DYNAMICS OF CASTEISM – POLITY
News: India
more casteist than ever: Teltumbde
What's in the news?
● Today's
India is more casteist than ever before, scholar and civil rights activist
Anand Teltumbde said on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti.
Caste System:
● Caste
is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary
transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual
status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on
cultural notions of purity and pollution.
Characteristics of age old caste system in India:
● Hierarchy.
● Segmental
division of society - The membership of the groups was determined by birth and
not by choice.
● Restrictions
on feeding and social intercourse.
● Civil
and religious disabilities and privileges of different sections - Segregation
of individual castes or groups of castes.
● Lack
of unrestricted choice of occupation.
● Restrictions
on marriage - Endogamy.
Affirmative Actions by Government:
● Provisions
in the Constitution
● Reservations
in jobs
● Reservations
in Centre and State legislatures
● Provisions
in panchayats
● Protect
stakeholders by various Acts, safeguarding their land, livelihood, and save
them from social evils.
Caste in Contemporary India:
● There
are about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India.
Factors Providing Positive Changes:
1. Article 16
- Equality of opportunities provides elimination of age old caste based
occupation (Profession based on skills rather than birth).
2. Article 17
- Abolition of untouchability - opens up all public spaces fuelled by franchise
based on adult suffrage.
3. Modern scientific education
- Education opens to all and based on science have eroded caste values in the
society especially from the upcoming generations.
4. Increasing urbanization
- Secular patterns of living with increasing standards of livings have impeded
urban life without the influence of caste system.
5. Globalization and Westernization
- Increasing interconnectivity across the world and provoking ideals of
liberty, equality and fraternity have entered into ways and means of every
individual's day to day life.
6. Migration
- Growing industrialization and mushrooming service sector has changed the
dynamics of every locality where one can move freely in search of jobs fueled
by the development of infrastructure, connectivity and globalization.
7. Reservation in educational institutions
- It empowers socially backward communities to get their right of education
which simultaneously penetrates into economic, political and social spheres.
8. Reservation in public jobs
- A significant amount of public sector jobs are allocated based on caste
reservation making socially disadvantaged communities to get their ample
representation.
9. Inter-caste marriages
- Marriage as a result of free choice of two partners, the role of caste in
determining the match is declining comparatively.
10. Diffusion of different cultures
- Increasing inroads of one's culture by the use of literature, arts and
cinemas have made others understand the diverse culture of Indian society.
11. Legislation
- Several progressive legislations of the state have made stringent provisions
against the atrocities of the caste system.
12. Social reforms through NGOs
- Reforms in society and educational programs through various NGO activities
have caused the definitions and restrictions of castes to change from their
historical state.
Negatives - Dynamics of caste system has changed:
1. Sufferings of women
- The lives of women in India are shadowed by a very suffocating patriarchal
domination fueled by caste system. Dalit women were the most oppressed in the
world because of being a woman and a lower caste person.
2. Increasing harassment on Dalit
- The Dalits, also known as Scheduled Castes (SCs), have been the victims of
the Hindu caste system for centuries. Scheduled castes are forced to clean
human excrement, dig the village cemeteries, wash and use separate tea tumblers
at tea stalls, etc., all because they are considered “untouchable” due to their
caste status and hence pollute are the factors for prevalence of casteism in
India.
3. Caste based political associations
- Increasing emergence of caste based political parties along with vote bank
politics makes caste system as a political tool in a democratic set up.
4. Emergence of caste based economic associations -
Several castes make themselves an economic association to get more use of their
caste benefits for their personal gains. Eg: DICCI
5. Transmitting caste values across generations
- Elders from dominant castes influencing and transmitting their caste values
to the upcoming generations.
6. Reservation demands by dominant castes
- Demand of OBC reservation by dominant castes and EWS reservations have given
the caste system - a new consciousness in the present set-up.
7. Personal life still inflated by caste system
- Nearly 11 percent of the marriage were inter-caste and still a majority of
the people opt for caste based endogamy due
8. Technology and increasing caste consciousness
- Several caste based matrimonial websites paving way for caste based marriage
on an open platform than before and increasing caste consciousness through
social media platforms. Example: Whatsapp based caste associations, etc.
9. Caste based violences
- The NCRB reports claims that crimes against Dalits and Adivasis rose by 1.2
percent and 6.4 percent respectively compared to 2020.
10. Honor killings
- India has a long history of 'honor' killings, where couples are murdered for
falling in love outside their communities.
The crime of honor killing is increasing at a high pace due to the
complex socio-cultural problems fuelled by caste based ideology.
11. Prevalence of manual scavenging
- Still nearly 50000 people engaged in manual scavenging making it a worse scar
of caste system.
Despite
the changes though, caste identities remain strong, and last names are almost
always indications of what caste a person belongs to. Caste as a dominant
factor may not be easily visible in our multicultural society today. Despite
public spaces, caste still hosts its relevance in the private sphere of family
and individual circle.