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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • Issues related to Nursing Sector in India

    The year 2020 has been designated as “International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife”.

    But the nursing education in India displays a grim situation. It suffers poor quality of training, inequitable distribution, and non-standardized practices.

    Nursing sector in India

    • Nurses and midwives will be central to achieving universal health coverage in India.
    • India’s nursing workforce is about two-thirds of its health workforce. Its ratio of 7 nurses per 1,000 population is 43% less than the World Health Organization norm; it needs 2.4 million nurses to meet the norm.
    • The sector is dogged by structural challenges that lead to poor quality of training, inequitable distribution, and non-standardized practices.

    Uneven regulation

    Nursing education in India has a wide array of certificate, diploma, and degree programmes for clinical and non-clinical nursing roles.

    • The Indian Nursing Council regulates nursing education through prescription, inspection, examination, and certification. 91% of the nursing education institutions are private and weakly regulated. The quality of training of nurses is diminished by the uneven and weak regulation.
    • The current nursing education is outdated and fails to cater to the practice needs. The education, including re-training, is not linked to the roles and their career progression in the nursing practice.
    • There are insufficient postgraduate courses to develop skills in specialities and address critical faculty shortages both in terms of quality and quantity.
    • These factors have led to gaps in skills and competencies, with no clear career trajectory for nurses.
    • Multiple entries point to the nursing courses and lack of integration of the diploma and degree courses diminish the quality of training.
    • A common entrance exam, a national licence exit exam for entry into practice, and periodic renewal of licence linked with continuing nursing education would significantly streamline and strengthen nursing education.
    • Transparent accreditation, benchmarking, and ranking of nursing institutions too would improve the quality.
    • The number of nursing education institutions has been increasing steadily but there are vast inequities in their distribution. Around 62% of them are situated in southern India.
    • There is little demand for postgraduate courses. Recognizing the need for speciality courses in clinical nursing 12 PG diploma courses were rolled out but the higher education qualification is not recognized by the recruiters.
    • The faculty positions vacant in nursing college and schools are around 86% and 80%, respectively.

    Gaps in education, services

    • There is a lack of job differentiation between diploma, graduate, and postgraduate nurses regarding their pay, parity, and promotion.
    • The higher qualifications are underutilized, leading to low demand for postgraduate courses.
    • Those with advanced degrees seek employment in educational institutions or migrate abroad which has led to an acute dearth of qualified nurses in the country.
    • Small private institutions with less than 50 beds recruit candidates without formal nursing education. They are offered courses of three to six months for non-clinical ancillary nursing roles and are paid very little.
    • The Indian Nursing Act primarily revolves around nursing education and does not provide any policy guidance about the roles and responsibilities of nurses in various cadres.
    • Nurses in India have no guidelines on the scope of their practice and have no prescribed standards of care and is a major reason for the low legitimacy of the nursing practice and the profession. This may endanger patient safety.
    • The Consumer Protection Act holds only the doctor and the hospital liable for medico-legal issues; nurses are out of the purview of the Act. This is contrary to the practices in developed countries where nurses are legally liable for errors in their work.

    Institutional reforms required

    1. The governance of nursing education and practice must be clarified and made current.
    2. The Indian Nursing Council Act of 1947must be amended to explicitly state clear norms for service and patient care, fix the nurse to patient ratio, staffing norms and salaries.
    3. The jurisdictions of the Indian Nursing Council and the State nursing councils must be explained and coordinated so that they are synergistic.
    4. Incentives to pursue advanced degrees to match their qualification, clear career paths, the opportunity for leadership roles, and improvements in the status of nursing as a profession should be done.
    5. A live registry of nurses, positions, and opportunities should be a top priority to tackle the demand-supply gap in this sector.
    6. The public-private partnership between private nursing schools/colleges and public health facilities is another strategy to enhance nursing education. NITI Aayog has recently formulated a framework to develop a model agreement for nursing education.
    7. The Government has also announced supporting such projects through a Viability Gap Funding.

    Practice Question:

    Q. Discuss the various issues related to nursing sector in India and measures to be taken to address them.

    A Bill that could spell hope

    • The disabling environment prevalent in the system has led to the low status of nurses in the hierarchy of health-care professionals. In fact, nursing has lost the appeal as a career option.
    • The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill currently under consideration should hopefully address some of the issues highlighted.
    • These disruptions are more relevant than ever in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Matru Sahyogini Samitis Scheme

    The MP government has issued an order for the appointment of committees led by mothers to ensure better monitoring of services delivered at Anganwadi or day-care centres across the State.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following are the objectives of ‘National Nutrition Mission’?

    1. To create awareness relating to malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers.
    2. To reduce the incidence of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women.
    3. To promote the consumption of millets, coarse cereals and unpolished rice.
    4. To promote the consumption of poultry eggs.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1, 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 3 and 4 only

    Matru Sahyogini Samitis

    • Called ‘Matru Sahyogini Samiti’ or Mothers’ Cooperation Committees, these will comprise 10 mothers at each Anganwadi centres.
    • They would be representing the concerns of different sets of beneficiaries under the Integrated Child Development Services, or National Nutrition Mission.
    • Beneficiaries’ would include children between six months to three years, children between three years and six years, adolescent girls and pregnant women and lactating mothers.
    • These mothers will keep a watch on weekly ration distribution to them as well as suggest nutritious and tasteful recipes for meals served to children at the centres.
    • The move is being taken as per the mandate of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).

    Its’ functioning

    • The committees will include mothers of beneficiary children as well as be represented by pregnant women and lactating mothers who are enrolled under the scheme.
    • The Anganwadi scheme includes a package of six services delivered at the centres, including supplementary nutrition, health services including vaccination, early education, among others.
    • The Committees will also include a woman panch, women active in the community and eager to volunteer their support to the scheme, teachers from the local school, and women heads of self-help groups (SHG).

    Why such a move?

    • This is in a move that is aimed at strengthening community response to the problem of hunger and malnutrition in the State.
    • With the help of mothers, we will be able to turn anganwadis into a community health system, a nutrition management centre, and spread awareness against social evils.
    • These will turn into a model for local governance as well as allow for greater engagement between communities and the State government.

    Back2Basics: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

    • The ICDS aims to provide food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
    • The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
    • The tenth FYP also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
    • The ICDS provide for anganwadis or day-care centres which deliver a package of six services including:
    1. Immunization
    2. Supplementary nutrition
    3. Health checkup
    4. Referral services
    5. Pre-school education (Non-Formal)
    6. Nutrition and Health information

    Implementation

    • For nutritional purposes, ICDS provides 500 kilocalories (with 12-15 grams of protein) every day to every child below 6 years of age.
    • For adolescent girls, it is up to 500-kilo calories with up to 25 grams of protein every day.
    • The services of Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

  • What is Shakti Act?

    In a bid to curb crimes against woman and children in Maharashtra, the state cabinet unveiled the ‘Shakti Act.’ The Act is modelled on the lines of Andhra Pradesh’s Disha Act, which was brought last year after a veterinarian was raped and murdered in Hyderabad.

    Why have stringent laws have consistently failed to instill any fear in rapists?

    Shakti Act: Key Provisions

    • It proposes stringent punishment including the death penalty and heavy fines for the culprits.
    • Special police teams and separate courts will be set up for investigation and trial of cases against women and children.
    • The perpetrators if found guilty will be punished with imprisonment for life for not less than ten years but may extend to the remainder of natural life or with death in cases which have characteristics of being heinous in nature.
    • A sum of Rs 10 lakh will be given to an acid attack victim for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction and the amount will be collected as fine from the convict.
    • The investigation shall be completed within a period of 15 working days from the date of registration of an offence. This can be extended by 7 days.
    • After a charge sheet is filed trial shall be conducted on a day-to-day basis and completed within a period of 30 working days.
    • Some cases will be tried in-camera for the recording of evidence of victims and witnesses who are vulnerable.

    Enforcement, not the law

    • Despite several laws, incidences of rapes continue unabated.
    • In fact, now we hear cases of extreme brutality.
    • The general perception is that since the laws have been made more stringent, so the rapists resort to extreme measures in a bid to destroy the evidence.
    • One thing is very clear, Laws alone cannot provide a solution to this problem.

    What should be done?

    • Law provides for speedy investigations and fast track of trials in rape cases.
    • What we need is better policing, making public spaces safer for women, ensuring round the clock surveillance of isolated areas and deployment of police at all strategic points.
    • Prevention and not punishment is the solution and that requires concerted efforts on part of all the stakeholders.
    • It is not harsher punishments that will deter. It is the fear of being caught and not being spared.
    • The message should go out loud and clear that no one is above the dignity and safety of women in our country.

  • Threat of malnutrition to promise of India

    POSHAN Abhiyan has completed 1000 days. The article analyses the challenges country face on the nutrition front which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 induced disruptions.

    Severity and impact of malnutrition

    • Malnourished children tend to fall short of their real potential — physically as well as mentally.
    • That is because malnutrition leaves their bodies weaker and more susceptible to illnesses.
    • In 2017, a staggering 68% of 1.04 million deaths of children under five years in India was attributable to malnutrition, reckoned a Lancet study in 2019.
    • Without necessary nutrients, their brains do not develop to the fullest.
    • Malnutrition places a burden heavy enough for India, to make it a top national priority.
    • About half of all children under five years in the country were found to be stunted (too short) or wasted (too thin) for their height, estimated the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, carried out by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with support of UNICEF three years ago.

    POSHAN Abhiyan against the background Covid-19 disruption

    • The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) Abhiyaan in 2018, led to a holistic approach to tackle malnutrition.
    • Under it, the government strengthened the delivery of essential nutrition interventions.
    • COVID-19 is pushing millions into poverty making them vulnerable to malnutrition and food insecurities.
    • Pandemic-prompted lockdowns disrupted essential services — such as supplementary feeding under anganwadi centres, mid-day meals, immunisation, and micro-nutrient supplementation which can exacerbate malnutrition.
    •  Leaders from academia, civil society, development partners, community advocates and the private sector have come together as part of ‘commitment to action’.
    • The ‘commitment to action’ includes commitments around sustained leadership, dedicated finances, multi-sectoral approach and increased uninterrupted coverage of a vulnerable population under programmes enhancing nutrition.

    Financial commitments

    • India already has some of the world’s biggest early childhood public intervention schemes such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme, the mid-day meal programme, and Public Distribution System.
    • India needs to ensure coverage of every single child and mother.
    • To ensure this, the country needs to retain its financial commitments for nutrition schemes.
    • Economic insecurities often force girls into early marriage, early motherhood, discontinue their schooling, and reduce institutional deliveries, cut access to micronutrient supplements, and nutritious food.
    •  Accelerating efforts to address these will be needed to stop the regression into the deeper recesses of malnutrition.

    Conclusion

    It takes time for nutrition interventions to yield dividends, but once those accrue, they can bring transformative generational shifts. Filling in the nutrition gaps will guarantee a level-playing field for all children and strengthen the foundations for the making of a future super-power.

  • Anganwadi centres

    The article highlights the role of Anganwadi’s in the effective implementation and service delivery under the ICDS.

    Gaps in the utilisation of services by ICDS

    • The economic fallout of COVID-19 makes the necessity of quality public welfare services more pressing than ever.
    • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme is one such scheme.
    • ICDS caters to the nutrition, health and pre-education needs of children till six years of age as well as the health and nutrition of women and adolescent girls.  
    • However, recent reports have shown gaps in the utilisation of services.

    Recasting the Anganwadi centres

    • Anganwadi centres (AWCs) could become agents of improved delivery of ICDS’s services.
    • According to government data, the country has 13.77 lakh Anganwadi centres (AWCs).
    • These centres have expanded their reach, but they need to play a much larger role in anchoring community development.
    • Nearly a fourth of the operational AWCs lack drinking water facilities and 36 per cent do not have toilets.
    • In 2015, the NITI Aayog recommended better sanitation and drinking water facilities, improved power supply and basic medicines for the AWCs.
    • NITI Aayog also suggested that these centres be provided with the required number of workers, whose skills should be upgraded through regular training.
    •  It has acknowledged the need to improve anganwadi centres.
    • The Central government’s Saksham Anganwadi Scheme aims to upgrade 2.5 lakh such centres across the country. It is up to the state governments to take up the baton
    • Only a limited number of AWCs have facilities like creche, and good quality recreational and learning facilities for pre-school education.
    • An approach that combines an effective supplementary nutrition programme with pedagogic processes that make learning interesting is the need of the hour.

    Steps taken for effective implementation of ICDS

    • Effective implementation of the ICDS programme rests heavily on the combined efforts of the anganwadi workers (AWWs), ASHAs and ANMs.
    • The Centre’s POSHAN Abhiyaan has taken important steps towards building capacities of AWWs.
    • Technology can also be used for augmenting the programme’s quality.
    • AWWs have been provided with smartphones and their supervisors with tablets, under the government schemes.
    • Apps on these devices track the distribution of take-home rations and supplementary nutrition services.
    • The data generated should inform decisions to improve the programme.
    • In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, anganwadi centres have been geotagged to improve service delivery.
    • Gujarat has digitised the supply chain of take-home rations and real-time data is being used to minimise stockouts at the anganwadi centres.

    Conclusion

    Government must act on the three imperatives. First, while infrastructure development and capacity building of the anganwadi remains the key to improving the programme, the standards of all its services need to be upscaled. Second, states have much to learn from each other’s experiences. Third, anganwadi centres must cater to the needs of the community and the programme’s workers.

  • Healthcare in India & Pandemic

    Pandemic has been ravaging the world in a way few could have imagined. It highlighted the flaws in our healthcare system. However, it also offers several important lessons for tackling future pandemics and healthcare emergencies.

    Where we stand after 1 year of pandemic

    • About a year after the first cases were reported, we are in a different position than at the start.
    • Doctors, public health specialists and policymakers have a better sense of the interventions that are required.
    • Many treatments initially proposed, based on expert experience, have been tested and removed from management strategies even as modified protocols have improved survival rates.
    • Vaccines have moved even faster than drugs with  nearly 40 of them undergoing clinical trials, a dozen of which are at the phase three stage, and at least one has been licensed post-phase three trials under conditional emergency use authorisation (EUA).
    • This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.
    • This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.

    Takeaways from our response to pandemic

    1) Increase investment on health services

    • The countries which handled the pandemic best (Thailand and Vietnam) have well-functioning health systems designed to deliver primary healthcare services.
    • These countries also have strong preventive and promotive health services as well as a dedicated public health workforce.
    • Their governments had made sustained investments in health over decades.
    • In contrast, countries which focused mainly on hospital centric medical systems struggled.

    2) Important role played by health workers

    • The role of community health workers in recognising, referring and motivating individuals for therapy was remarkable.
    • Healthcare workers, particularly those at the frontline, such as the accredited social health activists (ASHA) who visited hundreds of households repeatedly during the pandemic.
    •  If we are to build back better, we need to give them better recognition, salaries and career progression.

    3) Increase community participation

    • Third, community trust and participation is essential for implementation of non-pharmacological interventions.
    • Dharavi in Mumbai is an example of the difference community participation can make.

    4) Importance of data

    • Outside of the immediate response, the need for timely and quality data in a health information system was recognised again during the pandemic.
    • Without real time data on testing, disease surveillance and other outcomes, tailored responses are near impossible.
    • The solutions that have brought us hope have come from long-term private or public investments in scientific research and developments.

    Conclusion

    Future readiness needs to start now, and we have the resources and knowledge to do this — all we need is commitment and that is outlined in the recent National Health Policy 2017 and reiterated in the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, which for the first time has a dedicated chapter on health.

  • [pib] Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’

    A New Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’ is being used for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery.

    Q.India’s first mass adult vaccination drive against COVID-19 is a difficult task. Explain.

    CO-WIN

    • This user friendly mobile app for recording vaccine data is working as a beneficiary management platform having various modules.
    • The platform will be used for recording vaccine data and will form a database of healthcare workers too.
    • The app will have separate modules for administrator, registration, vaccination, beneficiary acknowledgement and reports.
    • Once people start to register for the app, the platform will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities.
    • In the process of forming database of Healthcare Workers, which is in an advanced stage across all States/UTs, data is presently being uploaded on the Co-WIN platform.

    Prioritized group

    Prioritized Population Groups include:

    1. Healthcare Workers in both Government and Private Healthcare facilities
    2. Frontline Workers including personnel from state and central police department, armed forces, home guard, civil defence organizations, disaster management volunteers and municipal workers and
    3. Prioritized Age Group, which includes those aged above 50 years & those with co-morbidities

    (Note: This is not the sequence, but categorization.)

  • Who are the Tharu Tribals?

    The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.

    The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterized by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps.

    Tharu Tribals

    • The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks of lower Himalayas. Most of them are forest dwellers and some practised agriculture.
    • The word Tharu is believed to be derived from their, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism.
    • The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
    • According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Uttar Pradesh was more than 11 lakh; this number is estimated to have crossed 20 lakh now.
    • The biggest chunk of this tribal population is made up of Tharus.
    • Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn and vegetables are grown close to their homes. A majority still lives off the forest.

    Tharu language, food, and culture

    • They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
    • In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
    • Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
    • Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.
    • Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.

    What is this scheme about?

    • The UP government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
    • The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
    • Tharu homeowners will be able to charge tourists directly for the accommodation and home-cooked meals.
    • The government expects both domestic and international tourists to avail of the opportunity to obtain a taste of the special Tharu culture by staying with them, observing their lifestyle, food habits, and attire.

  • Surgery as part of Ayurveda

    Last month, a government notification listed out specific surgical procedures that a postgraduate medical student of Ayurveda must be “practically trained to acquaint with, as well as to independently perform”.

    Q.Allowing modern surgeries to Ayurveda professionals is a mixopathy and an encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine. Critically analyse.

    What is the notification?

    • The notification mentions 58 surgical procedures that postgraduate students must train themselves in and acquires skills to perform independently.
    • These include procedures in general surgery, urology, surgical gastroenterology, and ophthalmology.

    The issue

    • The notification has invited sharp criticism from the Indian Medical Association, which questioned the competence of Ayurveda practitioners to carry out these procedures.
    • They have called the notification as an attempt at “mixopathy”.
    • The IMA has planned nationwide protests against this notification and has threatened to withdraw all non-essential and non-Covid services.

    Surgery as a part of Ayurveda

    • It is not that Ayurveda practitioners are not trained in surgeries, or do not perform them.
    • In fact, they take pride in the fact that their methods and practices trace their origins to Sushruta, an ancient Indian sage and physician.
    • The comprehensive medical treatise Sushruta Samhita has, apart from descriptions of illnesses and cures, detailed accounts of surgical procedures and instruments.
    • There are two branches of surgery in Ayurveda — Shalya Tantra, which refers to general surgery, and Shalakya Tantra which pertains to surgeries related to the eyes, ears, nose, throat and teeth.
    • All postgraduate students of Ayurveda have to study these courses, and some go on to specialize in these and become Ayurveda surgeons.

    Distinctions in surgical procedures

    • For several surgeries Ayurvedic procedures almost exactly match those of modern medicine about how or where to make a cut or incision, and how to perform the operation.
    • There are significant divergences in post-operative care, however.
    • The only thing that Ayurveda does not do is super-speciality surgeries, like neurosurgery or open-heart surgeries.
    • For most other needs, there are surgical procedures in Ayurveda. It is not very different from allopathic medicine.

    Ayurvedic surgeries before the notification

    • PG education in Ayurveda is guided by the Indian Medical Central Council (Post Graduate Education) Regulations framed from time to time.
    • Currently, the regulations formulated in 2016 are in force. The latest notification of last month is an amendment to the 2016 regulations.
    • The 2016 regulations allow postgraduate students to specialise in Shalya Tantra, Shalakya Tantra, and Prasuti evam Stree Roga (Obstetrics and Gynecology), the three disciplines involving major surgical interventions.
    • Students of these three disciplines are granted MS (Master in Surgery in Ayurveda) degrees.

    Arguments in favour

    • Ayurveda practitioners point out that students enrolling in Ayurveda courses have to pass the same NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test).
    • Ayurveda institutions prescribe textbooks from modern medicine, or that they carry out surgeries with the help of practitioners of modern medicine.
    • Their course, internship and practice also run parallel to the MBBS courses.
    • Postgraduate courses require another three years of study. They also have to undergo clinical postings in the outpatient and In-patient departments at hospitals apart from getting hands-on training.
    • Medico-legal issues, surgical ethics and informed consent is also part of the course apart from teaching Sushruta’s surgical principles and practices.

    So, what is new?

    • Ayurveda practitioners say the latest notification just brings clarity to the skills that an Ayurveda practitioner possesses.
    • The surgeries that have been mentioned in the notification are all that are already part of the Ayurveda course. But there is little awareness about these.
    • A patient is usually not clear whether an Ayurvedic practitioner has the necessary skill to perform one of these operations.
    • Now, they know exactly what an Ayurveda doctor is capable of. The skill sets have been defined. This will remove question marks on the ability of an Ayurveda practitioner.

    What are the IMA’s objections?

    • IMA doctors insist that they are not opposed to the practitioners of the ancient system of medicine.
    • But they say the new notification somehow gives the impression that the skills or training of the Ayurveda doctor in performing modern surgeries are the same as those practising modern medicine.
    • This, they say, is misleading, and an “encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine”.
    • The IMA has condemned the move calling it predatory poaching on modern medicine and its surgical disciplines.
    • The IMA has demanded that the notification, as well as the NITI Aayog, move towards ‘One Nation One System’ (of AYUSH) be withdrawn.

  • Caste Census and associated issues

    The Tamil Nadu government has decided to appoint a commission to formulate a methodology to collect caste-wise particulars of its population and use that to come up with a report.

    Q.India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. Critically analyse.

    The issue

    • The Centre conducted a ‘Socio-Economic Caste Census’ (SECC) in 2011 throughout the country, but it did not make public the caste component of the findings.
    • In Karnataka, the outcome of a similar exercise has not been disclosed to the public.

    Caste details as a part of the census

    • Caste was among the details collected by enumerators during the decennial Census of India until 1931.
    • It was given up in 1941, a year in which the census operation was partially affected by World War II.
    • In his report on the 1941 exercise, then Census Commissioner of India, M.W.M. Yeatts, indicated that tabulation of caste details separately involved additional costs.
    • However, at the time of sorting the details, some provinces or States that wanted a caste record for administrative reasons were given some data on payment.

    Issues with caste in the census

    • H. Hutton, the Census Commissioner in 1931, notes that on the occasion of each successive census since 1901, some criticism had been raised about taking any note of the fact of caste.
    • It has been alleged that the mere act of labelling persons as belonging to a caste tends to perpetuate the system.
    • Some argue that there is nothing wrong in recording a fact and ignoring its existence.

    View after Independence

    • The 1951 census did not concern itself with questions regarding castes, races and tribes, except insofar as the necessary statistical material related to ‘special groups’.
    • It created certain other material relating to backward classes collected and made over to the Backward Classes Commission.
    • ‘Special Groups’ has been explained as referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Anglo-Indians and certain castes treated provisionally as ‘backward’ for the purposes of the census.
    • This implies that BC data were collected, but not compiled or published.

    How have caste details been collected so far?

    • While SC/ST details are collected as part of the census, details of other castes are not collected by the enumerators.
    • The main method is by self-declaration to the enumerator.
    • So far, backward classes commissions in various States have been conducting their own counts to ascertain the population of backward castes.
    • The methodology may vary from State to State.

    What about SECC 2011?

    • The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 was a major exercise to obtain data about the socio-economic status of various communities.
    • It had two components: a survey of the rural and urban households and ranking of these households based on pre-set parameters, and a caste census.
    • However, only the details of the economic conditions of the people in rural and urban households were released. The caste data have not been released till now.
    • While a precise reason is yet to be disclosed, it is surmised that the data were considered too politically sensitive.
    • Fear of antagonizing dominant and powerful castes that may find that their projected strength in the population is not as high as claimed may be an important reason.

    Legal imperative for a caste count

    • The Supreme Court has been raising questions about the basis for reservation levels being high in various States.
    • In particular, it has laid down that there should be quantifiable data to justify the presence of a caste in the backward class list, as well as evidence of its under-representation in services.
    • It has also called for periodical review of community-wise lists so that the benefits do not perpetually go in favour of a few castes.

    Caste data for reservations

    • Legislators argue that knowing the precise number of the population of each caste would help tailor the reservation policy to ensure equitable representation of all of them.
    • While obtaining relevant and accurate data may be the major gain from a caste census, the possibility that it will lead to heartburn among some sections and spawn demands for larger or separate quotas.