Caste census, social justice and the unfinished promises to OBCs

OtherBackward Classes (OBCs) is an official term for the population groups in India that are “socially and educationally backward”. Along with Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), OBCs are recognised in the Constitution as disadvantaged communities deserving affirmative action. Although untouchability is outlawed, caste prejudice against OBCs persists in subtle and overt forms.

Many OBC individuals report bias in everyday interactions and social settings. A glaring “glass ceiling” exists for OBCs in influential social sectors like media, academia, and corporate leadership. Studies show that these fields are overwhelmingly dominated by upper castes.

The political injustices pertaining to OBCs include incomplete implementation of reservations, lack of representation in key state institutions, delays in updating policy based on data, and politicisation of OBC welfare that sometimes stalls their progress. A majority of OBC workers are engaged in the informal and low-paying sectors.

For example, in Karnataka roughly 75 per cent of the workforce (e.g. agricultural labourers, daily wage earners, small vendors) is informal, while OBCs form a large segment of this precarious labour force. They often lack job security, formal benefits, and fair wages. In contrast, the formal sector (government jobs, organised private sector) where reservations could uplift them is relatively small and competitive.

Even within formal employment, OBCs face a “ceiling” in career advancement: surveys indicate fewer OBCs in managerial or professional roles compared to their share in lower-level jobs. In central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), for instance, OBC representation rose from ~19 per cent to ~24 per cent over 2018–2023 – better than before but still below the 27 per cent benchmark, and at senior management levels OBCs remain around 23 per cent. Meanwhile, in the private corporate sector (which has no reservation policy), OBC representation is not assured at all, and upper castes dominate leadership.

So, all these exclusions from society, politics, and economy have led to the demand for a caste census. It is not academic hair-splitting; it is a demand for policy honesty. For decades, India has planned quotas and welfare with imperfect or partial information about social realities. That has produced perennial mismatches between law and lived inequality, especially for India’s Other Backward Classes (OBCs), many of whom continue to be under-represented in leadership positions, over-represented among the poor, and scattered across informal work.

The Congress party’s insistence on a national socio-economic and caste census is, therefore, a demand to make democracy data-driven. As Rahul Gandhi has put it, a caste census is like an ‘x-ray’, a diagnostic instrument that should guide fair distribution of seats, services and subsidies. Congress has repeatedly argued that without reliable data, policies will remain blunt instruments, and entrenched inequalities will persist.

The empirical picture supports concern. Studies show that OBCs remain a substantial share of the multidimensionally poor, and representation at the highest levels of government and corporate power remains below constitutional targets. Central government employment for OBCs, while rising, still falls short of the 27 per cent Mandal benchmark; public sector enterprises similarly lag behind the target share. These are not partisan talking points but documented gaps that require policy correction.

Devaraj Urs, who served as Chief Minister of Karnataka (then Mysore State) from 1972 to 1980 (with a brief interlude), is revered for championing the backward classes. As the first OBC Chief Minister in Karnataka (himself from the Turuvekere Urs community, a backward caste), he transformed the state’s approach to social justice. His government created a distinct Backward Classes Welfare Department in 1977 – a dedicated machinery to implement Article 15(4)/16(4) programs at the state, district, and taluk levels. August 20 (his birth anniversary) is observed by some as Social Justice Day. His legacy remains a benchmark for pro-OBC governance in the state.

Taking inspiration from his political will and Rahul Gandhi’s commitment for OBCs, Karnataka and Telangana Congress governments have pursued state-level caste surveys that offer instructive models. The former’s socio-economic survey has reported BCs as a large majority of the state’s population and recommended raising the state’s BC reservation substantially. Telangana’s survey and follow-up measures have likewise aimed at aligning policy with empirics and have been described within the party as blueprints for “Social Justice 2.0.”

These state experiments show that when data is gathered transparently and used to reform reservation matrices, policy can begin to catch up with reality.

Congress’s historical record is also relevant. From the Mandal era through subsequent reforms, Congress administrations have implemented measures that expanded access to education and public employment for backward classes. The Congress party’s present demand for a national caste census is thus continuity, not opportunism: it is an effort to set policy on a firmer evidentiary base.

Critics argue that caste polity is divisive. The real question is whether policymaking without accurate data is any less divisive, because it leaves communities with grievances that are breeding grounds for resentment. As Rahul Gandhi has put it, a caste census, conducted transparently and coupled with constitutional safeguards, can help design affirmative action that is precise, equitable and sustainable. It can also expose intra-category inequalities.

If India is to live up to its constitutional promise of equality of opportunity, the path forward is clear: a national socio-economic and caste census, legal and administrative reform to ensure quotas and welfare reach the excluded, and an honest political conversation led by those who believe in redistributive justice.

Congress’s leadership in pushing this agenda from policy formulation to state-level implementation is not merely an electoral strategy. It is a programme to bring empirical justice to one of India’s longest-running social challenges. Our nation’s legitimacy depends on it.

(The writer is a Bangalore-based political analyst)