About 25 lakh enumerators are or will be out in field to collect data on Indian population as part of Census-2011 exercise. But is this exercise fruitful or just a meaningless one? Going by the columns in the form of census, it is just an official formality instead of becoming data bank of Indian citizenry. The government has, for the reasons best known to them, excluded columns of “Mother-tongue” and “Religion”. Another glaring weakness of the census exercise is missing column of “Caste”. We must not forget that data on mother-tongue and religion are necessary for developing every section of Indian society in a justifiably sustained manner.
The question is why the Government of India has excluded such important information from Census-2011, how will it plan development for the weaker and marginalised sections of Indian society? Further, all these three columns viz. religion, mother-tongue and caste are very strong factors in development and nation building discourse.
The greatness of the Indian state lies in its ability to absorb all kinds of shocks. India’s unity lies in its diversity. According to Indian tradition, one religion, one language and one nation is in fact against the ethos of Indianness. It is extremely difficult to present a full account of language diversity in India. The Working Groups on the Study of Languages in its Report (March, 1986) suggests that a multilingual strategy be adopted for educational planning. However, National Policy on Education-1986 and The Programme of Action, August, 1987 do not reflect this realisation.
Mother-tongue teaching is accepted in this Policy document in principle only but the question of economic viability was also raised to make it ineffective. This is nothing but official incapability to understand India’s ground realities. For example, the above document outlines the policy of promoting Hindi as the link language overlooking the fact that in India almost all major regional languages serve as link languages in the respective regions.
The above mentioned policy document was the result of the thoughts of professional linguistics such as S.K. Chatterji, who argued in his book Language and the Linguistic Problem: “We ought to have a common language for the whole of India as a symbol of a common Indian nationality.” This was the most dangerous statement I came across about languages. India is a multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation, why some people want to impose only one single language on the multi-language speaking citizens?
Religion plays a very important role in the development of personality. Indian masses not only respect their respective religions but also try to follow them. A civilized society cannot be imagined without religion. India is a democratic country and in a democracy numbers matter in more than one way. The majority-minority relation between populations is an important factor. It assumes different contours at different times. Presently India is in a transition period. Majority-minority relations have economic, social, political and other dimensions, including Constitutional, legal and geographical. In the recent past, the majority-minority relations have depended upon several factors and diverse issues like Constitutional provisions, population, legal interpretations and political compulsions.
The Government launches schemes and draws development plans on the basis of data indicating which segment of Indian citizenry is lagging. For example, Sachar Committee Report officially acknowledged backwardness of the Muslims. UPA government then took some steps as corrective measures. Affirmative actions of the government to help Muslims are yet to yield results but there are positive signals of betterment. Likewise Rangnath Mishra Commission Report initiated a debate on the reservation for Muslims and other marginalised sections of the society. If information on religion and caste is not collected in the census, how will the government identify backwardness and subsequently initiate corrective measures?
Caste is an integral part of the Indian society. Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India. It is incomplete without casteism as it stands on Chaturvarna order. Then why was the government reluctant to include caste in census-2011? The reason is not that Indians have become more civilized or the government has succeeded in creating a casteless society. In fact it is a conspiracy with far reaching effects.
It will be interesting to remind the readers about “World Conference against Racism” held in Durban (2001). India was the first country to raise the issue of apartheid at the United Nations. It took the lead in opposing racist South African regime at that time but when the question of India’s own racist attitude was raised, the government used all the tricks to water it down. In the Durban Conference, some NGOs tried to include casteism in the agenda as a form of racial discrimination. The move by Indian NGOs was opposed by none other than official delegation which took the line that “this evil is being earnestly combated within the country and there is no need to discuss it at international level”.
In fact, the relatively low key response by India to the Durban Conference reflects status of human rights in India. I have purposely discussed Durban Conference here to indicate that irrespective of political affiliations, Indian political elite is conspiring to marginalise selective sections of Indian citizenry. Exclusion of mother-tongue, religion and casteism columns in the Census 2011 forms should be viewed in that light.
The Supreme Court of India in the matter of TMA Pai Foundation and Others Vs State of Karnataka (Writ Petition, Civil No. 317 of 1995) on October, 31, 2002 decided that “minority” within the meaning of Article 30 which provides right to the minorities to establish and administer educational institutions is…. For the purpose of determining the minority, the unit will be the state. Thus religious and linguistic minorities, who have been put at par in Article 30, have to be considered state-wise. At the same time, it said, “Article 30 is a special right conferred on the religious and linguistic minorities because of their numerical handicap and to instil in them a sense of security and confidence.” But if information in the census is not collected about them, how Article 30 of the Constitution will be implemented and on whom? Thus, exclusion of mother-tongue and religion columns is indirectly violation of the spirit of the Constitution.
First round of census, in which only house listing and house census will be done, has just started. Population counting will be undertaken in the second phase of the mammoth exercise which will take considerable time. Therefore, still the government has time to include vital information on mother-tongue, religion and caste. If these columns are not included then there is some hidden agenda.
Indians of goodwill are bound to be concerned over the fact that missing columns of mother-tongue, religion and caste will make them faceless individuals. We should face certain truths around which a system of conspiracy and concealment has been built, not only concealing fascism but also shielding and fostering the forces who want to destroy India’s unity in diversity. Everyone of us should stand up and be counted to demand inclusion of missing columns in the form of Census 2011.
[The writer is a socio-political commentator based in Aligarh]