Bihar Caste Survey II - Is the Data Upsetting the Grand Caste Apple Cart?

Caste Files13 Dec, 2023News

This is the second in a series of explainers that Castefiles is publishing on the implications of Bihar's caste survey, and through it, the attempt to revive some of the worst forms of identity politics that have hobbled India over decades. In the tumultuous 1990s, the phenomenon of Mandal politics threatened to create permanent fissures within the Hindu society. By contrast, the Bihar Caste Survey 2023 and the corresponding hike in reservations to Government jobs and education institutions, have barely created any ripple in the caste interplay this time round. Hindu street's indifference to the move could well presage an era where caste plays a much-diminished role in Indian polity.