Schedule Conflict: the persistence of caste in India
It wasn’t supposed to work like this. India is finally developing, unhindered by the old “license raj” and unhinged from the perennially disappointing “Hindu rate of growth.” And economic growth is supposed to bring all things good—modernity, meritocracy, freedom and more democracy. Traditional hierarchies—like caste—are supposed to be getting weaker. Why then was the nation’s capital suddenly in the grip of caste-based protests once again last week?
A caste-group based in Rajasthan, known as the Gujjars, has brought a little bit of mayhem to New Delhi in the last few days, squatting on the Mumbai-Delhi railroad tracks, and disrupting train service into the city. Conflict between the Rajasthani state government and the Gujjars has resulted in over 40 deaths, and the resignation of the state’s police chief—this year. This conflict is not new, however. Last year around this time, Gujjars battled other caste groups and the state government and the police left a similar number dead. A committee was set up to deal with the underlying grievances, and the conflict temporarily subsided. The committee made recommendations, but nothing was done. Unsurprisingly, the conflict is now back on the front-burner.
So what do the Gujjars want?
In India, in spite of all the loose talk about reform and modernization, what an Indian gets is still as much about who they are as what they have done. Caste members are eligible for certain government programs and jobs, as well as educational opportunities, based almost exclusively on their caste identity. Caste, however, is a bit of a morass. There are substantially more castes in India than anyone knows what to do with. The British made a go at categorizing them into broad categories, such as upper, lower, backward, and “scheduled” (referring to untouchables). But no one in India has ever fully agreed with anything the British did, and of course, in addition to the British taking on an impossible task, they also made a hash of it.
The Gujjars are classified as “backwards,” or what are poetically known as OBCs (“other backward castes”). This doesn’t give them as many job opportunities as being classified as “scheduled tribes” (ST) would, so they have been demanding a reclassification. Curiously, the Gujjars are actually demanding that they move down the traditional caste hierarchy in order to be able to access better opportunities. Other low caste groups don’t want their categories to get too crowded, so they have resisted. The state government doesn’t like the idea of having to provide benefits to a group that never had them, so they have resisted. The result has been bloody conflict in the streets.
India is a fast-changing economy and society, but the salience of caste has not necessarily decreased in recent years. In some ways and in some places, it seems to have actually increased. This is in part because of the overaweing presence of the state in India today, even after liberalization. It is in part because economic growth does not necessarily lead to the elimination of traditional identities, as modernization theory predicted, or as the conventional wisdom suggests. While Delhi itself may not be the most caste-centric place in India, peripheral caste-based conflict can easily permeate city limits, as it did last week, reminding the country’s elite that “modern” India is not suddenly unmoored from the past.
The United States has recently begun to eye India as a key strategic partner and a counter-weight to China. If India and the United States are going to work together, both countries need to understand something about the domestic political pressures facing elites when they sit down to bargain internationally. Most Americans don’t have a clue how the caste system works in India. It’s not too late to start reading up.
[...] System Still Alive and Kicking I just came across this interesting blog post on the Harvard International Review. The writer, Jason Lakin, discusses some recent caste uprisings [...]
Pingback by Caste System Still Alive and Kicking « Shankar Wolfananda — June 3, 2008 @ 12:12 am
[...] By Armchair Guy Categories: India Tags: Caste I read an article titled “Schedule Conflict: the persistence of caste in India” by a Harvard student recently. It brought home to me how stereotypes that are propagated and [...]
Pingback by Stereotypes about Caste « In The Armchair — November 18, 2008 @ 5:47 pm
Как раз то, что нужно. Я знаю, что вместе мы сможем прийти к правильному ответу.
Comment by Маша — July 13, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
Конечно. Я согласен со всем выше сказанным. Давайте обсудим этот вопрос. Здесь или в PM.
Comment by JohnWV — July 15, 2009 @ 6:14 am
И на чем остановимся?
Comment by Артемий Лебедев — August 3, 2009 @ 8:17 am
Да делали
Comment by Надежда Голубева — August 4, 2009 @ 2:22 am
Веселая ферма печем пиццу прохождение бесплатно
Comment by kelesuell — August 9, 2009 @ 8:06 am
Специально добавил в избранное для более подробного изучения данной статьи.
Автор пишет очень интересно
Comment by Spartans — August 11, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
Так же все нравится, и всем более чем доволен.
Comment by Stolyar — August 16, 2009 @ 1:32 am
,
Comment by tdzxtdzx — August 26, 2009 @ 12:29 pm
Неторопливо стрекочут сверчки: “Может быть, может быть”.
Это стало каменной стеной, о которую разбились последние мгновения
вечера.
Comment by Ключи для касперского 2010 — October 5, 2009 @ 5:49 pm