Privatization, quotas, and inequality: Why caste census will fall short in education

As the prospect of a nationwide caste census resurfaces at a crucial crossroads, it is important to reflect on its potential ramifications especially in education. The last comprehensive caste enumeration dates back to 1931, and yet, in its absence, major policies and landmark judgments have continued to hinge on outdated data. The obsolescence of the existing framework is glaring.

As of 2021, over 60% of the faculty positions reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in India’s premier institutions remained unfilled, exposing deep systemic gaps in the implementation of the Mandal Commission’s vision. Even by the end of a full recruitment cycle in 2023, OBC representation across all faculty levels in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) stood only at 27%, far from being proportional to their population share. Revising this archaic demographic framework could recalibrate reservation policies, with far-reaching consequences for labour markets, educational attainment, and employment equity.

But what if the census reveals that the very design of reservations has become obsolete for 21st-century inequalities? This article examines how such a demographic unravelling might reshape India’s higher education landscape—a system now defined by privatisation, uneven quality, and growth-driven imperatives—since the Mandal Commission’s reservations first redrew its contours.

The baseline

The latest AISHE 2022–23 data highlights enduring caste-based disparities in higher education enrollment across India. Scheduled Castes (SCs) comprise over 6.6 million students, Scheduled Tribes (STs) over 2.76 million, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) more than 16.7 million—together representing a significant portion of India’s higher education population. However, access remains uneven across States and social groups.

Uttar Pradesh records the highest overall enrollment (over 6.9 million), and also leads in SC and OBC participation, while Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh show comparatively high ST enrollment. Smaller Union Territories such as Ladakh and Lakshadweep report limited overall numbers but high tribal representation. This raises a pivotal question: How might a caste census fundamentally reorient India’s higher education policy? The debate often narrows to a single axis—will it lead to more reservations? But the implications run deeper.

Rethinking quotas

A caste census must guide policy beyond the knee-jerk expansion of reservations. Caste today operates differently than in the past—its rigid occupational hierarchies may have softened, but its economic and social barriers remain entrenched, especially for the most marginalised. The paradox is undeniable: even as upward mobility creates a privileged layer within reserved categories, the lowest strata continue to face exclusion. This demands a policy shift—from blanket quotas to nuanced mechanisms that distinguish between those still shackled by caste and those who have leveraged quotas to escape its grip.

In education and labour markets, the goal should not just be proportionate representation, but meaningful equity. This creates further questions, given the more privatised landscape of Indian HEIs.

India’s higher education stands largely privatised in fact if not in policy: 54,985 private institutions (91% unaided), while just 32 government-regulated private universities exist. This marketisation makes caste equity nearly impossible—reservations crumble when 29,016 fee-charging colleges filter access by wealth first. A caste census must confront this structural exclusion, not just count its victims and give a plausible answer to whether caste-based reservations be applied to private HEIs or not?

Hidden inequalities

Higher education has become an alchemy of caste erasure for those who benefit most—the enrolled, the graduated, the professionally placed. They secure not just degrees but the privilege to render their caste identities ornamental, visible only when claiming entitlements. This hidden inequality operates in plain sight: caste matters precisely enough to access quotas, then matters little enough to avoid discrimination. The system thus perpetuates a perverse bargain—where the successful can selectively ‘remember’ caste for reservations while ‘forgetting’ it in corridors of power.

A caste census must expose this duality: not just who enters institutions, but who truly escapes caste’s constraints. This isn’t decasteing, but strategic invisibility—where the privileged shed caste’s burdens while retaining its benefits. The census must expose this duality: not just who enters institutions, but who gains the privilege to treat caste as a toggle—’on’ for reservations, ‘off’ for social capital.

The assistance debacle

In India, when a BA student earns ₹2,000/month tutoring kids of IAS officers (who veto stipend hikes), we’ve institutionalized caste-capital osmosis. Higher education arrives at a critical juncture in an individual’s life—when young Indians are increasingly expected to be self-sufficient, if not already supporting their families.

Unlike in many Western countries, where part-time work is a practical supplement to study, the same model in India risks turning exploitative, particularly in the absence of strong labour protections. This heightens the need for state-backed support systems in higher education. But this brings us back to a crucial and contentious question: who deserves that support? Earlier, this was framed as a balance between merit and social disadvantage—most visibly, caste. Now, as the cost of inclusive policy rises, this question is set to become even more politically and fiscally charged.

Ultimately, a caste census—while necessary—cannot resolve the deeper structural issues plaguing Indian higher education, neither that it is expected to. It can only highlight the existing disparities in caste representation, not the quality mismatch, institutional inefficiencies, or uneven learning outcomes that continue to widen the gap.

What India truly needs is a nationwide, dynamic database that captures the intersections of educational attainment, employment engagement, and institutional performance. Only such a comprehensive, youth-centered survey can provide the granular insights required to meaningfully reform higher education—something a caste census alone cannot achieve.

(The author is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Economic Studies & Policy, Institute for Social & Economic Change)

Please feel free to email us your suggestions and feedback at the education@thehindu.co.in