What caste are you from? India Will Rewrite Everyone by Caste (7 photos)

In India, castes are kind of banned, but they do exist. And while such phenomena, which don’t exist but which actually do, are not that rare around the world, India went one step further than anyone else. It decided to conduct a census, and also count everyone by caste (which doesn’t exist, yeah).





But… why?!

For millions of people across India, a rigid caste system that has existed for thousands of years still dictates much of daily life, from social circles to dating, employment opportunities, and education. Caste was abolished in 1950. So it came as a surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration announced that caste would be counted in the upcoming national census for the first time since 1931, when India was still a British colony.



A man writes his caste on a questionnaire

How did the government explain this? It was so convoluted that I didn't even understand it. They said that counting caste "ensures that our social fabric is not subject to political pressure. It ensures that society becomes stronger economically and socially and that the country's progress continues unhindered." The next census is being postponed and postponed, it was originally scheduled for 2021, but then Covid started, and no one was up to it. Since then, they wanted to include a lot in the survey.

Find inequality to destroy it?





Modi, the Prime Minister of India, rode on the support of the lower castes, and now look at this!

Many assumed (and not the government itself said) that the caste census would force the state to confront structural inequality, to identify its scale, so to speak. It's just that the government is now flying blind in its fight against discrimination. In 1947, it gained independence from Britain, making a series of changes to its new constitution. It created special caste categories that were used to establish positive quotas and other benefits - eventually reserving 50% of government jobs and educational places for marginalized castes. It also abolished the concept of "untouchability" and banned caste discrimination.



Volunteers go door to door with a survey, just like us

AND THEN it was decided to stop counting castes in the census. And now suddenly they are back on the subject all these years later. It was thought that if no caste was taken into account anywhere, then in a democracy it would automatically equalize. But it didn't work. Although the rigid boundaries of caste divisions have softened over time, especially in urban areas. Do you know how much softened? Only 5% of marriages in India are inter-caste! Well, it used to be 0. Similar differences persist in friendship groups, workplaces, and other social spaces.



Dalits protest outside the government building in 2024

Some states have conducted surveys among their local populations before. This was the case with the 2023 survey, which determined the percentage of different castes in Bihar. It turned out that there are many more Dalits and marginalized castes than the government had assumed and subsidized. The quotas had to be changed, so this is a rather positive trend specifically for the state of Bihar. Opponents argue that the country should try to move away from these labels, rather than formalize them.



Where are you writing "untouchable", you should write "untouchable"!

And that you need to start from a person's income when he receives subsidies and quotas, and not from his origin. Which sounds quite logical. On the other hand, many Hindus from the "better castes" do not like the positive 50% quota for education and work for the lower castes, because it infringes on the others. And if it turns out that the quota needs to be increased, it will only anger the other castes even more.



Some Muslims also assign themselves to castes in India, although this is against religion. But... this is India.

Do you think everyone should be re-registered by caste to understand the problem more clearly? Or is this a 70-year rollback and the topic of castes should continue to be crossed out and no one should ever be assigned to any caste?