All that I Wanted to Know about Caste System but NOT Afraid to Ask

‘tribal organisation’ and ‘Hindu organisation’. technology of production. Tribal technology is believed to be inferior.  By contrast, the caste system has a superior technological apparatus and a system of occupational specialisation and inter-dependence castes are primarily associated with the agricultural mode of production While caste society is considered to be surplus producing, tribes are essentially subsistence economies, in which whatever is produced is for the purpose of consumption. From this, we may infer that if a caste society is ‘future-oriented’, a tribe is rooted in its ‘present’. Against this background, whenever the tribes had difficult economic periods, they entered the portals of caste society, taking up an occupation and supplying its product to non-tribal groups, thus entering into what has been called in north India, the jajmanî system (the system of patron-client relations). If it was im...

Conversion to Buddhism

Table 1: Percentage of Tribal People in Different States and Union Territories of India State/Union Territory Percentage of Tribespersons among the Total Population Andhra Pradesh 6.60 Arunachal Pradesh 64.20 Assam 12.40 Bihar 0.90 Goa -- Gujarat 14.80 Haryana -- Himachal Pradesh 4.00 Karnataka 6.60 Kerala 1.10 Madhya Pradesh 20.30 Maharashtra 8.90 Manipur 34.41 Meghalaya 85.90 Mizoram 94.50 Nagaland 88.90 Orissa 22.10 Punjab -- Rajasthan 12.60 Tamil Nadu 1.00 Tripura 31.10 Uttar Pradesh 0.10 West Bengal 5.50 Jammu and Kashmir 10.90 Uttrakhand 3.00 Jharkhand 26.30 Chhattisgarh 31.80 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 8.30 Chandigarh -- Dadra and Nagar Haveli 62.20 Daman and Diu 8.80 Delhi and Pondicherry -- Lakshadweep 94.50

Nehru was a staunch critic of cultural impositions. It 264 On the Situation of Tribes in India is well known that in his Foreword (dated 16 February 1957) to the Second Edition of Verrier Elwin’s Philosophy for NEFA (1957), the fi rst principle he enunciated was: ‘People should develop along the lines of their own genius and we should avoid imposing anything on them’. In another context, he (1955: 2) wrote: ‘We are welcome to our way of living but why impose it on others’?

Generally, when anthropologists speak of tribes, they mean communities of people who have remained outside of the state and civilization, whether out of choice or necessity; that was the reason of calling them ‘non-civilized’, but certainly not ‘uncivilized’. In India, ‘they all stood more or less outside of Hindu civilization’ (Bèteille, 1992: 76). The examples of these tribal communities, though few in number, are the Naga tribes (particularly, Ao, Angami, Tangkhul), Mizo, Khasi, Mina, and those sections of tribal communities in central India which have embraced Christianity.

"Brahmins don't like to see any body else coming up"- A friend a Gowda Saraswat Brahmin

New Delhi, May 8, 2012 (PTI) The Supreme Court today struck down the government's policy of giving subsidies to Haj pilgrims and directed that it be progressively "eliminated" within a period of 10 years. "We hold that this policy is best done away with," a bench of justices Altamas Kabir and Ranjana Prakash Desai held. The bench also directed the government to reduce to two the number of its representatives in the Prime Minister's goodwill delegation. It said it will look into the functioning of Haj Committee of India and it process for selecting people for Haj pilgrimage. The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the Centre challenging a Bombay High Court judgement which had directed the Ministry of External Affairs to allow certain private operators to handle 800 of the 11,000 pilgrims earmarked under the VIP quota subsidised by the government. The bench while hearing the plea of the Centre had expanded the purview of the plea and decided to lo...

Vanniyar-dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi, has been long demanding proportional representation in jobs and education based on a caste-based census.

Lucknow, April 23, DHNS: Members of the upper castes in an Uttar Pradesh village refused to eat food served by dalits at a religious feast organised after conclusion of a 'yajna' (a ritual by fire). The incident occurred at Khosta village in Maharajganj district, about 300 km from here, when some members of the dalit community began serving food at the feast attended by members of the upper castes on Thursday, according to reports. Several people belonging to upper castes were immediately up on their feet protesting against serving of food by dalits and boycotted the feast saying  if they ate the food it would  destroy whatever ‘punya’ they had earned in their life. Surprisingly, the upper caste members did not object when the dalit womenfolk from the village were preparing the food. Several dalit women had peeled vegetables and had helped in baking the ‘chapatis’, the eye witnesses said. According to reports some upper caste members had organised a “yajna” in th...

London, Dec 17, (PTI) : Caste-based discrimination exists across Britain, a new research commissioned by UK government has found, prompting further calls to outlaw the malpractice that blights the lives of many people with origins in the Indian sub-continent. The research, commissioned as part of the debate over the Equalities Bill 2010 that received royal assent in April, was conducted by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), which published its findings yesterday. Now termed The Equalities Act 2010, the bill specifically mentions caste under the section Race. India's position at international fora has always been that caste is not an aspect of race. It had succeeded in keeping caste out of the resolution adopted at the 2001 Durban conference on racism organised by the United Nations. The Act says in Part 2, Chapter 1: "A Minister of the Crown may by order—(a) amend this section so as to provide for caste to be an aspect of race; (b) am...

Chennai, May 8, DHNS: The Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, has suggested in a letter to the state government, a ‘simple way’ to calculate caste strength that did not require any amendment of the questionnaire already prepared for the project. This is in the backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance in Parliament on Friday that the Union Cabinet “will take a decision shortly” on the issue. The TNBCC, a statutory body headed by Justice M S Janarthanam, said all that the census needs to do is to get the caste of the respondents with respect to the ‘Others’ category. The 2001 census already has a caste-wise break up of SC/ST communities. Except that the enumerators have to be trained effectively in filling up the above particular, the system would require no additional allocation of funds by the Centre, which proposed to spend nearly Rs 6,000 crore for the 2011 census project, Janarthanam contended. Once the caste enumeration was done, the time-tested crite...

Sanjay Pandey Lucknow, April 5, DHNS Couple on the run Yet another pair of lovers is on the run after an all-caste panchayat in Uttar Pradesh’s Jat dominated Baghpat district, about 400 km from here, ordered that they be killed if they return to their native town. The panchayat, which was held in Khekra town in Baghpat on Sunday, has also ordered that the families of the lovers be socially bocotted. According to reports one Jameel had eloped with a girl, who lived near his home, about 20 days back and the lovers later on got married in accordance with the provisions of the sharia (Islamic law). The father of the girl had lodged an FIR with the police in this regard.  While the family of the girl could not withstand the humiliation and left the town, Jameel returned to the town two days back and informed his family that he had got married with the girl. He had also procured a stay order from the court against his possible arrest by the police. Jameel also produced a ‘nikahn...

Rashmi Menon Bangalore, March 6, DHNS An external evaluation report on the first phase of mobile health clinics in five taluks in Karnataka has found staff attrition based on caste. The report indicated that at Kumta in Uttara Kannada district, one of the five taluks that came under evaluation, doctors and staff nurses were changed thrice on the basis of their caste, affecting the patient-staff relationship. The report compiled by the Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore, which was done at the behest of the Karnataka Health Systems and Development Reforms Project (KHSDRP), was submitted recently. The KHSDRP and the National Rural Health Mission are the funding and monitoring agencies for the project run on a public-private-partnership model. The first phase introduced mobile health clinics in Sagar (Shimoga), Tarikere (Chikmagalur), Chamarajnagar, Kollegal (Chamarjanagar) and Kumta (Uttara Kannada) taluks to ensure that medical services reach hilly, remote and ba...

‘Our constitution has no mention on caste system, it speaks only of equality’ “Dividing people on the basis of caste is a tragedy, said MLC M C Nanaiah. Speaking at the inauguration of D Devraj Urs Bhavan in Madikeri on Friday, he said “even after 63 years of independence, we identify a person based on his caste. Through caste system, reservation is provided in social, educational and political field, which is a tragedy of our country.”  “Our Constitution does not make any mention on caste system. However, it has pointed out on equality and economic backwardness. Unfortunately, the society and the nation is divided on the basis of caste. From government job to MLA or Ministership, the reservation is provided on the basis of caste. It was late D Devaraj Urs who fought against caste system,” Nanaiah said.  “Between 1972 to 78, there was social revolution in the country. Till 1972, 15 per cent of economically and socially backward MLAs could not enter the portals of Vidhan...

The story of Gavipura, director Kumar’s latest movie, is inspired by a real life incident. Kumar has in fact told his own story through the movie and he has cast new faces. The director believes the story will strike an instant connection with the people, especially the youngsters. He has woven it around the theme of love and how the caste system plays havoc in all of that.   The film traces the life of two youngsters who fall in love. They belong to two different castes. Surprisingly, the parents agree but the boy’s uncle destroys their relationship just because the girl belongs to a different caste. “Caste system in deep-rooted in our society. I know that it’s impossible to change people’s perception about caste system but if this movie helps in sending a positive message across to the people, I would be happy,” said Kumar. The movie has been shot in and round Gavipura, near Hanumanthanagar in the City. “I have attempted to tell my story through the movie. I was dev...

Utpal Borpujari, Montreal, Sept 10, DH News Service: The deep-set caste prejudices in the Indian society has come under the spotlight at the 34th Montreal World Film Festival, thanks to the works by a veteran Indian director and a first-time French filmmaker. French director Sophie Azemar’s Le Dernier Parmi Les Hommes (The Last Among the Men), which was shown in the Documentaries of the World Section at what is one of the world’s most-prestigious festivals, is an unflinching viewpoint on untouchability and the resultant societal discrimination against Dalits. Shot entirely in Tamil Nadu, the film goes deep into the religio-historical reasons that makes eradication of the social evil difficult.  The film argues, with support from Dalit activists like J C Anthony and Vincent Manoharan of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, that perpetuation of the caste system by vested “upper castes” has led to continuing social persecution of the Dalits. In a telling comment about ...

Tiptur, February 1, DHNS: Caste should never be treated as a determining factor in securing respect in society, instead it should be based on an individual’s ability and performance, said legislator B C Nagesh. Speaking after inaugurating  Sri Thyagaraja Aradhane and Savitha Maharshi Jayantotsav on Tuesday, he said caste system in India has been responsible for perpetuating injustice, inequality and social unrest. However, saint poet Thyagaraja strove hard to root out the malice and popularise the basic  universal human tenets. People belonging to the Savitha community have achieved self reliance and a distinct identity through their work . Thus, it is the responsibility of the society to respect and encourage them in their efforts, he said. “ I promise to support the construction of  Savitha samudaya bhavan,” he added. Also speaking on the occasion, MLC Dr Hulinaykar said  people belonging to the Savitha community should exhibit greater commitment to overcome...

Retired IAS officer M Vijayanunni, former census commissioner and registrar general, strongly advocates caste census in the ongoing census operations. Vijayanunni is opposed to collection of caste data at the bio-metric stage and says this should be done by the census organisation. He spoke to B S Arun of Deccan Herald. Excerpts: Caste-based census has not been done in India since 1931. Is it feasible to have it  now? Census of India had been collecting, compiling, tabulating and disseminating caste data right from the first census in 1871 till 1931. In 1941 too it was collected but tabulation was dropped as a money-saving measure because of the world war II.  Caste census is a legal necessity as the Constitution mandates it. Now, the supreme court too is seeking to quantify the castes. An argument recently advanced is that creating a new column to include caste is not possible since the census exercise is already underway and the first phase of houselisting has been done...

J B S Umanadh, Hyderabad, Jan 2, DH News Service: Caste war among villagers at Basampalli in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh has led to denial of final rites for a Dalit farmer, whose body has begun to decompose awaiting cremation for the last two days. Potla Ganganna (65) belonged to the Namdhari sect, considered lower rung even among the Dalits. After his death on December 30, his relatives took the body for cremation to the graveyard on the outskirts of Basampalli, but had to return without performing the final rites as the land was occupied by upper caste villagers. The relatives then tried cremating Ganganna’s body at another graveyard, where people of another Dalit sect—Modikallu—took offence saying the cremation ground was closer to their home and a Namdhari funeral rites, noisy by tradition with sounding of drums and bells ringing, was a bad omen. Tension broke out between the Namdharis the Modikallus, which led to the police being brought in to control the viole...

Lucknow, Sep 18, DHNS: A day after demanding reservation benefits for the Muslims, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday urged the Centre to extend the same to the ''poor among the upper castes'' in an apparent bid to improve her party's support base ahead of the next year's Assembly elections in the state. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, Mayawati pointed out the need to give reservation to the poor among the upper castes. Steps must be taken to bring them to the mainstream besides removing economic disparities, she had said in the letter. The BSP supremo, eyeing Muslim votes to increase her party's tally in the forthcoming coming elections, had on Saturday shot off a missive to Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh seeking special attention to the “financially backward” minorities.   “The condition of the Muslim community is not good even 64 years after independence,” she had said. Muslim votes play a decisive role in aroun...

Chikmagalur, Apr 14, DHNS: Various assns in C’magalur celebrate Ambedkar’s 119th birth anniversary ''Caste system is worse than slavery,'' said Prof Krishnamurthy Chamaram. Presenting a paper on ‘Life of B R Ambedkar’ during the 119th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar in Chikmagalur on Wednesday, Prof Chamaram said that confining Ambedkar to a specific religion or caste is incorrect because he thought of the welfare and well-being of the entire nation.  “Many of the Dalit organisations, in the quest of fighting for power and rights have forgotten to fight for the cause of the suppressed. There are still large number of suppressed people who have not yet been given freedom and equality. Dalits should learn to live with dignity first,” he said. MLA C T Ravi presided over the programme. He said that though changes are not happening in the social system, efforts are being made at the Government level to bring in change and off late the said changes are visible. ...

A day after the Rajya Sabha passed the epoch-making Women’s Reservation Bill providing 33 per cent quota for the fairer sex in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily spoke to B S Arun of Deccan Herald on the roadmap the UPA government has drawn up to get it approved in the Lower House and make the law functional on ground. Excerpts: The women’s bill has crossed the first hurdle. When will it come before the Lok Sabha and what are the chances of its passage? The bill will now go to the LS where it has to be passed by two-thirds of the members present and voting. We have a majority in the LS and it will go through. The parties which are opposing the bill — like SP and RJD — know that it is not possible under the provisions of the Constitution. They are opposing it because they are scared that their hegemony will end and Congress will take that space. Congress is already on resurgence in Uttar Pradesh, having won 21 Lok Sabha seats, while we will soon make ...