Myths Of Cream

The first ever comprehensive nation-wide survey of Other Backward Castes (OBCs), published recently by the government-run National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), could well trigger a fresh debate on the social and financial status of the OBCs. The survey demolishes the popular post-Mandal notion that the gap between OBCs and upper-caste Hindus has narrowed considerably and that the former have gone up the social ladder.

The 55th-round report of NSSO titled 'Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups of India, 1999-2000' suggests that OBCs have not caught up with the elite socio-economically. In fact, they are positioned, as always, below the upper-end 'Other' category comprising Hindu forward castes and non-Hindus—upper castes among Sikhs and Christians, and Muslims, and Jains—and above the bottom-end SC/ST groups in both rural and urban India.

"So far there was absolutely no detailed record available on OBCs. It was a strange situation where the state is constitutionally committed to a subject for which it did not even have data. Now that it's available, it will help do away with popular myths and greatly contribute to policy formations," says Satish Deshpande, reader, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.

The quinquennial survey, conducted on 1.2 lakh households countrywide during 1999-2000, has taken into account parameters such as land ownership, monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE), literacy levels and economic status for all four groups of India's population: OBCs, scheduled castes, tribes and 'Others'. The most significant finding is that there still exists a yawning gap between 'Others' and the rest, including OBCs, in most socio-economic spheres.

Consider this: in rural India the landholding was lowest for SCs. Ten per cent of SC households possessed less than 0.01 hectares of land. The OBCs are no better at 7 per cent. The 'Other' group was better placed with only 6 per cent of their households having less than 0.01 hectares of land. On the other hand, households possessing more than 4 hectares of land was maximum for the 'Others' category of households (7 per cent), whereas OBCs at 4 per cent, STs at 3 per cent and SCs at 1 per cent trailed far behind.

Similarly, it was found that in rural India 7 per cent OBCs spent less than Rs 225 per month while the poorest of the poor among the 'Others' was only 4 per cent. The proportion of persons in the high monthly per capita expenditure in rural India (those who spend Rs 950 or more per month) was highest among 'Others' (6 per cent), far ahead of OBCs (3 per cent) or SCs and STs (1 per cent each). The scene is no different in urban areas where the proportion of people spending Rs 1,925 or more per month was highest for 'Others' (6 per cent) followed by STs (3 per cent), OBCs (2 per cent) and SCs (1 per cent).

On the education front, 37 per cent of rural male OBCs were illiterate followed by 48 per cent for SCs and 52 per cent for STs. The 'Others' stood at just 23 per cent. Among urban males, 23 per cent of 'Others' had graduate or higher degrees compared to 11 per cent of STs, 9 per cent of OBCs and a mere 6 per cent of SCs.

Says Satish Deshpande: "One must understand that the 'Other' category is a mix of most privileged groups like the upper castes among Christians, Sikhs and Hindus with underprivileged groups such as Muslims. If this inequality is removed the difference between the 'Other' and rest will be even sharper. And this definitely has great relevance to policymaking for the rest of the groups, especially the OBCs."

Ashwini Deshpande, a lecturer at the Delhi School of Economics who works on caste and inequality, says the National Family Health Survey conducted in 1998-99 provided some insight into the OBC status but was confined to health-related issues and only touched upon the socio-economic aspect.Says he: "Now the NSSO data has provided details on OBCs, which had remained an unexplored territory. It's a good beginning. By shying away from discussing the caste issue, the problem will not disappear."

Not surprisingly, after several rounds of heated debate, the inclusion of caste as a separate column in the 2001 Census was dropped after a consensus evolved against sourcing data on the basis of caste.

There still needs to be a word of caution on reading too much into the NSSO data, especially on facts that suggest that landholdings of OBCs are less than that of 'Others'. Says Prof Sukhdev Thorat of the Centre for Regional Development at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University: "The main focus of the NSSO survey is on employment. Any data on OBCs requires further details. In many regions of India, OBCs form the predominant landed class. For this, the landholding survey conducted every 10 years is a more reliable document." But he agrees that the post-Mandal debates which have been based on assumptions will now have some substantive data to reckon with.