The heated debates surrounding India’s caste census often get trapped in binary narratives: necessary accountability, participation and representation versus divisive politics. But what if we’re missing the forest for the trees? Can the caste census be reimagined to be something more than its traditional, statistical function, to become something transformative?

Could it instead become a dynamic platform for social architecture rather than merely a snapshot of inequality?

Most discussions frame the caste census as either a harsh mirror exposing uncomfortable truths or a dangerous tool reviving old wounds. Both perspectives treat the census as a passive instrument. But censuses throughout history have never been neutral; they actively shape the societies they measure.

When British colonial administrators conducted the first comprehensive caste census in 1871, they weren’t merely documenting existing social structures — they were crystallising fluid social categories into rigid administrative classifications. The census didn’t just count; it consolidated modern caste identity as we understand it today.

Historian Nicholas Dirks documents how many communities actively petitioned census authorities to be classified into higher castes, recognising that categorisation would determine their access to resources and standing. The census wasn’t passive; it became a battleground for social positioning that continues to this day.

What if we reimagined the caste census for the digital age? Rather than conducting it as an accounting exercise that is conducted once in a decade, it should function as a dynamic platform that continuously monitors social mobility patterns while protecting privacy and having other security safeguards.

Consider a longitudinal approach that tracks not just where communities are positioned now, but how they’re moving through educational and economic systems over time. The traditional census freezes........

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