What is the % of General/OBC/SC/ST based on 1871 to 2011 census- An exciting analysis

Can we collate all the data of British Caste Census right from 1871 to census in modern day India to build the caste structure in India?

So let’s start with religious structure of India through the years from 1871 to 2011.

Barring a change in 1941 to 1951 because of the partition, the % of Hindus, Muslims and other religions is the same. However, there is marginal increase of Muslim Population from 10% to 14% with in this period of 1951 to 2011. Some undeniable facts from these

India was always a land of Hindus. Pre Independence also shows more than 70% of the Indian population was Hindus, which rose to 80% post independence.

Muslims were 14%, while other religions where just 6%.

Now let's take the next data on the upper castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas) who are on the higher levels of the varna pyramid.

One can clearly notice that this % has not changed over a period and it is almost 14 to 13% right from 1870 to till date.

Notice that this data is an aggregate at the national level, however there may be significant changes at the state level.

Now, if you can see this data, over a period, there is a substantial increase in population of SC+ST+OBC which is around 70% of the total population.

Recent primary school data reveals that substantial portion of Indian population is from the SC, ST, OBC community.

One such analysis is given below

All India Statistics

General — 25%

OBC- 45%

SC- 19%

ST- 11%

At all India level, SC+ST population is around 30% which is significantly large compared to what is stated. If OBC population is included, it is around 75%.

Notice that Tamilnadu has just 4% General Population while 71% of the population is OBC and around 23% of the population is SC population.

This is staggering and SC+ST+OBC population is crossing 90% in the state. One may be really surprised when we correlate this with poverty data. Tamilnadu has the least poverty rate in India, but 90% of its people are backward. This is the poverty-backwardness paradox

“ Lesser the poverty, more the backwardness”

Even in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, the General population is less than 15%.

Some states like Punjab have 37% SC population which is way above the 15% reservation provided.

In some states like Odisha, Chattisgarh and Madhyapradesh, Haryana there is a large presence of ST Population. This can make a significant difference.

For example, in Telangana, SC+ST population % is at around 28%.

In Odisha, SC+ST Population is around 49%.

In Jharkhand it is around 45%. So, there are many states in India where SC+ST population is significantly higher than 15% reservation provided.

Only in Maharashtra, Uttarkhand, Haryana, Punjab, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, the general category is more than 40%.

Now let us take the trend of Muslim population.

Muslims form around 14% of the Indian Population and other religions are like Sikhs, Christianity are negligible compared to this.

There is a general perception that majority of the Dalit Population is Buddhists. Contrary to these facts, more than 97% of the Dalits are Hindus. Only in Maharashtra, there is a sizeable Dalit Buddhists, while in all other regions, majority of the Dalits are Hindus.

Now let us look at the Upper Caste Spilt with in the Hindu religion.

The above graph again gives the spilt up of three top castes, Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in India. So, with in this 14% upper castes, the Brahmins form 6%, Kshatriya form 5% and Vaishyas form 3% of the population.

So based on this and the current data available we can build the varna pyramid in India which as below.

So this is a rough estimate of the various varna’s.

Final estimates

Hindus are 80% of the population, Muslims around 14% and rest of the religions is around 6%.

Brahmins who are on the top of the pyramid occupy 5%

Kshatriyas form just 3%. While Vaishyas are the least at 2%.

Shudras who are the present day OBC’s form 45% of the population.

SC/ST form around 25% of the population.