Counting caste: Census politics, bureaucratic deflection, and brahmanical power in India

Counting Caste critically investigates the Indian state to implement social justice reforms despite political leaders periodically conceding to organized demands for change. Vithayathil focuses on the 2011 Census, where, for the first time in post-independence India, the government agreed to collect caste-specific data. However, shortly after this concession, bureaucratic forces successfully blocked the caste count, redirecting it to an inexperienced part of the government. This led to the launch of an alternative project that produced unreliable data. Through this case study, Vithayathil unravels the process of bureaucratic deflection, where political leaders and civil servants stall or subvert policy changes. The book sheds light on how state institutions resist the documentation of caste power, highlighting the ongoing institutionalization of 'castelessness' – which frames caste solely as a problem of the oppressed, obscuring the realities of caste privilege. It explores the complex dynamics of caste, power, and resistance in contemporary India.