Lesson 6 Caste in Politics and the Politicisation of Caste Important Notes

 

Lesson 6 Caste in Politics and the Politicisation of Caste

Prior to the government of India act, 1935, the “schedule” caste was classified as the ‘depressed classes’. “This social group is categorized amongst the poorest and most subordinated in terms of human development in Indian society.

“Schedule” refers to a schedule to the Constitution, and “scheduled caste” belongs to such castes, races, “tribes, or parts of groups within castes, races, or tribes as deemed under article 341 of the Indian Constitution” for the purpose of the constitution. Government of India act 1935, considered these scheduled caste population to be determined on the basis of following deprivation, particularly socio-economic; that they:

• Occupy low position in Hindu social structure

• Have inadequate representation in government services

• Are inadequately represented in the trade, commerce and industrial sector

• Suffer social and physical exclusion from the rest of community

• Lack educational development amongst the whole community.

Power Structure Of Caste: A Social Perspective

The nomenclature of ‘caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word ‘casta’ 'which means ‘breed’ or ‘lineage’ or ‘race’; known as ‘jati’ in Indian context that refers 'birth'.

Caste as a form of social stratification that is associated with ritual status in hierarchical system of society, which is based on the concept of purity and pollution. According to Manuscript, the Brahman occupies uppermost rank followed by Kshatriyas, Vaishya and Shudras and untouchables stands even below the Shudras and made them to be discriminated with various disabilities as follow:

• Denial of access to public facilities i.e. roads, Wells, courts, post offices, schools.

• Restriction of access to temples or where their presence was sought to pollute the higher class.

• Not allowed to learn Vedas and cannot become a holy man.

• Excluded from honorable and profitable occupation and therefore, restricted to do menial job.

• Remain outside the village due to residential segregation.

• Denial of using comforts and luxury goods and were denied to right to ride on horseback or bicycle, umbrella, gold, silver ornaments and palanquins to carry brides.

• Restrictions of access to services.

• Uses of different utensils were compulsory requirement

• Not allowed to do movement within prescribed distances of residences of higher caste.

“Caste as an epitome of the Indian ‘traditional’ society, represent a ‘closed system' in which generation after generation opt for similar kinds of work” that is in contrast of the modern Western industrial societies as ‘open system' of the social stratification, where individuals can opt for their occupation according to their abilities and could move up in the hierarchy system of society.

Non - Dalits: Who They Are

Two perception about non-Dalit community, are predominantly famous:

• First, the non-Dalit are the one which are Dwija-born (twice-born); the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.

• Second, racially different and historically outsiders- the Aryans. This Aryan theory, invented by Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900), considered Shudras, untouchables and tribal as the ‘natives'- the original inhabitants of the land called ‘Bharat’, and the Dwija-born as outsiders.

The constitutional approach towards Dalit empowerment

The approaches and intervention of government towards the uplifting scheduled caste are primarily based on the following two considerations: -

• First, to overcome the deprivation, that the backward castes have inherited due to historical exclusion and, to possible extent, to bring them at par with others in the society.

• Finally, encouraging their effective participation in the social, economic and political processes of the country by providing them protection against exclusion and discrimination in the society.

In order to achieve these ends, government institutions needed a two-fold strategy consists of:

• Anti-discriminatory or protective measures;

• Development and empowering measures through their participation in the decisionmaking process of the country.

Therefore, the educational development of these vulnerable castes is thrust area for the government as these communities have a “low literacy rate; high dropout rate at the primary, secondary and higher qualification level; low quality education and the existence of highly discriminatory and exclusionary practices, which are deterrent to their participation in the participatory empowerment”.

Therefore, the government entails:

• Improved qualitatively the educational infrastructure, especially in those areas inhabited predominantly with these backward castes;

• to ensure implementation of reservation system in educational institutions;

• providing financial support in terms of scholarships and fellowships at local, regional, national and international level;

• providing coaching facilities to these vulnerable social groups to build their qualitative capability;

• providing special hostels for the boys and girls;

• promote equal opportunities to these vulnerable social groups by ensuring and emphasizing particularly on girl/ women education.

The safeguards have been provided in Indian Constitution to facilitate the implementation of the directive principles contained in Article 46 “The state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular, of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes, and shall protect them from all social Injustice and all forms of exploitation.”

The Constitution of India guarantees-

• Article 14 – Equality before law

• Article 15(4)–Advancement of any socially-and educationally backward class or for SCs

• Article 16(4)–Empowers the state to make provisions for reservation in appointments or posts in favor of any backward castes as citizens.

• Article 17–Untouchability stands abolished and its practices in any form is forbidden.

• Article 46–Promote, with special care, the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of society and promises to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

• Article 330–Reservation of seats for SCs in democratic institutions and article 335 in the services, is a measure of positive discrimination.

• Article 340–Empowers the state to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of the socially and educationally backward classes; and

• Article 341(2)–Specify the castes to be deemed as SCs.

Caste, Modernity and Democratic Politics in Developing India: A Political Perspective

Caste as an important variable, the functioning of the Indian political process; determine the electoral outcomes; work as pressure groups a; influence in governance agenda of the Indian state and local, regional, international levels and structure political parties, their leadership and programs.

G. S. GHURYE in ‘Features of Caste System’ (1991) has “identified basically six features of the Hindu caste system as follow:

1. Segmental division of society

2. Hierarchy

3. Restriction on feeding and social intercourse

4. Civil and Religious disabilities and privileges of different sections

5. Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation and

6. Restriction on marriage”

DUMON, L. (1998) in “How Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications” describes about the specific relationship “between status and power in Hindu society. Unlike the West, where power and status generally exist simultaneously; in the caste system there is divergence between these two that reflects in caste society, status as foundation of social organization is superior to power”.

There is an ideological unity and cultural consensus across caste groups. However, M. N. SRINIVAS talks about “Sanskritization” that denotes a “process by which a 'low’ Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology and way of life in the direction of high and frequently, 'twice-born’ caste. So, now they claim the higher position in the caste hierarchy”.

This is reflected in the modern Indian self- image where the “Indian past is constructed as an unchanging ‘tradition’ and its future is imagined in an evolutionary schema as a model for imitation in the name of modernization”.

GHURYE, G.S in “Caste and Race in India” (1932) comments on this “nature of change was experienced in southern provinces with the rise of non-Brahmin movements; and argued that this attack on hierarchy by such mobilization does not mean the end of caste. Instead these mobilizations have generated a new kind of collective sentiment, ‘the feeling of cast solidarity' or in other words”, it is a “caste patriotism”.

SRINIVAS, M. “Caste in Modern India and Other Essays” (1962) has talked about the “consequences of modern technology and the representational politics, which were introduced by the colonial rulers in India” that cast is experiencing a “horizontal consolidation” instead of disappearing with the process of modernization. In the context of impact of modern technology, he wrote- “the introduction of printing, regular postal service, vernacular newspapers and books, telegraph, Railways and buses, has enabled the representatives of a caste living in different areas to meet and discuss their common problems and interests.

Similarly, in the context of representation in politics done by British, helped in the horizontal consolidation of caste. “British gave certain amount of power to local self-governing bodies, preferences and concessions to backward castes; provided new opportunities to cast and in order to take advantage of these opportunities, caste group entered into the alliances with each other to form bigger entities”.

DUMONT, LOUIS (1998) also followed Srinivas and argued that caste did not disappeared with the “process of economic and political change, but their logic was altered from ‘structure’ to ‘substance’ i.e., substantializing of caste, refers – the transition from a fluid, structural universe in which emphasize is on interdependence, in which there is no privileged level, no firm units; to a universe of self-sufficient and competition with one another and caste appears as a collective ‘individual’ as a ‘substance”.

Caste Associations

LLOYD RUDOLPH and SUSANNE RUDOLPH “study the phenomenon of caste associations in a democratic India and viewed it as agents of modernity in a traditional society like India. The caste associations work as a pressure group and have an important role in the upward social mobility of the caste communities”.

RAJNI KOTHARI in “Caste in Indian Politics” (1970) “argued against the famous ideology that the democratic politics is helping traditional institutions like caste to resuscitate and re-establish their legitimacy”. Instead, this could lead to “disintegrative tendencies” and could “disrupt the democratic and secular framework of Indian polity”.

It is because the competitive politics has brought caste out of its apolitical context and given it a new status that the ‘caste system' hitherto has eroded and has begin to disintegrate and has made caste federations on the basis of caste identities but acquire non- caste functions, become more flexible in organization, started to accept members and leaders from castes other than those with which it is started, stretches out to new region and find common cause with voluntary organizations, interest groups and political parties and hence, over the time, these federations becomes a distinctly political group.”

SHAH, GHANSHYAM also make similar view that, albeit, “in the long run the cast associations did promote competitive politics and participation, it also exacerbated parochialism. ARNOLD argued - notwithstanding this deviation into the democratic politics, caste associations has played an important role in spreading the culture of Democratic politics in those areas that were hitherto governed by tradition”.

“Two most important developmental initiatives taken by Indian state during the post-independence period, that has changed the power structure in India in terms of caste patterns particularly:

1. Land reforms legislation, designed to weaken the hold of the non cultivating intermediaries by transferring ownership rights to the tillers of the land.

2. Rural social change, such as the Community Development Programme, Panchayati Raj, and Green Revolution; that directly helped the rich and powerful in the village, who belonged to the mostly locally dominant castes groups, to further consolidate their hold over local and regional politics.”

As SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ put this in a new context that due to these new social movements, the question of caste and politics was framed in the “language of Identity politics particularly by Dalit groups. Thus, the Identity of scheduled castes or ex- untouchable communities is a constructed, modern identity, mobilized by new leadership arose from within the Dalit groups itself and used the language of equality and democratic representation.

SHAH, S. in “Caste and Democratic Politics in India” (2002) supports this–“the new class of political entrepreneurs such as Kanshi Ram and Mayawati has “emerged from amongst the ex-untouchable communities used the idea of Dalit identity and mobilized the schedule Caste community as a United block on the issues of development with dignity”.

All these transformations were termed as ‘development in ideological and social environment'. The continued participation in the democratic political process has led the “upper segments of the rural economy to look towards cities for further mobility and also gave a sense of self worth to those at the bottom segments of society”.

Here, one question arises that whose caste and politics are we talking about? Because “notwithstanding the rise of autonomous Dalit politics and their substantial empowerment in certain context and in some arena of the country, the realities regarding power and dominance have not disappeared. Albeit, caste has weekend ideologically and older forms of untouchability are receding on one hand, atrocities committed on Dalit by the locally dominant caste remained unaltered”.

Decline of Backward Caste Politics in Northern India

One of the most important reason for decline of the backward movement in North Indian states may be the rise of elite based leadership of backward caste and this failed to become a mass based radical movement. A.K. VERMA has stated that the focus in North Indian states has been shifting from inter caste exploitation to intra-caste exploitation, as caste relations in India are governed by relative caste superiority- inferiority in caste hierarchy and each caste is in coniflictual relationship. Verma put that Western liberal societies insist upon ideology based political contestations where mobilization is possible only on the basis of the political, i.e. ideology; while India accepted Western liberal Democratic model for its polity based on the society which is Rich in diversity, multiculturalism and heterogeneity, that means, we had primordial factors such as caste, religion, language, ethnicity and so on. But we had also ideologies, and at the time of independence we could use either of these two factors as instrument of effective political mobilization.