Nepal, May 22 -- Caste remains the primary axis of social stratification in India, influencing access to education, employment, land, political power and social mobility. The absence of comprehensive caste data has crippled policymaking. For nearly a century, India has avoided a full accounting of its caste composition.

The last comprehensive caste enumeration occurred in 1931 under colonial rule. Post-independence, while data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) has been routinely collected, the enumeration of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and other caste groups was deliberately discontinued, premised on building a casteless, egalitarian society.

Paradoxically, while caste was erased from official records, it remained e...