Caste Census: Data for Development or a Political Ploy?

Bihar's caste survey results have provided a new poll plank to the Opposition. As India plans to start the decadal Census, the political parties are once again raising the demand for an all India caste census to enumerate the numerically strong Other Backward Classes. But in an era where data is the new oil, it is no surprise that the holy grail of the electoral system is uniting political parties in their demand for dividing voters into sub-categories. But will this data be used for development or will it rile up another round of reservation riots? From ET’s Political Bureau Nidhi Sharma debuts as host on TMB as she explores the politics and possible rationale behind the demand for dividing the democracy. In this episode, we hear from:1 - R Subrahmanyam, Former Secretary to Government of India2 - Manoj Jha, Member of Rajya Sabha and RJD3 - Sushil Modi, Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and Rajya Sabha member of BJP4 - M Veerappa Moily, Congress MP and Former Union Minister of Petroleum, Law, Power, Corporate Affairs. You can check out more episodes of The Morning Brief on: The Uncertain Fate Of Asia’s Largest Refinery, Has milk politics turned sour in Karnataka?, El Niño: Little Boy, Big Trouble, E-20 Explained: The blender’s pride or bane? And more.  You can follow our host Nidhi Sharma on her social media: Twitter & Linkedin Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.