Caste Movement in India | 29 Aug 2024

Source: IE

Why in News?

Recently, many political parties called for a new Indian caste census after the Supreme Court's judgement on sub-categorisation within reserved castes.

• Caste is often considered as central to South Asian society much like race in the United States, class in Britain, and faction in Italy.
• The last caste census at national level India occurred in 1931 during British rule.

What is the History of Caste Movements in India?

• Historical Context: By the end of the 19th century, caste began to obtain ubiquitous meaning in the daily lives of Indians.
  • Definitions of caste often revolved around Brahminical notions of purity and pollution, and often aggressive resistance to such notions by lower castes.
  • Castes remained ‘constrained within watertight social compartments,’ with ‘social mobility’ between them prohibited by inter-caste marriages.
• Colonial Legislation: Colonial administration brought legislation like Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, in North India, and later extended to the presidencies of Bengal (1876) in East and Madras (1911) in South.
  • It authorised the colonial state to designate entire communities as criminals.
  • This designation was often rooted in pre-existing biases about certain caste or tribal groups, reinforcing negative stereotypes and institutionalising them through law.
  • They were considered too inferior in their jati and varna traits to be employed in the colonial army and state apparatuses.
  • The Act continued till 1949 and was replaced by the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952.
• Divide and Rule Policy: The 1857 Revolt which was apparently led by upper class hindu and muslim elites forced British leaders to push for a more diverse Indian army and colonial offices and reduce the presence of one community dominance in these roles.
  • Thus, caste emerged as an important criterion in provincial education and employability of candidates in government service.
  • Caste was recognised as a potential obstruction to the emergence of nationalist sentiments and helped in perpetuation of British rule in the subcontinent.

What were the Key Figures in Caste Movements?

• Jyotiba Phule: He was a 19th century Marathi activist and founder of the Satyashodhak Samaj and was among modern India’s first anti-caste ideologues.
  • He wrote Gulamgiri (1873), an account of the plight of ‘untouchables’ in India that paid rich tributes to Muslim rulers, Christian missionaries, and the British administration for instilling egalitarian consciousness in Indian society.
  • He also introduced the word ‘Dalit’ (‘untouchables’ or broken people) into the lexicon of anti-caste movements.
  • He promulgated his version of the Aryan invasion theory and projected texts like Manusmriti as exploitative and oppressive towards the nation’s indigenes and tribes.
  • Phule’s mobilisation of anti-caste ideas later inspired BR Ambedkar.
• BR Ambedkar: He mobilised Dalits and members of depressed classes with the slogan, ‘We must become a ruling community.’
  • In 1927, he led the Mahad Satyagraha to agitate for the rights of ‘untouchables’ to draw water from a public tank in Mahad, in Maharashtra, that was hitherto denied to them by leaders of privileged castes.
  • In December 1927, Ambedkar publicly set fire to the Manusmriti which was seen as the source for perpetuation of the caste system and the practice of untouchability.
  • In 1930, he founded the All India Depressed Classes Association.
  • Before the colonial administration, Ambedkar and Ambedkarites agitated for a separate electorate for Dalits and depressed classes.
  • Other Initiatives by BR Ambedkar were Independent Labour Party (1936),All India Scheduled Castes Federation (1942) etc.
• M C Rajah: The first major 20th century event of pan-Indian Dalit movements was the All India Depressed Classes Leaders’ Conference at Nagpur, in 1926.
  • It resulted in the formation of the All India Depressed Classes Association, presided by Rao Bahadur M C Rajah, and with Ambedkar as one of its vice presidents.
• Periyar: In the Madras Presidency, Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (or Periyar) founded the anti-Brahminical Self-Respect Movement.
  • It became an important foundation in his rise to become the leader of the Justice Party in 1939.
• Mahatma Gandhi: After the announcement of separate electorates (under Communal Award) for Depressed Classes, Gandhiji decided to go on a fast unto death to protest against this supposed ‘vivisection’ (cutting) of the Hindu community.
  • Gandhi and Ambedkar signed the historic Poona Pact 1932 which secured joint electorates for all Hindus and awarded a reservation to the depressed classes of nearly double the number of seats in Communal Award.
  • In 1932, Gandhi founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh for eradication of untouchability and caste upliftment but Gandhi’s focus on varnashrama was not liked by Ambedkar.
• Reversal in British Policy: Given the imminent pressures of the Partition of the subcontinent, the Ambedkarite movement was gradually overshadowed by the need to build India’s constitutional frameworks.
  • By 1945, the colonial administration chose to depoliticise caste during the transfer of power for an united India.