How the British enforced the rigidity of the caste and often manufactured occupational castes during Census is evident from British census officers' writings. Here's Middleton, in the Punjab Census of 1921, "these castes have been largely manufactured and
almost entirely preserved as separate castes by the British Government..we pigeon-holed everyone by caste and if we could not find a true caste for them labelled them with the name of an hereditary occupation."
He further went on to add
He further went on to add
"We deplore the caste system and its effect on social and economic problems, but we are largely responsible for the system which we deplore". Caste in earlier days was only rigid among the higher castes, but after the British, it crystallized among all sections of society. 
Source: Census of India 1921 vol. 5 Punjab and Delhi, p. 343
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