Bihar caste survey: HC rules against quota in minority institutions

Subject :Polity

Section: Constitution

Context: Bihar government revealed the results of its caste survey on Gandhi Jayanti

How the survey was carried:

The Bihar government compiled data on each family digitally through a mobile application as part of the eight-level survey from the panchayat to the district level.
The mobile app had a set of questions in a format, mentioning place, caste, the number of people in a family, their profession, and annual income, among others.
During the first phase of the caste survey, the houses were numbered, and caste details were sought.
The second phase of the exercise involved compiling the economic status of the people. All composite information was compiled in the app after scrutiny by senior officers.
The process of caste survey monitoring involved the additional district magistrate (DM)/district welfare officer/district statistics officer at the top, with the DM concerned being the final monitoring authority.
The next level comprised the sub-divisional officer followed by the circle officer, block development officer, municipal commissioner/chief executive officer.
The Panchayati Raj Institutions were kept completely out of the process.

Key Findings of the survey:

The survey puts the share of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) cumulatively at more than 63%.
Category-wise classification:
- The “unreserved” category i.e. the “forward” castes is about 15.5%.
- The Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) are the biggest social group comprising 36.01% of the State’s population.
- The OBCs accounts to 27.12%, and the Scheduled Castes (SCs) to 19.65%.
- Scheduled Tribes (STs) are only 1.68%.
Total Population of Bihar, according to the survey, is 13, 07, 25,310, compared to the 10.41 crore recorded in the 2011 census.
Religion-based data:
- Hindus comprise 81.99% of the population, and
- Muslims17.7%.
- The populations of Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and other religious denominations are minuscule.

What are the legal angles involved:

The population census is a Union subject under Article 246 of India Constitution.
It is listed at serial number 69 of the seventh schedule of the constitution.
Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
The bill for this Act was piloted by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India.
The information collected during the population Census is so confidential that it is not even accessible to the courts of law.
The confidentiality is guaranteed by the Census Act, 1948. The law specifies penalties for both public and census officials for non-compliance or violation of any provision of the Act.
The census recorded at the beginning of every decade does not record any caste data other than for those listed as schedule cast.

Bihar caste survey throw challenges to 50% Quota:

Underlining the need to ensure “efficiency” in administration, the SC in its 1992 decision in ‘Indra Sawhney vs Union of India’ had fixed the 50% ceiling for reservation which can be breached only in “exceptional circumstances”.
In 2021, a five judge Constitution bench of the SC unanimously struck down a Maharashtra law which provides reservation to the Maratha community as unconstitutional, holding the total quota limit would exceed 50%.
However, a five-judge bench (in a 3:2 majority) of the SC upheld the 10% EWS quota, which also breached the 50% ceiling. The court held that the ceiling was for backward classes.
The survey’s findings are likely to intensify calls for increasing the OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservation in India beyond the current 27%.

History of Caste Census:

A population census was first carried out by the British colonial state in 1872.
The 65-page census enumerated the populations of various castes, including Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Rajputs across several provinces.
Caste populations were specifically counted based on their traditional occupations at the time.For instance, Hindus in the Madras province were counted in 17 sets, which included “priests, warriors, traders, agriculturists, shepherds and pastoral castes” among others.
The last time comprehensive data on caste was collected was in the 1931 Census.

Why has it not been carried out since 1931:

The categories of ‘Race, Caste or Tribe’ were replaced by the ‘Scheduled Tribe/ Scheduled Caste’.
Subsequent reports and studies have attributed to the belief that “including caste data in census enumeration will perpetuate the caste system and deepen social divisions”.
Recording of caste was abandoned after Indian Independence in 1947, to help smooth the growth of a secular state.

More about Socio-economic caste census (SECC)

It is a study of the socio-economic status of rural and urban households and allows ranking of households based on predefined parameters.
Census in Rural Areas has been conducted by the Department of Rural Development.
Census in Urban areas is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
It was also the first paperless census in India conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government in 640 districts