The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the rise of the British colonial government in India. The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration. The British started to enumerate castes during their ten-year census and meticulously codified the system.
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| Image - Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India |
The British colonial government, for instance, enacted the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. This law declared that all those who belonged to certain castes were born with criminal tendencies. Castes suspected of rebelling against colonial laws and seeking self-rule for India, such as the previously ruling families Kallars and the Maravars in south India and non-loyal castes in north India such as Ahirs, Gurjars and Jats, were called "predatory and barbarian" and added to the criminal castes list.
While the notion of hereditary criminals conformed to orientalist stereotypes and the prevailing racial theories during the colonial era, the social impact of its enforcement was profiling, division and isolation of many communities of Hindus as criminals-by-birth.
Colonial-era laws helped create and erect barriers within land-owning and landless castes in northwest India.
In 1948, negative discrimination on the basis of caste was banned by law and further enshrined in the Indian constitution in 1950; however, the system continues to be practiced in parts of India. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation.
Article 15 of the Constitution of India prohibits discrimination based on caste and Article 17 declared the practice of untouchability to be illegal.
The policy of caste-based reservation of jobs was formalised with lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. A reservation system for people classified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has existed for over 50 years.
India has broadened its affirmative action beyond Scheduled Castes and Tribes to encompass economically and socially disadvantaged castes. Following the Mandal Commission's recommendations in 1990, the government reserved 27% of positions in public enterprises for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) or Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This is in addition to the 22.5% reservation for the lowest castes, a policy that has been in place for the past five decades.
The list of OBCs maintained by the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is dynamic, with castes and communities being added or removed depending on social, educational, and economic factors. The Central list and State lists can differ significantly.
Caste surveys have been held in several Indian states, notably:
- Socio-Economic Survey of Kerala 1968
- Telangana's Samagra Kutumba Survey 2014
- Karnataka Caste Census 2015
- Bihar caste-based survey 2022
- Telangana conducted a caste-based headcount in 2024. The caste survey was among the guarantees promised by the ruling Congress in the run-up to the assembly elections in 2023.
- The Karnataka Caste Survey of 2025