Census 2027 to Count Caste

The Indian government is doing a trial for the second part of the 2027 census, which includes counting caste for the first time in a long time.

They are using a method where people can write down their caste instead of choosing from a list.

However, this method has been used before in 2011 and it didn't work well because it produced too many different names for the same caste.

The government knows this method might not be useful for making policies about reservations and welfare.

They also have a problem with how they are grouping people in the census forms.

Some important groups like Other Backward Classes and General category are not separately named, which makes it hard to see the data clearly.

The government could use a better method where they have a list of caste names and an open field for exceptions, but they are not doing that yet.

This is important because the census data is used to make decisions about education, jobs, and politics.