India last counted caste in detail in 1931. In 2023, one state broke that near-century silence. This article covers the Bihar caste survey, and the national caste census debate it reignited.
Timeline
- 7 January 2023: Bihar begins door-to-door data collection for its caste-based survey.
- 2 October 2023: Bihar releases the results, showing OBCs and EBCs together make up 63.13% of the state’s population.
- 30 April 2025: The Union Cabinet approves including caste enumeration in the next national census.
- 2026-2027: The national census, including caste data, is conducted in two phases between April 2026 and February 2027.
Must Know
- The Bihar Caste-Based Survey, 2023 collected data door-to-door starting 7 January 2023, with results released on 2 October 2023.
- The survey found OBCs at 27.12% and EBCs (Extremely Backward Classes) at 36.01% — together 63.13% of Bihar’s population.
- The “General” (forward castes) category was 15.52%. SCs were about 20%, and STs about 1.6%.
- On 30 April 2025, the Union Cabinet approved including caste enumeration in India’s next national census.
Good to Know
- India has not collected detailed caste data, beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in a census since 1931 — nearly a century.
- The government decided caste enumeration should happen inside the main census itself, not as a separate survey. This was meant to keep it from becoming a politically contested exercise.
- This national count is Census 2027, India’s 16th census. It is conducted in two phases, between April 2026 and February 2027.
- Bihar’s survey followed a long political push, with several states and parties demanding a caste count since the Mandal Commission era of the late 1980s.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Bihar’s survey acted as a proof of concept: a single state ran and published caste data at scale, building pressure that helped move the national government’s position within about 18 months.
- Caste data feeds directly into debates over reservation policy — since India’s reservation framework depends on knowing which groups are under-represented, and by how much.
- Including caste in the main census, rather than a standalone exercise, gives the data more legal and administrative weight, since census figures carry statutory status.
- The near-century gap since 1931 shows how a single methodological choice can shape policy debates for generations. What a census does and doesn’t count is never neutral.
- This isn’t the first time caste enumeration was recommended and then shelved. See Polity0200 — The Kaka Kalelkar Commission, whose 1955 recommendation for caste-wise Census data went unimplemented for decades.
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