Caste, a double-edged sword

It is about capitalism and hierarchy

The government has now reached a final conclusion on the raging controversy over the caste-based census in the country. In order to reconcile with the contending positions, the government has decided to conduct a separate stand-alone exercise of a parallel house-to-house enumeration of the caste affiliations of households. It is not yet clear as to whether the results and the data of the census proper and this separate exercise will be integrated in the end.

Caste has managed to sustain itself because of the
nature of the underlying economic relations and processes. It grew as part of our pre-feudal and feudal phase of history. Today, though, feudal relations have given way to semi-feudal relations with a great degree of penetration of capitalist market forces in our countryside. Post-independent governments and the ruling elite have not only refused to deal a death blow to caste, but have actually used it as a major instrument of political, and more particularly, electoral mobilisation.

The contemporary political process has become more complex. On the one hand, hitherto socially oppressed sections like Dalits and OBCs have come to question discrimination on the ground of social stratification and, on the other, campaigned aggressively for a share in the political process. However, what is absent from such an articulation is the question of equality in the economic sphere of which the most notable is the need for agrarian reforms and commensurate change in the land relations.

On the other hand, major shifts in the overall economic paradigm of international finance capital-driven globalisation have accentuated economic inequality. It is obvious that this development in the economic sphere has impacted socially-oppressed sections more adversely. This has led to a stronger demand for social justice. The consequent consolidation of the socially deprived sections and castes has resulted in obscurantism and medievalism in the traditionally advanced social groupings and castes.

Phenomena like honour killing have, thus, become part of the contemporary social responses. It is unfortunate that this phenomenon has come to threaten the very vitals of our society and polity. The unity and reconciliation which was part of our freedom struggle and which led to the modern vision of the composite and plural Indian nationhood has been jettisoned. And, this vision did get institutionalised and enshrined in our Constitution. Unfortunately, the realisation of this ideal has remained an elusive goal. The present neo-liberal developmental paradigm has actually accentuated the gulf between precept and practice.

While it can be nobody’s brief to deny the legitimate concern for social justice, it is equally important to recognise the dual character of caste. At one level, the aspirations of the oppressed castes represents an extremely legitimate concern. Unless linked with the process of achieving economic equality, such an approach can end up reinforcing caste and its implied
hierarchy. Therefore, the battle for social justice cannot achieve what it intends to unless it transcends the demand for reservation and integrates with the larger question of achieving a holistic equality. While the need for a social profile of our demography is important, it cannot be done in a manner which would strengthen the retrograde process of the use of caste for electoral mobilisation — particularly those of the dominant castes.

Therefore, the need for differentiating the two processes — that of the census and caste enumeration was a real democratic requirement. Additionally, there was a technical complexity. The nature of OBCs does not have pan-Indian homogeneity. So a separate exercise for ascertaining this break-up would not have been effective but for a differentiated exercise. Therefore, this decision of the government seems to have addressed this concern.

Hopefully, this will bring down the curtain on the raging controversy.