publish anonymised caste tables on time.
  • Protect individual data under Section 15.
  • Pair caste data with socio-economic indicators, so welfare targets the most deprived and not just the largest groups.

Related concepts

• Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011
• Bihar caste survey (2023)

Read more

• Counting caste: census data and the caste census