Brahmin sociologist says caste can’t be destroyed
Dr. G.K. KARANTH, HEAD OF DEPT. OF SOCIOLOTY, INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE, BANGALORE 560 072
Caste as an institution and a system has always posed problems in terms of the ranking of the castes and in understanding the process of change in the system. Regarding the former, the experiences of the Census Commissioners of the 19th century are well known. There were many ambiguities. What were truly the caste (jati) names? Which of them were equivalent? What was to be the rank ordering? What was the proper system of classification? In relation to an understanding of the system and its change over time, too, there have been problems, such as the contrast between varna and jati, the nature of relationship between caste and class, and the difference between the “book” view and the “field” view.
BRAHMINICAL VIEW
It is not surprising, therefore, that caste has been approached from different perspectives. Apart from the differences that stem from the book view and the field view, the perceptions (approaches) of the scholars studying the phenomenon of caste have also contributed to the differences in perspectives. Thus there is said to be a brahminical view, the view from below, the marxist view, a Western-allergy-to-India view, a legal view of caste and soon.
Immediately prior to, and soon after “independence” a major preoccupation concerning caste had. been to know whether caste system is conducive or inimical to modernization and economic development, industrialization and democracy. As early as 1921, Max Weber had asserted that caste system and Hinduism would be impediments to the development of capitalism. After “independence”, a few scholars had taken the same positions. In contrast, a few others emphasized the flexible and adaptive nature of the caste system. A decade after “independence”, Selig Harrison. said the caste system served as a basis for economic and political competition and in the process magnified its worst features. In the absence of well articulated interest groups, caste had become a kind of improvised infrastructure for democracy.
Attainment of “independence” was not an ordinary event for Indians, it had aroused several social, economic and political aspirations. One of the more important aspirations was for an egalitarian society, with no discrimination based on region, religion, caste or language. As we hoist the national flag for the 51st time, we may now ask: what has happened to the casteless society which we promised ourselves? This paper is an attempt to bring together some aspects of the changing face of caste over the past 50 years.
ANTI-CASTE MOVEMENTS
At the dawn of “independence”, a main task of the new “nation” was to draft a constitution. We gave our-selves a constitution, considered to be one of the lengthiest, which set out to secure individual’s equality of status and opportunity and to abolish invidious distinctions among groups. Notwithstanding the clauses pertaining to caste, the constitution endorsed an expression that was characteristic of the nation’s sentiments (at least, of the leaders) then: a casteless democratic society. The dispensation towards caste as enunciated in the constitution as well as those expressed by the opinion leaders are seen as culmination of the anti-caste sentiments among the social reformers at least 50 years prior to “independence”. There had been a variety of legislation banning caste-based disabilities in the different provinces, and to paving way to temple entry even before “independence”. The initial years after “independence”, there- fore, were marked by a general rejection of the caste system. There was a public out cry against caste and casteism in politics.
CASTE-BASED ELECTIONS
Consistent with such a progressive attitude, there was even an unwillingness to recognise the resilience of caste as an institution, as a source of identity and as a basis for mobilization. For instance one may recall the reaction of the press to an analysis of the emerging role of caste in modern India as was made by Prof. M.N. Srinivas in his presidential address to a conference in 1957. The Times of India (Jan.21, 1957) in an editorial commented that there had been an exaggeration of the role of caste in electoral politics.
But even four decades after the first general elections, the arithmetic of politics continues to be based largely on caste numbers and percents.
Some of the “high-tech” politicians have paid heavily for ignoring the caste factor: In the nation’s leading newspapers, there are now editorials and columns commenting upon the role of caste in elections, composition of ministries, and appointment to high offices, be it the nation’s President or Prime Minister. The point to be emphasized here is that a few years after “independence”, there was a general belief and hope that India was on the move and caste was fast becoming a matter of the past. At least on three later occasions there had been signs of India on the move leaving caste behind. The first was when Indira Gandhi emerged as an undisputed leader of the “nation” after the Indo-Pak war in 1971. For the first time there had been signs of a “wave” working in mobilizing votes which made inroads into the traditional, caste-based “vote banks”.
RAJIV & HIS COMPUTERS
The second occasion was when Rajiv Gandhi was taking over the stewardship of Congress Party. Newspapers reported that he had used computers to assess the qualities of the aspirant candidates while selecting the party nominees for the general elections in 1984. Because there had been a departure from the hitherto caste considerations, it was said, his candidates fared poorly even though the party was returned to power. The third was when V.P. Singh was elected Prime Minister. There was a widespread belief in a clean administration and value based politics.
Ambiguous as the expression has remained till now, one of the several meanings that value- based politics implied was a denial of space for caste considerations. As in the two previous occasions, the hope was short-lived. Soon, Singh had to use a survival strategy, the result of which has been labeled “Mandalization” of Indian society.
The initial years after “Independence” were also marked by an ambivalence of the kind that Andre Beteille (1996) finds to be characteristic of contemporary Indian urban middle class. The ambivalent attitude in the early fifties was, in a sense, opportunistic, perhaps, even more so now. Srinivas had commented upon the early ambivalence as a means to secure the best of both worlds.
The multiple and usually contradictory attitudes towards caste, whether one’s own or of others call for examination. There are contexts in which caste norms are important while there are others in which they are given no consideration. While speaking to informants in several villages in the Southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, I have learnt of the ease with which caste norms are claimed to be losing importance.
INTER-CASTE DINING
For instance, in regard to inter-caste dining, I have heard many so-called “high” castes stating that they have no objection to eating food cooked and served by any others so long as it is clean. Contrary to their utterances or anti-caste sentiments, adherence to caste specific attitudes are often legitimized on the basis of a mysterious distinction between “private” and “public” aspects of life. A less sophisticated rationalization has been one meant not to “antagonize our parents or close relatives”.
Ambivalence is not the only feature. There are also confirmed attitudes, either casteist or anti-casteist. One of the means by which the former has come to take firm roots in recent times has been through the rise of caste associations.
The emergence of caste associations has been in response to diverse forces at play, particularly to attain social mobility of the castas a whole by gaining greater share in economic and political opportunities. An important, and perhaps a common factor in almost all caste associations has been their attempt to project one’s own status, accomplishments or the absence of them, but in relation to significant others These significant others are not necessarily Brahmans, but also many other middle or low-ranking castes. Such “others” may also be a residual group of castes. Articulation of such state of affairs visa vis the others is a means of mobilization of members, for numbers are an important factor in becoming a pressure group. Solidarity is awakened by highlighting the common factors, and in caste associations is in the name of the caste. The result of such a mobilization is that caste attitude tends to take either a casteist or an anti-casteist form rather than one of ambivalence.
ANTI-CASTE CASTEISTS
The case of anti-casteists is even more curious. They have to, first, disown their caste before dismissing caste system as being relevant Even if they succeed, it is rarely that their own caste leaves them alone This is more true of persons in public eye than poor landless persons in a village or town. Secondly, I am inclined to believe that to be anti casteist requires an extra-conscious effort not to think of caste Thus, caste is consciously at the back of one’s mind and a deliberate effort is made not to bring to the fore.
Many anti-casteists do not specifically ask the question to find the caste of a person they encounter. Instead, they seek to know the name of the person. dietary habits, parents occupation, place of birth, and so on, to eventually arrive at the person’s caste identity. I must hasten to add here that, for many such anti-casteists the caste of a person may not matter in determining the nature of interaction. But, like most Indians, there is a need for them to know the caste identity of the others with whom they interact.
HINDU HYPOCRISY
In sum, most contemporary Indians alternate between the three types mentioned above, ambivalent, casteist and anti-casteist. In most normal times they are anti-casteist and or ambivalent. During troubled times or critical situations, they become casteist, and the times will serve as the basis of legitimacy for their attitudes. If a person did not get a job he had sought, he/she would attribute the failure to having been a member of a particular caste, or the members of the selection committee to have been casteist. The early 1990s coinciding with “Mandalization” was a troubled period in India’s post-independent history. All of us who expressed our opinion, either in favour or against it, were condemned to be casteist.
Caste in independent India is thus something like a metropolitan transport vehicle. One can embark and disembark as and when one pleases. Castles can take all the beating, and yet remain a major mobilizing factor
ENDOGAMY RULE
Castes are alive and kicking, but the caste system is disappearing. Statements to this effect are heard more often as we pass the 50th milestone of “independent” India’s history. The emphasis of change, however, has been on “system”, This emphasis was evident even during the early years of “independence”. Yet, there was an unclear picture emerging, mainly for a lack of distinction between the “book view” and the “field view”.
The book view consists of system of castes that are interdependent, each of which has a traditional occupation, a ritual status and rank in the hierarchy of castes, with a few attendant privileges and disabilities, and each caste has a rule of endogamy. In almost all respects, these features of caste system have undergone a change, so much so, it is now redundant to speak of the caste system.
It should, however, be remembered that the system as understood has not always been uniform through-out the sub-continent. For instance, everywhere the interdependence between castes as was possible through the jajmani system did not necessarily include all castes, and all households of a caste in a village community. Likewise, hierarchy of castes did not necessarily mean that a given caste occupied the same position in all parts of a region.
DEATH OF HEREDITARY OCCUPATION
One of the first changes to occur in the caste system has been a dis-sociation between castes and hereditary occupation. To a small extent and mainly in the urban areas, this change had already begun to occur even before 1947. The caste panchayats which governed the internal and external affairs of a caste had lost its ground, which paved the way for such a dissociation in the post-independence period. The new institutions which began to appear, namely the caste associations, explicitly sought to promote educational and employment opportunities of the caste members.
This also hastened the process of separating caste from hereditary occupation. Such associations sponsored students to pursue primary and higher education. In their eagerness to promote social and economic mobility of the caste many of these associations even urged their members to give up their traditional occupations while a few others produced their members to take full advantage of the new economic opportunities. Besides these factors, there was also a gradual decline of the institution of the jajmani system, which in the past enabled members of a caste not only to establish their claims to a liveli-hood, but also exclusive rights to their hereditary occupation.
DEATH OF SPECIALIST CASTES
Consequently, the specialist castes have had to look to new opportunities for earning a livelihood.
Indeed, the separation between caste and occupation was a desirable process; for industrialization to take place there was a need for free mobility of labour.
There were changes in both the rural and urban economy which had consequences for caste and occupation. Growth of urban industry, commerce, administrative bureaucracy and the service sector began to attract people with varying skills, Even though there was a caste- based selectivity into these new occupations, in principle they were open to persons of any caste. While there were such “pull” factors, there were also push factors notably in the rural parts of the country. Abolition of the jajmani system of land tenure, and the subsequent abolition of inam land owners as well as the land reforms resulted in considerable redistribution at land. Agriculture thus accommodated a new set of people as owner-cultivators.
In the urban economy, there were now the new factory workers, government functionaries, telephone operators, electric linesmen, radio and TV repairers, etc. They were engaged in occupations which had not been part of the caste system’s prescribed occupations.
UPPER CASTE COMPUTER KIDS
However, such a separation of caste and occupation has not been favourable to all. While some of these occupations were becoming the basis of a new status system, independent of the caste status, it did not always confer status jobs to the so-called “low” castes all the time. It is rarely that a computer software specialist or a space scientist is of a caste that was formerly subjected to a low ritual status. The sweepers and messengers employed either in a govt. dept. or a private enterprise are, likewise, rarely from a “high” caste. If the former occurred, as there are instances, a person of “high” caste is often found to be grumbling about the inefficiency of the person from a “low” caste background.
Finally, in the post-independent India, while there has been a significant change with respect to caste and occupation, there is also a claim that many of the castes have not had such a change in a desirable proportion to their population. One of the indicators of backwardness of a caste has been its share in govt. employment.
The second most important change has been concerning the social status of the castes. In the past, this used to be determined by the ritual rank of a caste in relation to the others, which tended to coincide also with its economic and other secular indicators such as land-ownership, political power and its numbers locally. Such an overlap of indicators was particularly true of the castes at the top and bottom of the local caste hierarchy. Castes, especially in the middle-range, laid claims for a higher status, which was frequently not conceded by the others adjoining it. Soon after “independence”, efforts to attain social mobility by the different castes began to be accelerated. In the colonial census enumeration regime, this was done to improve their social status in relation to other castes. The most significant change in the post-independence period in this regard has been down-playing the importance of ritual rank of a caste and seeking a “backward” status in education, employment, and cultural respects.
SANSKRITISATION THEORY
The years following “independence” were also marked by a concern for social change. One important dimension of social change looked for in the caste system was in terms of social mobility of castes. A theory that became widely used to describe this process was sanskritization. It is a process by which a “low” caste tries to improve its social status by emulating the styles of life of a “high” caste.
The means were by adopting vegetarianism, purifying its customs, giving up a defiling occupation, prohibiting widow marriages, etc.
This is not a process peculiar to post-independent India but was practised even earlier. The Adi Dharma movement among the then Untouchable castes, acclaimed to be a response to the communal situation in the country during the 1920s, may also be seen as an attempt at sanskritization. However, after “independence” the attempts to sanskritize have become more pronounced.
SHEPHERD MOVEMENT
Nothwistanding an ideological opposition to the process of sanskritization, there are evidences of its taking place even during the fourth decade of “independence”. I shall cite two examples, both from Karnataka. First, many caste associations now have sponsored religious organizations. As late as 1993, i.e during the post-Mandal period, a Backward Caste in Karnataka, namely Kurubas, inaugurated their religious institution with all vedic rituals, while crowning their Jagadguru (a teacher to the Universe). Second, the state govt. has a scheme of granting money to repair or build temples in rural areas. Many such temples built afresh or renovated are specific to a caste, and often the purification or inauguration of temples have taken place with accompaniment of vedic rituals and been presided over by heads of important religious organizations.
DALITIZATION
It is not my purpose here to merely demonstrate the continuing relevance of sanskritization. On the contrary, it is to demonstrate the multiple facets of caste in contemporary India. While there are evidences of sanskritization, there are also some to suggest the opposite, described varyingly as backwardization and dalitization. I have else- where argued how sanskritization can be seen as a mark of protest, defiance and challenge to deprivation and humaliation.
MADIGA DANDORA
At the same time, we also find efforts by castes to be non-sanskritic, or non-brahminical, such as the movement of Madiga Dandora in Andhra Pradesh or persons/groups elsewhere who assert their shudra or even Untouchable identity. In the latter, it is an assertion of the identity borne out of being a member of “low” caste, and having nothing to do with a reference group as a model. What becomes evident is that contemporary India has castes pulling in different, often in opposite directions. The case of dalitization and sanskritization is an illustration of this process.
Thus far I have referred to two important changes concerning caste and caste system. Before concluding, it is necessary to refer to some other features.
The practice of caste endogamy seems to be persisting more or less intensely, although the frequency with which one hears of inter-caste marriages are slowly rising. Exogamous marriages are more of an urban phenomenon than rural, and further, more among the educated and well employed boys and girls.
What seems to be more evident, however, is ignoring the restrictions concerning subcaste endogamy. Over the years there has been an expansion of what may be called the effective endogarmous unit. This occurs when subcaste barriers are crossed in effecting marriages. Reasons for the declining importance of subcaste endogamy are urbanization, education, expansion of mental horizons and the desire to marry within a social and economic class. It is important to recognise, however, that the same set of forces have not worked to popularise inter-caste marriages to the extent they have succeeded in breaking down the subcaste barriers.
MEAT-EATING BRAHMINS
There is another area in which significant changes are occurring. This concerns the past restrictions on inter-caste dining and dietary habits of the castes. A recent ethno-graphic survey revealed that about 8% of the castes that had been traditionally vegetarian in dietary habits have taken to meat-eating (i.e. non-vegetarian) indicates growing meat-eating habits among different castes that were traditionally vegetarian in a village, and finds the village road side eating places (dhabhas) to be becoming an arena of castelessness. Restrictions on inter-caste dining have been gradually relaxing. Particularly when it comes to dining and drinking in public places, the high castes and the middle castes seem to accept it. Little concern is shown, for instance, while eating in restaurants as to who cooks or serves the food. In most parts of the country, the restaurants are forbidden from displaying the caste identity of the keeper. Both in rural and urban mass feeding contexts we find distinctions maintained to serve food separately to different castes being generally given up.
DALITS OSTRACISED
Thus it is not uncommon to find members of “low” castes sitting next to a person from a “high” caste while part taking food at wedding reception, or housewarming or a child’s naming ceremony. But such changes are not without an accompaniment of a few other related changes. For instance, we find changes in cooking arrangements which facilitate easing of restrictions on inter-caste commensality. In most mass feeding occasions, it has now become a practice to hire the services of professional cooks, usually belonging to high castes whose cooked food is acceptable to a majority of castes.
There are at least two exceptions to this trend. First, while most castes, whether high or low may have relaxed the norms governing inter-caste commensality, this does not apply as easily to the members of the Scheduled Castes, particularly those who were formerly considered Untouchable. Restrictions on accepting cooked food as we as water are found to be in practice. The reverse is also true, particularly in rural parts. That is, members of these castes are continued to be discriminated against when it comes to serving them food in restaurants. In village tea shops they are served coffee or tea, or food in vessel meant separately for them, which they should wash after use. They are also not allowed into the eating place where customers of other “high” castes are seated. In such villages, one of the issues around which the youth of Dalit caste organize have been to protest against discrimination in the tea shops. Such a discrimination is also found in the house of “high” and also the land-owning castes, where the members of the Untouchable castes are served food on paper or leaves. It is increasingly found that members of the Untouchable. castes refuse to accept food as part of wages, and prefer to leave the door steps of the “high” castes as soon as coffee or tea is announced. But it must be recognized that dis-crimination of this nature is gradually disappearing in small towns and cities, at least in public eating places. The second exception is applicable to women. In most rural parts of the country, women continue to adhere to the norms governing inter-caste commensality. Thus even if men of the house may part take food served in a house belonging to a fellow villager but of a different caste, the women may not. This exception, however, does not apply to women in urban areas.
RESERVATIONS KEEP CASTE ALIVE
Caste has come to be a matter of public concern in a predominant way since “independence”. This is in terms of what has come to be known as “reservation”. We have reservation of seats in educational institutions, in employment, and in elected bodies for people belonging to castes considered socially and economically backward. I shall refer to how caste has become a live issue even after the wide recognition that the caste “system” is disappearing.
Since the early 1990s, we have been hearing that there has been a mandalization of the Indian society. Two statements may be made as a point of departure. First, although there has been no clear understanding of mandalization, it is necessary to recognise that mandalization is not a new phenomenon in the country. As early as the 1930s, the process of what may be referred to as mandalization had begun, when in the then princely state of Mysore a commission was constituted to go into the question of reservation for Backward Castes. Secondly, the recent mandalization need not be seen as a fresh instrument of political power-play, for, even the earlier commissions in the different states can be seen as a part of the political processes.
MILLER COMMISSION OF MYSORE
The Miller Commission in Mysore, before “independence”, was also a result of a power struggle between the Brahmans and the “non-Brahmans”, on the one hand, and within themselves, on the other.
Without going into the merits and demerits of the system of reservation, I shall point out to some of its general consequences. In the first instance, in independent India every one is brought up to believe that one’s access to public benefits depends on being recognised as SC, ST, OBC or BC. Even if the society in which he or she is being brought up has undergone radical changes in caste system from the “book” point of view, the identity of caste. grows on him or her.
ROLE OF CASTE IDENTITY
What is significant about such an identity is that it is not merely in terms of caste into which the person was born, but the status of that caste as recognized by the government. Secondly, and in turn, the process above has led to a “broad basing” of castes, at least in operational and secular contexts. Thus a person is either a forward caste, or a “backward” caste or simply an OBC. Likewise, for purposes of transactions a person is a SC/ST or a non-SC/ST. As nomenclature of self or group identification this appears to be far simpler than what was being encountered by the colonial census enumerators or ethnographers, often to their irritation.
ENCROACHMENTS INTO S.C. LIST
There is a second manner by which broad-basing is taking place. This is true of several middle castes who are eligible to be classified as back- ward class or OBC or SC. There are several castes that are distinct endogamous groups, but because one of them gets classified as an OBC or SC, the others now try to call themselves in such a way that they too become eligible for the concessions. For example, there is a caste by the name Beda Jangamas, who are among the Scheduled Castes of Karnataka. There is also a sub-caste among Lingayats, namely Jangamas, who were traditionally priests. The Jangamas now claim that they are Beda Jangamas and are thus eligible to be beneficiaries. of reservation. Washermen castes in Karnataka are called Madivalas. They are not in the scheduled of castes notified in Karnataka, while their namesakes in Andhra Pradesh are listed in the Schedule.
On the basis of this, the former have now made a presentation before the authorities concerned that they too should be included in the SC list. Although the purposes of such claims are to be eventually included under one of the broader “official” categories the means is through old caste identities, particularly in terms of caste names.
HOLEYA-MADIGA CONFLICT
In contrast to these two forms of broad-basing, we also find the reverse trends whereby, within the broad categories there are efforts by individual units, later, to make claims for benefits proportionate to the size of their population. Two notable examples are from the southern states of AP and Karnataka. In the latter state, there is a division between the Scheduled Castes, namely Holeyas and Madigas. Both are subjected to the in- dignity of untouchability in the state, although the law forbids it. The two, however, practice untouchability towards each other. There is now a demand that Madiga as (Adi Karnataka) should be given a separate share in the quota of reservations, which is in proportion to their population.
The Madiga argument is that the Holeyas have cornered all the benefits. A similar process is afoot in AP where it is competing claims between Malas and Madigas.
Here too the Madigas claim that they are denied opportunities while Malas have cornered all the benefits disproportionate to their population. What is to be stressed here is the tendency for maintaining caste identity even after a process of broad basing that may have occurred, both on account of the official categorization of castes.
Finally, I would like to refer to the conception of Indian society as we pass 50 years of “independence”. It is true that India has remained a land of castes. But at the turn of the 1950s, what we had witnessed in different regions was a division of castes into Brahman and non-Brahman. Through the past 50 years, what we now witness is a division in terms of forward, backward and Dalits. Although society does not any more recognize forward in ritual terms, the first category consists of people who do not fit into any of the official categorization of the population. This is made up of people who are members of the formerly “high castes”, the backward consists of those who have found a place in the official list of OBCs or BC or even those who are aspiring to get thus classified.
SPECTACULAR DALIT AWAKENING
The awakening of Dalits during the last 45 years is something that may be recorded as spectacular in Indian history. Having suffered the indignities of untouchability for several centuries, they have now come to assert their rightful place in the economic and political spheres. One simple way of describing the transformation of this large section of India’s population is their refusal to accept the term Harijan that was given to them during the freedom struggle and immediately after the independence. The consolidation of Dalit power, largely through Dalit movements in different parts of the country has given them a new identity which is not given to them by others but which is asserted to be their own.
RE-DISCOVERY OF DR. AMBEDKAR
An important consequence of the Dalit moverment has been to make the rest of Indian castes (high or low) to recognise the fact that the Dalits are an important force to reckon with in politics.
Consequently, one would argue that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar seems to have been re-discovered in Indian intellectual tradition, and placed at par with “national” leaders like M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, if not in contrast to them.
Yet the progress of the continued struggle against social and economic injustices remain an unfinished task. In achieving such a goal, the Dalit movement in India continues to face obstacles both from within and from without.
TENDENCY TO DIVIDE DALITS
Prominent among those from with in is the tendency to divide the Dalit unity, as pointed above (Mala vs Madiga, Adi Karnataka vs. Adi Dravida, Mang and Mahars, etc.,). There has been, as late as 1996, a renewed factor dividing the Dalits, namely whether converts to Christianity should be covered under the policy of reservation.
FUTURE OF CASTE
What is the future of caste in India? A similar question at the dawn of independence would have brought out an answer that castes are likely to disappear, to be replaced by classes, and that with a socialist pattern of economic development a classless society would emerge.
There was a basic misconception about the strength of caste at the time of “independence”. This misconception was based on a nationalist eagerness to prove the colonial administration. wrong about the pervasive nature of caste in Indian life, as well as the realization on the part of educated Indians that caste was not merely a matter of religion and ritual.
Any prediction of the future of Indian society and the role of caste in it, even with 50 years of hindsight, should be free from such misconceptions. In particular, an objective prediction should not be led by what we want it to be. Much as all educated Indians today, just as the oppressed “low” or Untouchable caste labourers, would want to see the death of caste in India is it likely to occur? Have castes been less resilient that they were 50 years ago? I am afraid the answers are in the negative.
During my years in Jawaharlal Nehru University, my teacher, Professor T.K. Oommen used to tell us that as Indians we have several primordial identities, each or all of which surface with out giving any prior notice. Caste has remained one such, and it will continue to emerge as it pleases.
There are two simplistic ways of predicting the future of caste in India. First, it is to say that as long as politicians use caste as a factor in mobilizing support or to remain in power, castes will continue to play its role in society. The second, and closely related, is an argument that as long as caste-based reservations continue, caste too will continue.
Going by the sentiments expressed by the pro-reservationists, the latter is likely to be seen as reactionary and politically incorrect.
RESERVATIONS MUST CONTINUE
But the reality seems to be that as long as there continues to be caste-based discrimination in Indian society, there is a need for reservations.
The question, however, is will we ever admit that we are no longer discriminated against and therefore there is no need for any protective discrimination in our favour? The contemporary misconception seems to be a result of failing to recognize the omnipresence of caste in society, with our romantic attachment to a casteless society in which the caste system is dead.
U.P. EXPERIMENT
The answer to a question of the future of caste in India after 50 years of “independence” is perhaps available from Uttar Pradesh, where a political party of Dalits and Bahujans (i.e. majority). The answer is also to be found in another context. The last two decades have seen the emergence found in another context. The last two decades have seen the emergence of women as a section of the population seeking their rightful place in social, economic and political spheres. In keeping with the aims of empowering women in different parts of the world, we too have brought up the question of reservation for them in Parliament and Legislatures.
UGLY DEBATE ON WOMEN’S RESERVATION
During June 1997, the debate about this took an ugly turn. There is a section which is opposed to reservation for women, for, it is said that such women would be representatives of “high castes and would cut short the opportunities of the OBCS and minorities. Here we are 50 years after “independence”, when one who supports the reservation for women in parliament is labelled as being opposed to OBCs and minorities on the ground that it would lead to “high caste” women ruling the country as proxy for “high caste men. There is also the prospect of being a male chauvinist by opposing the proposed one-third reservation for women. Thus even as we march towards the 21st century and the era of golden jubilee of in dependence”, caste seems to be keeping pace with us. The rhetoric of a casteless society, therefore, continues to be on our agenda.
[This paper is a by product of a research carried out in collaboration with Prof. Simon R.Charsiey, Dept. of Sociology, University of Glasgow. The research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, UK]
