What are the key objectives of caste count?

For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international Significance

For Mains Examination: GS II - Indian Polity & Governance

Context:

The Union Cabinet has decided that the next Census will include questions on caste to its enumeration of India’s population, for the first time in almost a century. The decision, a reversal of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stance so far, comes ahead of the crucial Bihar elections, and throws up myriad challenges.

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Caste Census

Benefits of Caste census

Key takeaways:

Has India Ever Collected Caste Data?

• Yes, caste has been part of population enumeration in India in the past. When the British began the decennial census in 1881, caste details were included. For the next fifty years, this data was regularly collected, with the 1931 Census being the last time caste-wise information was officially published.
• That census documented 4,147 distinct castes and sub-castes. Although the 1941 Census also gathered such data, it was never made public, likely due to disruptions caused by World War II. After gaining Independence, India chose to omit caste-based data from the census, restricting its scope to include only Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• J.H. Hutton, Census Commissioner for the 1931 census, argued against the notion that collecting caste or religion data would intensify social divisions. He emphasized the need for the census to reflect societal realities, not avoid them.
• While he rejected older British efforts to classify castes in a ranked hierarchy, he opted to categorise them based on occupation. However, this approach overlooked the complexity and evolving nature of caste identities across regions and over time.
• Interestingly, this very 1931 data later became the foundation for reservation policies, including the Mandal Commission's recommendation of a 27% quota for OBCs, based on the census finding that 52% of India’s population fell under the Other Backward Classes category.
• In 2011, the Ministry of Rural Development initiated a Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), intended to guide policy decisions and welfare schemes. Though partial data was released in 2016, raw caste-wise population figures were not disclosed. Because the caste field was left open-ended, respondents often entered surnames rather than standardized caste names, resulting in the enumeration of over 46 lakh unique caste entries.

Have States Conducted Their Own Caste Surveys?

• Yes, several Indian states have taken the initiative to conduct state-level caste surveys. In 2023, Bihar completed a caste survey under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, revealing that OBCs and EBCs together made up over 63% of the state's population. This led to renewed demands for greater political and social representation for these communities.
• In Telangana, the Congress Party fulfilled its pre-election promise by conducting a caste survey in 2024, which showed that Backward Classes constituted over 56% of the population. Meanwhile, Karnataka had begun its own caste survey in 2015, during CM Siddaramaiah’s earlier tenure, but the results were only released ten years later, indicating that nearly 70% of the population fell under the OBC category.

How Might This Data Be Used?

• While caste data can certainly support academic research and public policy, its primary political and social implication lies in how it might influence reservation and affirmative action policies. The existing 27% OBC quota is based on projections from the outdated 1931 census. Fresh data could significantly reshape this framework.
• For example, in Karnataka, following the revelation that the OBC population is much larger than earlier believed, there are calls to raise their reservation quota from 32% to 51%. Such developments could lead to challenges to the Supreme Court-imposed 50% ceiling on total reservation, as demands for expanded quotas grow louder across states

 Follow Up Question

1.Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India: (UPSC CSE 2019)

1. PVTGs reside in 18 states and one Union Territory.

2. A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.

3. There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.

4. Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1, 2 and 3

(b) 2, 3 and 4

(c) 1, 2 and 4

(d) 1, 3 and 4

Open Market Operations

For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international Significance

For Mains Examination: GS III - Economy

Context:

Instead of trying to cool open market prices through offloading of its stocks, the Narendra Modi government conserved its stocks and let prices rise. The stratagem has seemingly paid off

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Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)

Key takeaways:

• As defined by Investopedia, a "Goldilocks economy" refers to an optimal economic state—not overly strong, nor too weak—echoing the idea from the fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” This term signifies a balanced economic environment characterized by steady growth, low inflation, and full employment. In such a scenario, the economy grows just enough to avoid recession but not so rapidly as to trigger inflation.

• While economists may differ on the precise features of a Goldilocks economy, there is general agreement that it involves a healthy balance among economic growth, inflation control, and employment levels.

• A parallel can be drawn to agriculture: when farmers harvest a productive crop that earns them good returns, grain availability meets the needs of both private buyers and government procurement agencies, thereby replenishing buffer stocks. This situation, with its balanced outcomes, can be likened to a Goldilocks scenario.

• On April 1 of the previous year, wheat stocks in government warehouses fell to 7.5 million tonnes—the lowest for that date since 2008. With limited supplies in both government reserves and private markets, Delhi’s wholesale wheat prices surged to over Rs 3,200 per quintal by January, compared to Rs 2,500 a year prior.

• In 2023–24 (April–March), wheat sales from government stocks in the open market exceeded 10 million tonnes. By contrast, in 2024–25, they stood at just over 4 million tonnes. Instead of curbing rising prices by releasing more grain into the market, the Modi government chose to conserve stocks, allowing market prices to climb.

• This approach appears to have yielded positive results. As of April, opening wheat stocks had risen to 11.8 million tonnes, and the new harvest turned out to be abundant. Government procurement is expected to exceed 30 million tonnes this season (April–June), marking the highest collection in four years.

• Across most wholesale markets in major wheat-growing states, the crop is being sold at approximately the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,425 per quintal. These prices are seen as fair compensation for farmers. Higher MSPs—along with state-level bonuses in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh—and favorable growing conditions such as sufficient soil moisture and irrigation, encouraged greater sowing.

• Additionally, the absence of major weather disruptions helped improve yields. As a result, the tense supply situation caused by the heatwave-damaged wheat crop of March 2022 has now given way to a much more balanced and stable scenario—what one might call a "just right" or Goldilocks outcome

Follow Up Question

1.Consider the following crops:
1. Cotton
2. Groundnut
3. Rice
4. Wheat
Which of these are Kharif crops?
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 2, 3 and 4