The OBCs, whose current number is estimated at anything between 35 to 40 per cent of the population, already enjoy a 27 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions, and if you add to this the long-standing 22.5 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, there is a total quantum of reservation of 49.5 per cent.

In the last detailed census in which caste-related data were included, in the heyday of the British Raj, it was discovered that 58 per cent of castes had a population of less than 1,000. Also, this count had a lot of inaccuracies as the British, for instance, lumped Marathas and kunbis together as Marathas in the 1884 Bombay Gazetteer, while in the Nasik Gazetteer they were shown separately.

A later enumeration of castes in 1931 was also not done on a scientific basis. While it cannot be denied that the government does need an accurate count of the number of OBCs and other castes in the country, in order that the funds earmarked for their uplift are correctly allocated, it would be a huge mistake to conduct this caste census in a hurry. India is so ridden with the caste factor and the issue is so complex that the entire matter needs to be handled with a lot of care and sensitivity.

Decentralisation in data collection is an absolute must. Even Christians and Muslims in India are nowadays demanding reservation on the basis of caste! Political leaders who have built up their parties and risen to power in some states primarily on the basis of their caste identity bear a special responsibility. It is mainly at their urging that the government has decided to include caste in the census, something that had not been done since Independence, and they must therefore understand if they really want to ensure the uplift of OBCs and other “backward” groups, a meticulously-conducted count is imperative.

Speed, in this instance, is not of the essence, but accuracy is. These leaders should be aware, more so than some of their brethren, of the multiplicity of sub-castes and sub-groups under the broad OBC umbrella, which in some cases stretch into the thousands, with none comprising even one per cent of the total. There are also substantial area-wise variations, and all these would have to be synchronised while compiling accurate data on a nationwide basis. It is easy for things to go haywire: for example, between 1971 and 1981, it was discovered that Maharashtra’s Scheduled Tribe population had shot up disproportionately. It was eventually found that this was because the Halba tribe suddenly claimed it fell into the ST category.

With no systematic data collection methods, it is easy for similar inaccuracies to creep in elsewhere. For the forseeable future, there appears no alternative but for India to live with its caste-based divisions. But no government and no political party — and particularly those who espouse the cause of the “backwards” — should lose sight of their ultimate responsibility to ensure the speedy uplift of those at the bottom of the heap, so that at some future date the need for reservations will no longer exist