New Delhi, Jan. 12 -- Anand Teltumbde, an academic and an activist, has written an unusual book that seeks to combine scholarship with popular political rhetoric that is not always negative. Rhetoric is a way of speaking or writing that is intended to impress or influence people but is not always considered sincere. Teltumbde is not insincere. However, he is convinced that he has to provoke people to challenge the notion that the impending all-India caste census, the first since 1931, on which there is consensus cutting across political party lines and apparent ideological divisions, could represent a new beginning in re-emphasising the importance of caste in the country's society and politics.

The author seeks to refute the view that on...