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Land acquisition: Lambian residents to get plots todayTimes of India - Oct 21, 2009 Residents were illegally occupying the prime commercial land in Sector 69 and, with the allotment of plots GMADA would be able to vacate the land to carry ... HC tells Govt to file counter affidavitExpress Buzz - 5 hours ago As a first step, land within 25 metres was acquired. This acquisition was pursuant to an order by the Court on a petition filed by the same petitioner. ... HC directs state to pay compensation for acquired landDaily News & Analysis - Oct 23, 2009 The land was acquired in 1984.As against the appellants claim for compensation at the rate of Rs400/per sq mtr, the land acquisition officer offered ... Admn plays down MHA report on land acquisitionTimes of India - Oct 15, 2009 Seated along with other UT officials, he said these remarks were limited to the special audit report's observations on land acquisition for second and third ... MHA findings preliminary, audit not first of its kind: Admn Indian Express Farmers protest at RajarhatTimes of India - 9 hours ago The corporation, in its bid to continue with the "electricity expansion plan" at Rajarhat-New Town, has been facing some problems over land acquisition in ... CM clears Quepem road fileTimes of India - Oct 21, 2009 The cost of the project, including that of land acquisition, is estimated to be over Rs 28 crore. Confirming the move, Quepem MLA and chairman of GIDC, ... Locals to protest land acquisitionRepublica - - 18 hours ago DIBYANAGAR, CHITWAN, Oct 24: Locals have decided to launch protest against the government decision to requisition 310 bighas of land to open parachute ... Textile park to grace city's industrial mapTimes of India - - 15 hours ago Thapar said the reason for delay in the project was that during the land acquisition, one acre cost around Rs 1 crore. As such, the farmers were not willing ... Now, nuclear power corp in land acquisition rowEconomic Times - Oct 15, 2009 MUMBAI: Another mega power project has got embroiled in land acquisition row. Local villagers have decided to oppose the acquisition of 938 hectares of land ... Land acquisition for nuclear power plant to begin today Times of India Land acquiring process for nuclear power plants to begin Daily News & Analysis DMRC team discusses tech details with LDATimes of India - Oct 21, 2009 This is all about land acquisition for the tracks of the metro rail and would involve a lot of paperwork. Officials said that DMRC is expected to submit the ... Stay up to date on these results: |
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Migration and Human Development
The Human Development Report 2009 breaks some myths about migration. View Full Article
Issue : VOL 44 No. 41 and 42 October 10 - October 23, 2009
EDITORIALS
Migration and Human Development
Regulating Executive Compensation?
Enabling the Disabled
From 50 Years Ago (10 October 2009)
LETTER FROM SOUTH ASIA
Democracy Does the Heavy Lifting, Handle It with Care
COMMENTARY
The Dinakaran Imbroglio: Appointments and Complaints against Judges
Recent Trends in Indian GDP and Its Components: An Exploratory Analysis
Reservations within Reservations: A Solution
Can Poor States Afford the Fiscal Responsibility Legislation?
Policy Options for India's Edible Oil Complex
BOOK REVIEWS
Gender Aspect of Ramnabami-Natak
Pakistan: Identity and Islamic Ideology
PERSPECTIVES
Dealing with Effects of Monsoon Failures
SPECIAL ARTICLES
How Much 'Carbon Space' Do We Have? Physical Constraints on India's Climate Policy and Its Implications
Tejal Kanitkar , T Jayaraman , Mario DSouza , Prabir Purkayastha , D Raghunandan , Rajbans Talwar
Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises: The Case of BSNL
Kerala's Education System: From Inclusion to Exclusion?
Disability Law in India: Paradigm Shift or Evolving Discourse?
Renu Addlakha , Saptarshi Mandal
NOTES
Mapping Indian Districts across Census Years, 1971-2001
Hemanshu Kumar , Rohini Somanathan
DISCUSSION
Intellectual Bilingualism
CURRENT STATISTICS
Macroeconomic Indicators (10 October 2009)
Foreign Trade: Imports and Exports by Commodities
Secondary Market Transactions in Government Securities and the Forex Market – September 2009
Clearing Corporation of India Limited
Money Market Activity: Rising Trends
Clearing Corporation of India Limited
LETTERS
Planned Military Offensive
Arundhati Roy , Amit Bhaduri , Sandeep Pandey , Colin Gonsalves , Dipankar Bhattacharya , and Others
Gruesome Killing
Moushumi Basu , Gautam Navlakha
REAPPRAISAL
A new resonance
In his views on crucial issues pertaining to economic development, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar comes across as a radical economist who would have staunchly opposed the neoliberal reforms being carried out in India since the 1990s.
VENKATESH ATHREYA
DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR was among the most outstanding intellectuals of India in the 20th century in the best sense of the word. Paul Baran, an eminent Marxist economist, had made a distinction in one of his essays between an "intellect worker" and an intellectual. The former, according to him, is one who uses his intellect for making a living whereas the latter is one who uses it for critical analysis and social transformation. Dr. Ambedkar fits Baran's definition of an intellectual very well. Dr. Ambedkar is also an outstanding example of what Antonio Gramsci called an organic intellectual, that is, one who represents and articulates the interests of an entire social class.
While Dr. Ambedkar is justly famous for being the architect of India's Constitution and for being a doughty champion of the interests of the Scheduled Castes, his views on a number of crucial issues pertaining to economic development are not so well known. Dr. Ambedkar was a strong proponent of land reforms and of a prominent role for the state in economic development. He recognised the inequities in an unfettered capitalist economy. His views on these issues are found scattered in several writings; of these the most important ones are his essay, "Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies" and an article, "States and Minorities". In these writings, Dr. Ambedkar elaborates his views on land reforms and on the kind of economic order that is best suited to the needs of the people.
Dr. Ambedkar stresses the need for thoroughgoing land reforms, noting that smallness or largeness of an agricultural holding is not determined by its physical extent alone but by the intensity of cultivation as reflected in the amounts of productive investment made on the land and the amounts of all other inputs used, including labour. He also stresses the need for industrialisation so as to move surplus labour from agriculture to other productive occupations, accompanied by large capital investments in agriculture to raise yields. He sees an extremely important role for the state in such transformation of agriculture and advocates the nationalisation of land and the leasing out of land to groups of cultivators, who are to be encouraged to form cooperatives in order to promote agriculture.
Intervening in a discussion in the Bombay Legislative Council on October 10, 1927, Dr. Ambedkar argued that the solution to the agrarian question "lies not in increasing the size of farms, but in having intensive cultivation that is employing more capital and more labour on the farms such as we have." (These and all subsequent quotations are taken from the collection of Dr. Ambedkar's writings, published by the Government of Maharashtra in 1979). Further on, he says: "The better method is to introduce cooperative agriculture and to compel owners of small strips to join in cultivation."
During the process of framing the Constitution of the Republic of India, Dr. Ambedkar proposed to include certain provisions on fundamental rights, specifically a clause to the effect that the state shall provide protection against economic exploitation. Among other things, this clause proposed that:
* Key industries shall be owned and run by the state;
* Basic but non-key industries shall be owned by the state and run by the state or by corporations established by it;
* Agriculture shall be a state industry, and be organised by the state taking over all land and letting it out for cultivation in suitable standard sizes to residents of villages; these shall be cultivated as collective farms by groups of families.
As part of his proposals, Dr. Ambedkar provided detailed explanatory notes on the measures to protect the citizen against economic exploitation. He stated: "The main purpose behind the clause is to put an obligation on the state to plan the economic life of the people on lines which would lead to highest point of productivity without closing every avenue to private enterprise, and also provide for the equitable distribution of wealth. The plan set out in the clause proposes state ownership in agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation and a modified form of state socialism in the field of industry. It places squarely on the shoulders of the state the obligation to supply the capital necessary for agriculture as well as for industry."
Dr. Ambedkar recognises the importance of insurance in providing the state with "the resources necessary for financing its economic planning, in the absence of which it would have to resort to borrowing from the money market at high rates of interest" and proposes the nationalisation of insurance. He categorically stated: "State socialism is essential for the rapid industrialisation of India. Private enterprise cannot do it and if it did, it would produce those inequalities of wealth which private capitalism has produced in Europe and which should be a warning to Indians."
ANTICIPATING criticism against his proposals that they went too far, Dr.. Ambedkar argues that political democracy implied that "the individual should not be required to relinquish any of his constitutional rights as a condition precedent to the receipt of a privilege" and that "the state shall not delegate powers to private persons to govern others". He points out that "the system of social economy based on private enterprise and pursuit of personal gain violates these requirements".
Responding to the libertarian argument that where the state refrains from intervention in private affairs - economic and social - the residue is liberty, Dr. Ambedkar says: "It is true that where the state refrains from intervention what remains is liberty. To whom and for whom is this liberty? Obviously this liberty is liberty to the landlords to increase rents, for capitalists to increase hours of work and reduce rate of wages." Further, he says: "In an economic system employing armies of workers, producing goods en masse at regular intervals, someone must make rules so that workers will work and the wheels of industry run on. If the state does not do it, the private employer will. In other words, what is called liberty from the control of the state is another name for the dictatorship of the private employer."
India's experience with neoliberal reforms since 1990 shows that Dr. Ambedkar's apprehensions regarding the implications of the unfettered operation of monopoly capital, both domestic and foreign, were far from misplaced. As has been documented and written about extensively, during this period of neoliberal reforms, there has been no breakthrough in the rate of economic growth. At the same time, there has been a distinct slowing down of the rate of growth of employment and practically no decline in the proportion of people below the poverty line. Agriculture has been in a crisis for some time now and the rate of growth of industry has also been declining for several years now. At the same time, despite a slower growth of foodgrains output, the government is saddled with huge excess stocks, which it seeks to sell abroad or to domestic private trade at very low prices.
The government and its economists, instead of recognising that the crisis is the product in large part of the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, propose a set of so-called second-generation reforms. At the centre of these reforms is the complete elimination of employment security. The war cry of the liberalisers is: "Away with all controls and the state, and let the market rule."
In this context, one cannot but recall Dr. Ambedkar's words that liberty from state control is another name for the dictatorship of the private employer. Whether on labour reforms or on agrarian policy or on the question of the insurance sector or the role of the public sector in the context of development, Dr. Ambedkar's views are in direct opposition to those of neoliberal policies.
It is indeed a pity that self-styled leaders of Dalit movements, who invoke Dr. Ambedkar's name day in and day out, do not examine carefully his views on key issues of economic policy and their contemporary relevance for the struggles of the oppressed. One may not expect much from those Dalit-based political forces which think nothing of cohabiting with the Sangh Parivar, but even many sections of the Dalit movement which proclaim a radical stance on social (and sometimes economic) issues do not raise the question of land or of the role of the state in the sharp manner in which Dr. Ambedkar does.
Dr. Venkatesh Athreya is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, also called Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in affection and respect, was born in 1891 in a Mahar Untouchable family and died in 1956 after a lifetime of service to his people and to India. His influence has spread throughout India and his image, a Western-dressed gentleman pointing to the future and carrying a book, is found in many villages and all cities. The book represents the Constitution of independent India. His followers know the facts of his life and are so reverential that one right wing critic called him a 'false God'. The word now used broadly for Untouchables, Tribals, and other low castes and classes is 'Dalit', which means ground down, but began a proud use in the 1970s with a literary movement called 'Dalit Sahitya', made famous at first by the 'Dalit Panthers' named in reference to the militant American 'Black Panthers'. Like the word 'Black', it can be a source of controversy today. The term coined by Mohandas K. Gandhi, 'Harijan' or people of God, was resented by Ambedkar as patronizing, and the two also clashed over the idea of separate electorates for untouchables; Gandhi's win is still resented by some as depriving Dalits of their chosen leaders. Dr. Ambedkar's influence may be seen in literature, in educational and political institutions, in a massive Buddhist conversion, and in increased pride and self-confidence among Dalits.
| Experts seek land ceiling like Bengal | |
| CITHARA PAUL | |
New Delhi, Oct. 24: The Centre has been asked to impose the Bengal model of land distribution across the country by a panel it appointed to suggest land reforms. The non-binding advice, which recommends rural land ceilings more stringent than those in Bengal, comes at a time the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has tried to raise those limits to promote industry but seen its efforts stalled. The panel, set up by the rural development ministry, also discourages the use of farmland for industry. Stating that "land ceiling as a re-distributive programme is of as much relevance today as it was 50 years ago'', the committee has recommended limiting personal landholdings to 5-10 acres of irrigated land or 10-15 acres of non-irrigated land. In Bengal, the ceiling in non-irrigated areas is 17 acres and in irrigated areas, 12 acres. Left-ruled Bengal, Kerala and Tripura are the only states with rural land ceilings, the limit for irrigated land in Kerala being 15 acres. Some other states have tried and failed to enact land ceilings. So, although the report on "State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms" was handed in last January, the Centre has been unwilling to reveal its contents given their controversial nature. The standard reply from officials has been: "The ministry is going through the recommendations and will reveal them at the appropriate time." The commission was formed as a follow-up to the National Land Reforms Council, set up by the Prime Minister in 2008. It was headed by rural development minister C.P. Joshi and included experts such as A.K. Singh of Lucknow's Giri Institute of Development Studies, B.K. Sinha of the National Institute of Rural Development and P.K. Jha of the School of Economic Sciences and Planning, JNU. Although the recommendations are not binding, sources said, the report is significant since the rural development minister heads the committee. The panel has not mentioned the debate over whether smaller landholdings — a necessary impact of a ceiling — bring down productivity in the long run. Many economists believe the debate has been clinched as Bengal, Kerala and Tripura witnessed marked rise in productivity after land reforms. After the land re-distribution in Bengal in the late 1970s, the yield had increased 60 per cent, with economists attributing it to the extensive cultivation possible on smaller plots and the new owners' enthusiasm. However, some others still argue that smaller holdings make it uneconomical to use expensive farm technology, such as tractors. But that argument applies only to advanced capital-intensive agriculture, a very small part of India's agrarian economy. Bengal's Left Front government, the architect of the land reforms in the state, recently tabled a bill in the Assembly to relax the rural ceiling to facilitate commercial farming, farm products business and other industry. The bill has been sent to a House panel that has not been able to take a decision yet. Joshi's panel has made a slew of other recommendations (see chart). A potentially controversial one is the suggestion to scrap the exemptions to religious, educational, charitable and industrial organisations. Various educational and religious institutions have been acquiring land across the country using the exemptions granted by state governments. The panel says religious institutions should be allowed only a single unit of 15 acres. Criticising the widespread conversion of farmland for non-agriculture purposes, the committee says this has led to a fall in food production. "The inequitable distribution of benefits from the new land use, insufficient quantity of compensation, and rehabilitation not operationalised properly are leading to enormous dissatisfaction among the project-affected people. This ultimately is leading to gruesome social unrest as witnessed across the country and such violence can escalate and spread… if the conversion of land is not addressed relevantly," it says. It recommends that cultivable land should be the last option when acquisition is done, and if such land has to be taken over, the consent of all stakeholders is a must. The committee has also questioned the land re-distribution initiatives undertaken by various state governments apart from Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. It says "the land assigned to the poor were mostly uncultivable, and where cultivable lands have been assigned they were not under their possession''. It adds that the Bhoodan movement initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in the 1950s faced major blocks since most of the land donated was not good enough for cultivation and in most cases, much of the donated land did not reach the poor. It asks state governments to do a survey to ascertain the current status of these plots. Suggesting a new round of land redistribution, the committee says "the list of beneficiaries in fresh assignments should be selected by (the) gram sabha''. It has suggested a single-window approach to redistribution of ceiling-surplus land. The panel has also cited the "massive encroachments on government land'' in the Sunderbans in Bengal and the Aravalli and Satpura regions of Madhya Pradesh. The panel is also concerned that "the corpus of tribal land is in serious danger of erosion''. It says 4.3 million hectares of forestland have been diverted for non-forest use and that 55 per cent of this diversion has taken place after 2001. It recommends that the gram sabhas be recognised as the competent authority for all matters relating to transfer of tribal land. According to the panel, the autonomous district councils in the Northeast have failed to perform their task. "There is an urgent need for codification of the traditional rights of the village councils." |
The Other Side of Babasaheb Ambedkar - The Maker of the Indian Constitution
Dr. Ravindra Kumar - 12/6/2007
Babasaheb Ambedkar is principally known for his voice raised for upliftment of Dalits and down-trodden section of society and the work he did for them. Secondly, he is remembered for his ability and competence as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, formed to frame the Constitution of India. Indeed, his both of these works were of great importance and every right thinking and righteous Indian is proud of his performance and had profound regard for him.
However, Dr. Ambedkar's endeavours and works of upliftment of Dalits and other weaker sections of society and as architect of Indian Constitution is not the only introduction of his personality. In fact, it is only one aspect of his personality. The other side of his personality can be evaluated as seen through his thoughts, understanding and suggestions for land reforms in this predominantly agriculturist country, foreign policy, the State of Jammu and Kashmir in particular, and his work for strengthening nationalism in India.
It is an irony that most of the people are acquainted with only one aspect of Ambedkar's life and works. It is also ridiculous that even this side of his personality is used for fulfillment of pure political purposes. As Dr. Ambedkar never used politics for personal gains, it is wholly unjustified to use his name to meet political ends. Besides this, it is not proper to ignore the other side of his personality particularly in view of over all national interests.
Dr. Ambedkar's proclaimed determination in favour of Indian nationalism is reflected in his often repeated words, "I am an Indian, India is my motherland and nothing is supreme than this to me" and it is a self proven fact too. However, there were many other occasions when his determined stand in favour of Indian nationalism proved that he was a patriot par excellence.
When it was proposed in the Constituent Assembly to continue the provision of separate constituencies for a particular religious community, Babasaheb Ambedkar vehemently opposed it keeping the idea of national interest in his mind. In 1948, when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was working hard with determination to merge the State of Hyderabad with the Union of India, some people attached to a particular ideology tried to misguide State's Scheduled Castes to favour the Nizam. At that time, Dr. Ambedkar said, "Scheduled Castes should not put their community up with disgrace and defamation/humiliation by siding with Nizam who is anti India." Simultaneously, after independence, in the year 1949, he called upon the countrymen to be bewaring of the activities of neighbouring country and called them "to remain determined to safeguard the freedom of India till last drop of blood."
An ardent supporter of land reforms and profitable agriculture, Dr. Ambedkar called for modernization of this sector ever since the third decade of twentieth century. Side by side, analyzing Indian foreign policy he said, "Thrust of our foreign policy is to solve problems of other nations rather than our own." Linking Kashmir problem with this policy, he opined, "Even if we cannot defend the entire region, at least our own people should be accorded full protection."
Babasaheb Ambedkar cautioned the Government several times about expansionist design of China. He did not agree with Indian policy makers' belief of Panchasheela as basis of our relationship with China and said, "Mao Tse-Tung does not have faith in Panchasheela, which is an essential part of Buddhism. If he has any belief in this ideal, he would have well treated Buddhist of his own country."
Undoubtedly, Ambedkar was a champion of social reforms. Along with this he was a great nationalist and a patriot. He was thorough and through a humanist. He always paid due regards to others. His respect for Mahadeo Govind Ranade, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Savarkar and Sardar Patel is well-known. He had also regarded Balasaheb Kher and K. M. Munshi. Much is said about relationship betwixt Gandhiji and Babasaheb Ambedkar. But despite differences of opinion, Ambedkar had regards for the Mahatma. On September 6, 1954 he had said in the Upper House –Rajya Sabha, "I respect Gandhiji. After all he was very near to untouchables and loved them."
It is high time that we must be well acquainted with all aspects of Dr. Ambedkar's great personality before we talk of remembering him in true sense and following his ideals.
| Dr. Ravindra Kumar is a universally renowned Gandhian scholar, Indologist and writer. He is the Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Meerut. |
Backgrounder Part I: Land Reform in India
Issues and Challenges
January 21, 2003
India inherited a semi-feudal agrarian system. The ownership and control of land was highly concentrated in a few landlords and intermediaries whose main intention was to extract maximum rent, either in cash or kind, from tenants. As a result, agricultural productivity suffered and oppression of tenants resulted in a progressive deterioration of their plight.
| Land Research Action Network | (More from this organization) |
|
Page: 1 | 2
Brief Historical
Purview
As the
basis of all economic activity, land can either serve as an essential
asset for the country to achieve economic growth and social equity,
or it could be used as a tool in the hands of a few to hijack a
country's economic independence and subvert its social processes.
During the two centuries of British colonization, India had
experienced the latter reality. During colonialism, India's
traditional land ownership and land use patterns were changed to ease
acquisition of land at low prices by British entrepreneurs for mines,
plantations etc. The introduction of the institution of private
property de-legitimized community ownership systems of tribal
societies. Moreover, with the introduction of the land tax under the
Permanent Settlement Act 1793, the British popularized the zamindari
system at the cost of the jajmani relationship that the landless
shared with the land owning class. By no means a just system, the
latter at least ensured the material security of those without land.7
Owing to these
developments, at independence, India inherited a semi-feudal agrarian
system. The ownership and control of land was highly concentrated in
a few landlords and intermediaries whose main intention was to
extract maximum rent, either in cash or kind, from tenants. Under
this arrangement, the sharecropper or the tenant farmer had little
economic motivation to develop farmland for increased production.
Naturally, a cultivator who did not have security of tenure, and was
required to pay a high proportion of output in rents, was less likely
to invest in land improvements, or use high yielding varieties or
other expensive inputs likely to yield higher returns. At the same
time, neither was the landlord particularly concerned about improving
the economic condition of the cultivators. As a result,
agricultural productivity suffered and oppression of tenants resulted
in a progressive deterioration of their plight.
In the years
immediately following India's independence, a conscious process of
nation building looked upon problems of land with a pressing urgency.
In fact, the national objective of poverty abolition envisaged
simultaneous progress on two fronts, high productivity and equitable
distribution. Accordingly, reforms of the land were visualized as an
important pillar for a strong and prosperous country. The first few
five-year plans allocated substantial budgetary amounts for the
implementation of land reforms. A degree of success was even
registered in certain regions and states, and especially in areas
like the abolition of intermediaries, protection to tenants,
rationalization of different tenure systems and the imposition of
ceiling on land holdings. Fifty-four years down the line, however,
a number of problems are still far from satisfactorily resolved.
Most studies
indicate that inequalities have increased, rather than decreased.
The number of landless labor has gone up and the top ten percent
monopolizes more land now than in 1951. Meanwhile, the issue of land
reforms has over the years, either unconsciously faded from public
mind or deliberately been glossed over. Vested interests of the
landed elite and their powerful nexus with the political-bureaucratic
system have blocked meaningful land reforms and /or their earnest
implementation. The oppressed have either been co-opted with some
benefits, or further subjugated as the new focus on LPG has altered
government priorities and public perceptions. As a result, we are
today at a juncture where land, mostly for the urban, educated elite,
and who also happens to be the powerful decision-maker, has become
more a matter for housing, investment and infra-structure building.
In the bargain, the existence of land as a basis of livelihood -- for
subsistence, survival, social justice and human dignity has largely
been lost.
Objectives
It is against this background that
the specific objectives of the Project in India have been articulated
as:
-
To raise popular and elite awareness
on issues related to land, particularly in the present context of
the LPG thrust of the government since the 1990s -
To monitor specific projects and
programmes being aided by international financial institutions in
some states of India in order to assess their true impact on the
rural community directly affected. -
To monitor and scrutinize national
and transnational economic trends that have a specific bearing on
issues related to land and agriculture. -
To explore the
efficacy of the current developmental model that perceives land only
as a factor of production, and not as a means of survival, equity
and dignity. -
To examine possible strategies for
facilitating reconciliation between the claims of the market over
land and land reforms to ensure social change based on justice and
equity. -
To document
historical strategies of land reforms and place them in the
socio-economic-political context in which they were effective or not
and accordingly cull out lessons for the future. -
To recommend alternative policies
and approaches to contemporary land challenges. -
To provide research and analytical
support to the existing land movements, and facilitate better
networking among them. -
To awaken the weakening social
consciousness of an increasingly consumerist society by drawing
linkages between the economic policies of globalization at the macro
level and its impact on human livelihoods at the micro level.
IFIs and Issues
Related to Land in India
The task of the
articulation of objectives is several times easier compared to the
challenges that lie ahead in realizing these goals. Any
reform is as difficult an economic exercise as a political
undertaking since it involves a realignment of economic and political
power. The groups that are likely to be the losers naturally resist
reallocation of power, property and status. Obviously, the
landholding class is unlikely to willingly vote itself out of
possession. Neither should it be expected that it would be uniformly
inflamed by altruistic passions to voluntarily undertake the
exercise. Hence, one cannot underestimate the complexity of the task
at hand.
Loopholes in
legislation have facilitated the evasion of some of the provisions,
for instance in ceiling reforms, by those who wanted to maintain the
status quo. At the same time, tardy implementation at the
bureaucratic level and a political hijacking of the land reforms
agenda have traditionally posed impediments in the path of effective
land reforms. Even in states that have attempted reforms, the
process has often halted mid-way with the cooption of the
beneficiaries by the status quoits to resist any further reforms.
For instance, with the abolition of intermediary interests, the
erstwhile superior tenants belonging mostly to the upper and middle
classes have acquired a higher social status. Rise in agricultural
productivity, rising land values and higher incomes from cultivation
have added to their economic strength. These classes have since
become opposed to any erosion in their newly acquired financial or
social status.
Hence,
problems related to land such as concentration, tenancy rights,
access to the landless etc still continue to challenge India. The
criticality of the issue, in fact, may be gauged from the fact that
notwithstanding the decline in the share of agriculture to the GDP,
nearly 58% of India's population is still dependant on agriculture
for livelihood. More than half of this percentage (nearly 63%),
however, owns smallholdings of less than 1 hectare while the large
parcels of 10 hectares of land or more are in the hands of less than
2%. The absolute landless and the near landless (those owning up to
.2 ha of land) account for as much as 43% of the total peasant
households.8
This reality,
however, had come to worry the governments little during the late
1970s and 80s. It was only in the 1990s, with the initiation of the
economic restructuring process that the issue of land reforms
resurfaced, albeit in a different garb and with a different objective
and motivation. If the government-led land reforms had been imbued
with a degree, though the extent is debatable, of desire for
attaining equity, social justice and dignity, the new land reforms
agenda is market-driven, as everything else in this phase of economic
globalization, and has at its heart certain other kinds of
objectives. Being promoted and guided by various IFIs, contemporary
emphasis on land reforms reflects and seeks to fulfill the
macro-economic objectives of these multilateral economic
institutions.
While the return of
land reforms to the government's list of priorities is a welcome
development, the manner in which it is being undertaken, its
objectives, and consequently the impact on people, especially those
that are already marginalized and are being further deprived of a
stake in the system, raises a number of questions and prompts one to
look for alternatives. The Project, therefore, shall devote its
energies to identifying and monitoring the implementation of certain
specific IFI-sponsored programmes in particular states with a view to
examining their short-term and long-term impact on the lives and
livelihoods of local residents. This shall enable an informed
critique of the IFI- led land reforms programmes and serve as a
lesson for peoples else where in India and in other regions of the
globe as well.
Market- Led Land
Reforms -- The Current Emphasis on Land Administration, Titling and
Registration
In
their analyses of India's land reforms programme, most IFIs have
highlighted that one of the basic problem that the rural poor face is
access to land and security of tenure. Consequently, they advocate
redemption of this situation through structural reforms of property
rights to create land markets as part of a broader strategy of
fostering economic growth and reducing rural poverty.9
A large emphasis
has, therefore, been placed on the need to establish the basic legal
and institutional framework that would improve secure property rights
as a means to protect environmental and cultural resources, to
facilitate productivity-enhancing exchanges of land in rental and
sales markets, to link land to financial markets, to use land as a
sustainable source of revenue for local governments, and to improve
land access by the poor and traditionally disenfranchised. (Emphasis
added).
The package the
IFIs offer includes comprehensive reforms of land tenure, including
titling, cadastral surveys and settlement operations, land
registries, improvements in land revenue systems, land legislation,
land administration, land sale-purchase transactions, and removal of
restrictions on land leasing. In fact, it may be recalled that even
in 1975, a Land Reforms Policy Paper brought out by the WB had
described land registration and titling as the main instruments for
increasing individual's tenure security, the main facilitators for
the establishment of flourishing land markets and the major tools to
enable the use of land as collateral for credit. However, the
emphasis on these issues then was much less. But today, these
ingredients constitute the mainstay of IFI-led land reforms across
the world.
Through this
approach, land reforms are envisaged in two phases:
-
Phase One -- Dismantling
Distortionary Policies.
-
This would
involve the removal of all restrictions on the sale and purchase of
land, including those related to minimum and maximum size, and
revision of procedures for sale of public lands. -
It would
envisage the complete elimination of rent controls so as to increase
investments and efficiency in agriculture. -
Zoning would also be eliminated,
except in the case of safeguarding certain environmental concerns.
Restrictions on land use, if necessary in specific areas, would be
achieved through instruments other than government legislations,
such as creation of a market for development rights.
-
Phase Two-
Institutional and Legal Reforms
-
Constraints in the operations of
the land markets to be removed through reforms that aim that
reducing costs of land adjudication, issuing of correct titles, and
easy availability of crucial market information to interested
parties. -
Creation of land laws that remove
uncertainty facilitates easy and transparent access to the land
administration system, establish dispute settlement institutions
and institutionalize property rights.
-
As is evident, the
bottom line of all these measures is the facilitation of land markets
wherein land is available for sale-purchase from less to more
productive users. It is believed that with proper title deeds
being available for property, it would become easier and less risky
to buy and sell land. As a private commodity, the owner will have a
stake in putting the land to best use, which in WB terminology
implies use that can generate maximum profits.
The manner in which
this exercise would generate access to land for the rural poor is
through the provision of credit to them for purchase of land, making
available to them technical assistance to enable them to plough the
land in keeping with the needs of commercial farming, and providing
them with marketing support. Of course, everything would come for a
price with the farmer being gradually pushed into a process of
indebtedness. Credit would be easily available to have access to
land and other expensive agricultural inputs such as seeds,
fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, market mechanisms etc. The
market forces at every step would encourage the farmer to take easily
available loans, but vagaries of nature as much as those of the
market could easily bring him to ruin. Bankrupt, he may be forced to
sell the land and either move out of the land market completely,
leaving the fields for the richer and more able farmers/corporations,
or get into the process once again to try his luck.
It is in this
context that the market-driven land reforms that are being encouraged
by the IFIs need to be looked into. None can deny the need for
reform in land administration agencies, for updating of land records
through surveys and settlement of rights, computerization of land
records etc. In fact, one can recall that in the first two decades of
government land reforms after independence, the reformers demanded
these measures. At that time, however, the issues were largely
ignored or neglected owing to lack of institutional support such as
trained staff, equipment, capital etc. The IFIs have rightly
discovered this lacuna and are now offering the financial help and
technical expertise in carrying out the exercise. However, the
purpose for which these reforms are being undertaken in the present
context raises several issues since the motives may not measure up to
those of social justice and dignity for the individual:
1. The IFIs
proclaim increasing access to land for the rural poor by offering
credit. However, how does this help if they simultaneously encourage
macroeconomic and trade policies that negate the benefits of such an
exercise? Policies such as trade liberalization, cutbacks in price
supports and subsidies for food producers, privatization of credit,
commercialization of agriculture, excessive export promotion and
promotion of research in expensive technologies such as genetic
engineering etc undercut the economic viability of the smaller and
poorer farmers. The onslaught of these policies adversely affects
the small farmers leading to high failure rates, mass sell-offs,
increased landlessness, land concentration, even intensified land
degradation, and rural-urban migration. What then is the efficacy of
such land reforms?
2. The
emergence of land markets and the consequent commodification of land
raises several issues for the status of the common property
resources because by codifying social and property relations that
were hitherto implicit, land titling could reduce the
asset-endowment of vulnerable groups with inadequate access to
political power. Therefore, their privatization would spell severe
consequences for those who have survived on it for generations but
have no legal documents to show for the same. Does this not lead to
situations, where common lands may be acquired by powerful
individuals/corporations in violation of long-established rights of
indigenous communities?
3. What impact
would the process of titling and land registration have on the
status of women and indigenous people who often tend to be left out
of these processes?
4. The
market-driven economy emphasizes short-term profit motives with
little regard for the people or environment. Rather, the primacy of
commercial interests in a market society encourages the view that
stretches of densely vegetated forests or other open lands that may
have an intangible ecological value but are not being utilized to
carry out activities that can fetch tangible foreign exchange are
‘non-optimally used resources.' With such perceptions becoming
prevalent, would not the environment, too, become victim to a
thoughtless extraction of maximum profits with little consideration
for the actual ecological value of land? For instance, the
conversion of non-agricultural land to agricultural, or vice versa,
may not be the most judicious use of the land but may be resorted to
for the sake of maximizing profits.
5. The benefits
of secure titles to land may be nullified by market distortions
caused when land is used as a commodity for investment and
speculation. This then inflates land value, making access to land
even more difficult. Therefore, how can land speculation, an
inevitable accompaniment of land market development, help in
providing secure tenure for all -- the major World Bank motivation
for market-led land reforms?
While data is not
yet available, most observers feel that the net result of the
predominance of land markets in regions where they have become
operative has been a deterioration in the access of the poor to land
as they are forced/tempted to sell off land they own, or lose it by
defaulting on credit. None can argue against the need for
straightening land records and the provision of secure land titles
and registration, the motivation for the exercise must delve deeper
than the mere creation of land markets for private profit. The
Project proposes to undertake a study of this issue and its actual
impact on the rural poor by studying the implementation of the
activity in the state of Maharashtra. It also proposes to study
alternative schemes in this regard, such as the one undertaken by the
Maharashtra government in Pune. The simultaneous analysis of two
different methods of undertaking regularization of land records would
reveal lessons for others. It shall also weigh the benefits costs of
these measures against those of land redistribution as a means of
poverty alleviation and for promotion of ecological sustainability.
Commercialization
/ Industrialization of Agriculture
An economic model based on widespread
industrialization has signified profound changes in the manner in
which agriculture is conducted and for what purpose. From a family,
or at the most a community affair, agriculture has been
"professionalised"
into an industry where a farmer produces for a global market. Indeed,
modern techniques of farming such as increased mechanization,
development and widespread use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides
and herbicides, emphasis on economies of scale through larger field
and farm size, continuous cropping, developments in livestock, plant
breeding and biotechnology have transformed agriculture.
This phenomenon has
been promoted by decision-makers who perceive agriculture more as an
industry that must be conducted to maximize profits and less as a way
of life that has social and ecological ramifications. The trend has
been justified by the substantial increases in agricultural output,
which, it is argued, has substantially eased national food security
concerns. Undoubtedly, national granaries are today overflowing. And
yet, the individual in the village is starving to death or a ‘failed'
farmer is resorting to suicide. Surely, this calls for a closer
examination of the issues involved.
Commercialization
of agriculture first struck its root in India in the 1960s with the
Green Revolution in Punjab when the World Bank, along with the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID), promoted agricultural
productivity through import of fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and
farm machinery.10
The Bank provided the credit that was needed to replace the low-
cost, low-input agriculture in existence with an agricultural system
that was both capital- and chemical-intensive. The Indian government
decided that the potential of the new technology far outweighed the
risks and accordingly, the foreign exchange component of the Green
Revolution strategy for the five-year plan period (1966-1971) was
raised to about $2.8 billion, a jump of more than six times the total
amount allocated to agriculture during the preceding third plan.11
Most of the foreign exchange was spent on imports of fertilizer,
seeds, pesticides and farm machinery.
World Bank credit
subsidized these imports while also exerting pressure on the
government to obtain favorable conditions for foreign investment in
India's fertilizer industry, import liberalization and the
elimination of most domestic controls. The Bank advocated the
replacement of diverse varieties of food crops with monocultures of
imported varieties of seeds. In 1969, the Terai Seed Corporation was
started with a $13 million World Bank loan. This was followed by two
National Seeds Project (NSP) loans. This program led to the
homogenization and corporatization of India's agricultural system.
The Bank provided NSP $41 million between 1974 and 1978. The projects
were intended to develop state institutions and to create a new
infrastructure for increasing the production of Green Revolution seed
varieties. In 1988, the World Bank gave India's seed sector a fourth
loan to make it more "market responsive." The $150 million
loan aimed to privatize the seed industry and open India to
multinational seed corporations. After the loan, India announced a
New Seed Policy that allowed multinational corporations to penetrate
fully a market that previously was not as directly accessible.
Sandoz, Continental, Cargill, Pioneer, Hoechst and Ciba Geigy now are
among the multinational corporations that have major interests in
India's seed sector.
While the Revolution
did ease India's food grain situation, transforming the country from
a food importer to an exporter, it also provided space to the rich
farming community to politicize subsidies, facilitate concentration
of inputs increase dependence on greater use of
external inputs such as credit, technology, seeds, fertilizers etc.
Moreover, a study by the World Resources Institute, published in
1994, showed that the Green Revolution only increased Indian food
production by 5.4% while the agricultural practices that were
followed have resulted in nearly 8.5 million hectares or six percent
of the crop base being lost to water logging, salinity or excess
alkalinity. Furthermore, although the amount of wheat production has
doubled over a period of 20 years, and rice production has gone up by
50%, greater emphasis has been placed on production of commercial
crops like sugarcane and cotton etc at the expense of crops like
chickpeas and millet that were traditionally grown by the poor for
themselves. This has steadily eroded the self-sufficiency of the
small farmer in food grains.
Yet, governments
remain stuck on the same model of agrarian reforms and are being
generously encouraged by the IFIs. Agriculture is the World Bank's
largest portfolio in any country. 130 agricultural projects have
received $10.2 billion Bank financing in India since the 1950s.
These projects have taken the form of providing support for the
fertilizer industry, ground water exploitation through pump-sets,
introduction of high yielding variety of seeds, setting up of banking
institutions to finance capitalist agriculture etc.
Not surprisingly,
then, the trend towards commercialization of agriculture has only
intensified and in the process given rise to a number of questions:
-
Has not the
promotion of the modern concept of agrarian reforms resulted in a
radical transformation of agricultural practices through the
introduction of new seed varieties, cultivation of cash crops,
increasing use of fertilizers and chemicals and the charging of
user-fees for irrigation and drinking water etc and thereby resulted
in a sharp division in the farming community between the prosperous
agri-business farmers and the small farmers trying to keep pace with
market demands of commercial agriculture?
-
There is also a
tendency to monopolize different agricultural activities, including
production and distribution of seeds, knowledge etc. In addition,
with liberalization, comes the entry of foreign capital into the
farming sector, either through direct control over production or
through contract farming. Corporate and contract farming encourages
the cultivation of cash crops and fruits instead of food crops on
even small pieces of land. Will this not steadily erode the
self-sufficiency of the small farmer in the area of food grains?
More so, if the cash crop fails, the small farmer is not adequately
covered by any policy of the government, thereby becoming as
vulnerable to natural vagaries as to market forces. Also, would not
increased production translate into lower prices for products
because of the simple demand-supply law, thereby making it even more
difficult for small and marginal farmers to redeem the high costs of
production?
-
Would not the lack of economic viability in the farming activity
lead a farmer to sell/lease land to domestic big landholders or
foreign direct investors12,
and migrate into cities? How then would the city infrastructure
bear the additional burden?
-
Production of
agricultural commodities for exports necessitates their smooth,
reliable and timely delivery to the markets. The development of such
infra structure amounts to land acquisition by the government in the
name of "public
purpose," but have adequate provisions been made for the
rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced tribals?
-
What impact has
all this had on diversity in Indian agriculture? It has been
alleged that the introduction of monocultures exacerbates social
inequities by discriminating against small farmers who cannot afford
the necessary expensive inputs like fertilizer and pesticides.
Besides, the preservation of biodiversity is vital for local
populations because ecosystems suffering from a loss of biodiversity
end up losing their capacity to support the human populations
dependent upon them.
-
At the same
time, the impact on the environment cannot be ignored either. Is the
excessive use of chemical inputs not already resulting in massive
land degradation, soil erosion, siltation of reservoirs, local
climate changes, desertification and loss of land productivity?
-
What are the
implications of commercial agriculture on the larger issue of food
security -- for the nation, and for the individual?
-
How are the
issues of genetically modified crops going to play themselves out in
the national and international political arenas and what impact
would they have on the lives and livelihoods of the farmers
concerned?
None of these issues
is of a minor nature or simple in solution. The Project proposes to
examine the phenomenon of commercialization of agriculture in the
state of Andhra Pradesh that has most enthusiastically embraced
agricultural reforms, including power and water sector reforms that
have a bearing on agriculture. Yet, the state has also been in the
news in recent times for farmers committing suicides or selling vital
body organs to pay back loans taken for expensive agricultural
inputs. The Project endeavors to explore the linkages.
FOOTNOTES
1
It was founded by Walden Bello and Kamal Malhotra in 1995, and is
currently attached to Chulalongkorn University Social Research
Institute (CUSRI) in Bangkok, Thailand.
2
Also known as the Institute for Food and Development Policy, Food
First is an alternative policy think tank. Through research,
analysis, education and advocacy, it seeks to mobilize people to
take action to end injustices that cause ecological devastation and
hunger all over the world. The organization was founded by Frances
Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins about 25 years ago.
3
Center for Global Justice is an NGO that undertakes research,
advocacy and action to guarantee the economic, social, cultural,
civil and political human rights of marginalized sections of society
in Brazil.
4
NLC is the secretariat of a South African NGO network comprising of
eight affiliated land rights organizations actively working to
assist poor black rural people in their fight for land rights and
development assistance.
5
The Project defines land reform as reforms in land tenure, tenancy,
land distribution, and re-distribution, access to land, land-use
rights, land titling, land registries, land privatization and land
markets, each alone or in combination, and with or without
programmes to promote agricultural production or forest exploitation
use via credit, technical assistance, infrastructure development
etc.
6
Walter Fernandes, "Land,
Water and Air as Community Livelihood: Impact of Globalization",
Unpublished paper presented at Conference on "Ecology
and Theology", held in Bangalore, December 10-15, 2001.
7
Ibid.
8
Figures as found in India Rural Development Report brought
out by the National Institute for Rural Development, Hyderabad. The
Report itself is based on National Sample Survey data of 1999.
9
Robin Mearns,, "Access
to Land in Rural India", The World Bank Policy Research Working
Paper (2123), May 1999.
10
The World Bank's involvement in the green revolution began in 1964
when it sent a mission headed by Bernard Bell to India. The Bell
mission called for a devaluation of Indian
currency, liberalization of trade
controls and greater emphasis on chemical-intensive and
capital-intensive agriculture.
11
Figures as quoted by Vandana Shiva in an article on the
Environmental Consequences of Commercial Agriculture.
12
For further reading on this refer to report on the workshop,
"WTO/GATT
instruments and the Indian Farmer" organized by Focus on the
Global South -- India Programme during January 2001.
###
Following is a paper written by Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. Admiral Vishnu Baghwat assumed charge of the Indian Navy, as the 15th Chief of Naval Staff, on 30 September 1996. Admiral Bhagwat has been a strong votary of Ambedkar & his Economic vision which has remained on the margins, as not much scholarship is available on that. This was a paper he presented in a seminar. Mr Vidyabhushan Rawat likes to share this with Atrocitynews readers. The views and opinion expressed are in individual capacity , Atrocitynews does not necessarily represents/endorce them in anyform. However Atrocitynews invites readers comments on this piece.
Dr Ambedkar descended the Indian skies like a meteor, lighting up the freedom movement with a viable economic vision and road map, charted a constitutional democracy which, as he often said, could take us to the revolutionary goal of equality , liberty and fraternity. This assessment is accepted by a large number of people. However, his economic ideology and mission have been buried in the sands of globalisation , privatization and 'reforms' by the ruling elite and even his self-proclaimed followers , who have joined hands in erecting stone and granite statues of the 'Revolutionary' whose thoughts not only sprang from the soil of the country but also its political ,economic and social realities ( It was buried even earlier by those who presented a confused and diffused ideology from various political platforms, and who buried his rational and scientific thinking ) .
If we really, deeply study his core ideas , ideology if you like , his central mission is spelt out in his drafts to the Constitution Drafting Committee of which he was the Chairman ,1947-49 . Dr Ambedkar finally emerged as the main 'Architect' of this most vital document that lays down the framework of the Republic and its social , political and economic objectives , which is a manifesto of those who struggled for India's freedom against foreign capital , foreign rule and local dominant , economic and caste interests . The Constitution is above the Supreme Court , the Lok Sabha , the Prime Minister and the Executive and was intended to be its guiding star , its Dhruva tara. How much we have deviated from the Constitution's Directive , its soul the Directive Principles which are mandatory for any Government in office is an issue which is for all of us to assess. . If this is tested by the ground reality of the condition of the exploited classes , the denial of equality of opportunity , of education, of the very right to life , to work, and economic policies which have made the preamble of the Constitution a paper promise in the hands of the exploiting class who have arrogated to themselves a near total monopoly of resources , unprecedented and growing concentration of wealth that make a mockery of the direction 'for the common good'.
First of all let us try to forge a common understanding of how 'Ambedkar thought' evolved ? Is it possible to flag mark Dr Ambedkar's tortuous yet blazing journey . Dr Ambedkar chose his own methodology to educate and inform himself . It is true that cataclysmic events took place in the journey of his life…the 1917 October Proletarian Revolution in Russia, which to begin with placed power in the hands of the workers and peasants , the toiling and hitherto exploited class . In my understanding , though he may not have explicitly stated so in his revolutionary call in Manmad in 1938 , that was the central idea of his declaration of the three principles at the workers conference to which we will come as we discuss further . Then came the 'Great Economic Depression' of 1929 , with its devastation , hunger and unemployment , which not only burnt and singed the people in the United States but also in Europe . The Capitalist classes across the industrialized countries speedily funded Fascist groups , to further disposses and divert the working class . This was spread through fear and propaganda , promising them the mirage of nationalism , discipline, conquests and full employment , at the same time breaking their organizations , enslaving them in factories , mines and plants jointly owned by global 'finance capital' , including by American corporations and British capitalists , through the 1930s , as now brought to light , through the period of the Second World War ,via a commonly owned and set up Banking system, while the soldiers were killed and maimed as cannon fodder on military fronts all over the world in Europe , the Soviet Union , North Africa and Asia . Dr Ambedkar by now a champion of Dalit rights also clearly saw that Dalit emancipation could only be achieved through a broad united front of all the exploited classes . Dr Ambedkar had already defined a Dalit as 'one who struggles' ( for democratic rights ). His definition was, therefore, categorically inclusive of all individuals and groups who were naturally bonded , engaged in the common struggle, of the exploited classes.
Dr Ambedkar had through his definitive works , beginning in 1917 with his outstanding doctoral dissertation at the Colombia University, the "National Dividend of India" , essentially on the transfer of wealth and surpluses from India to Imperial Britain , laid bare the huge colonial (looting ) enterprise on which Britain's industrialization was founded . There is another work , that of RC Dutt , covering this path breaking subject ; which dared to expose to bare bones , through facts , figures , official documents how Britain , later called 'Great Britain', established and executed the great parasitical enterprise , called British India . Dadabhai Naoroji whom Dr Ambedkar greatly respected also spoke and wrote on the rapacious transfer of surpluses from India to England .This thought process , bold and courageous in the extreme, shook those little social clubs who were petitioning the Sarkar for some concessions in entrance to the British Indian Army through the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and the ICS quota for Indians . Historically , it was quite a coincidence that Gandhi's own experiences in South Africa of racial discrimination and apartheid , brought him to India and start transforming the Congress into a mass organization of peasants , workers and all the toiling masses within the limitations of the social setup in the country. Not content with his monumental work Dr Ambedkar finished writing his " Small Holdings in India and their Remedies in 1917." We cannot but infer that Mahatma Jyotiba Phule's "Kisan Che Kode" inspired him and stoked his passion to try and expose, and later struggle , by throwing in his lot with those classes subjected to extreme social , political and economic exploitation .
Academically and to further consolidate his grasp of Public Finance was published in 1921, he worked on and published "Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in British India , the Problem of the Rupee ( the issues of Silver and Gold Standards ) in 1923 , the Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India 1925. Let us pause for a moment and reflect on the boundless energy , the diligence and perseverance , the prodigious output of the Man. No economist in India has produced such monumental , vital and relevant works as Bhimrao Ambedkar did in those nine years 1916-25. Undoubtedly these studies gave him an incomparable advantage over his contemporaries . He may have surpassed his contribution as a Law Minister after 1950 in the field of public finance if he had been Finance Minister ; but Finance Ministers in the existing system have to be conservatives not revolutionaries , who may upset the 'apple cart' !
Dr Ambedkar had emerged as ,by far the most erudite and scholarly economist on the sub-continent. His alert , incisive and sensitive mind was now setting up his own compass for the struggles ahead as he walked tall in the thirties. The Great Depression of 1929 –33 shook the whole world and its epicenter was in the United States and Europe , the foremost capitalist systems, where he had spent his period of study and observation . Capitalism's exploitative chain had broken down and was engulfed by a serious crisis ; it was replaced by Fascism , i.e the rule by private Corporations in partnership with the ruling elite controlling the State apparatus. Dr Ambedkar was perceptive enough to grasp the significance of slave labour being used by the Corporations . While he had pre-occupations with the Round Table Conference, the Poona Pact , the Government of India Act 1935 , the provincial elections and Separate electorates ; he was deeply distressed by the exploitation , impoverishment, daily humiliation and denial of human rights to the exploited classes and the Dalits in the social mileu of the backward , feudal , arch conservative society that had evolved in the country of his birth . This evolution was not an accident . Michiavellian state craft in combination with parasitical economic production relations and a cruel , ritual order was used as a means to enslave the people who built India . Another economist in Ancient India had seen through it all – Chanakya who led a revolt of the slaves and helped install a Shudra dynasty , the Mauryas , which held sway over most of India until it was done out by a regrouping of the wealthy and the propertied , expropriating classes . The people who toiled in the fields to produce food, the bundkars who wove clothes and fabrics , the artisans who made tools with their hands , household items and the most exquisite articles with precious stones and alloy metals , the people who built homes , palaces and monuments, the leather workers who made shoes , saddles for the army cavalry and without whose services society would not exist and flourish , were all continuously being cheated , looted through expropriation of the surpluses that they created by their sweat, blood and sacrifices. The Manu Smriti , a fraudulent , adharmic manufacture of diseased minds of some elements of the priestly class who had prostituted themselves to the exploiting , ruling class to lay a spider's web of fear , intimidation and an unimaginably, cruel and despotic social order based on all that is ignoble , unjust and unequal , in direct opposition to the Dharma that many great minds, specially Gautam Buddha , and those who guided Indian society had laid down. The nectar of Dr Ambedkar's perceptions can be gauged by a better effort at understanding the essence of his writings and speeches , through his life and the stands he took, some necessarily with compromises, underpinned by his deep understanding of how the exploitative chain and the process of accumulation of surplus works and creates an overwhelming majority of serfs and slaves as an economic underclass leading a dehumanizing animal like existence , outside the boundaries of the proper village or bustee and in slums and ghettoes in the cities and towns as outcastes , untouchables and sub humans or'unter-menschens'. Others , so called born into higher castes have also been forced into this large mass of labor, of unceasing toil , of carrying the load on their backs and pulling the 'thela', since then with the rise of modern capitalism.
Dr Ambedkar had decided to carry out the struggle on two tracks ; to destroy the oppressive social order and to bring about an equitable , non –capitalist economic restructuring through mass awakening , reform and democratic movements , as he believed that real economic democracy was a means to transform a nation to a just order . He said 'the struggle for economic justice was as important as the struggle for social justice' . Why has this central idea and central mission of Dr Ambedkar's life been forgotten and his core ideas and philosophy on the struggle for economic justice , suppressed by various big leaders and movements in all corners of the country is a question of fundamental importance ? This needs to be urgently corrected if we have to move forward.
We have seen how the Sanghis , who are essentially adherents of the Manu Smriti order, infiltrated and subverted the Congress Party , pre and post Independence , camouflage the core issue of economic justice while rationalizing 'social justice' to fool the people, assassinated Gandhi for opposing the domination of British finance capital in India which devastated the Indian economy . This class opposed the mild dose of reform for the Hindu society , the Hindu Code Bill and engineering riots and pogroms and spreading division and violence through their well-oiled Goebellsian propaganda machinery , all funded by the corporate class . What of ourselves why is it that we too have deviated from the central thread that runs through the mission of Dr Ambedkar's life ?
As we have seen Dr Ambedkar through his logic , reasoning and scientific rationale , backed by a deep and real understanding of theoretical and applied economics, charted a path for all Indians, for the Dalits who he defined as ALL those engaged in the ' Struggle' for emancipation from the bondage of the exploitative order , through centuries of feudal and capitalist domination .
It is no surprise , therefore, that he set his precepts into practise by mobilizing and leading the march for temple entry at Mahad , to be shortly followed by his stirring address at the Independent Labour Party Conference at Manmad in 1938. This was a continuity of the calls of TukaRam , Shahuji Maharaj , Jyoitaba Phule , only set in the contemporary context and sharply focussing on the struggle for economic justice that lay ahead . These ideas he later introduced in his draft submissions for the Constitution and the final form of the Constitution, of which he was the principal architect. ( Imagine if the Constitution of India had been drafted in 2004 ,and indeed the attempt to 'reform' the Constitution by the Sangh Parivar had succeeded in 1999-2000 , what kind of a Constitution would we have today ! )
Manmad 1938, the GIP Railway Dalit Mazdoor Conference, ( caste discrimination was practiced in the railways and the textile mills , with the lower and lesser paid jobs going to the Dalits ; while clean and weaving jobs went to the 'other' workers ) , was a defining moment in Dalit struggle , an inflexion point, a turning point, that focuses both on the contemporary reality and a guiding star for the times ahead. Dr Ambedkar places before all, this foundation of his beliefs , convictions and the path that leads to the future , that the Dalits in a common united front to be forged with all the exploited classes , to achieve the goal of social and economic justice in an egalitarian society and real democracy thus :
1. The economic emancipation of the Dalits is as vital as the struggle for social justice ( To make the Dalits aware of the definition of the Subjugated class'; so that Dalit awareness is raised to a level whereby we join hands and march shoulder to shoulder with all other subjugated classes , to wage the struggle against the Ruling Class )
2. Brahmanism ( or the forces that negate and deny equality , liberty and the feelings of brotherhood, 'bhai-chara') and Capitalism are the two biggest enemies of the workers or toiling classes.
3. Karl Marx did not as a principle, say that there were only two classes, the owner and the worker, and that in India these two classes had evolved in their final form.
4. The spread of poisonous and vicious religious hatred in a casteist order in Indian society has resulted in workers and employees sometimes turning against each other , as opponents and enemies.
5. Trade Union Leaders while exhorting and giving spirited speeches against the Capitalists adopt double standards and remain silent on the issue of Brahmanism.
6. The Dalit wokers and labourers movement is not against the common workers movement . It also does not support the Capitalists . Their only request is that their independent identity be protected.
7. The movement of the Working class has deviated, from its main goal , and is solely concerned with trade unionism per se.
8. The General Strike is the weapon of last resort , it is not an end in itself to be used for attaining the end of competitive trade unionism – leadership.
9. In the struggle against capitalist owners the working class cannot be successful by resorting only to trade unionism. The workers have to seize and take the reins of political power in their hands.
10. Mazdoor Sanghatans which are politically directionless become tools in the hands of political parties that support the capitalist class.
11. Equality, liberty and fraternity must be the ideals of the working class.
12. Even after the end of British Rule , it would be wholly legitimate for the workers to struggle against the spider's web of the Landlords, Capitalists and the Baniya –Sahukar combine who will very much survive even after British Rule.
13. To wage a struggle to oppose the Imperialists does not mean that the class struggle against the internal structure of society has to be kept away on the shelf.
14. The Dalit class conflict in the interest of the Dalits must conjoin with the mainstream Mazdoor Andolan.
15. In normal situations Mazdoors will take the Constitutional path. However they should prepare and ready themselves to use other means , should the situation and circumstances so demand.
16. Dalit Mazdoor Sanghatan is in full co-operation and support of the All India Mazdoor Andolan; and it sees 'resevation' as complimenting and supplementing the Andolan.
Dr Ambedkar formed the Independent Labour Party on three fundamental / basic principles and these principles were:-
I. First : All the wealth , property and assets which are in this world are the result of / and have been created by the undying ,hard labour of the workers and the kisans. . Despite this , the worker and the kisans who toils with desperation in the field is naked and hungry. All these riches, property and the means of production have been arrogated by private property rights arbitrarily imposed by the profiteers, landlord class, capitalists and the rich class who have expropriated all this wealth by illegal / unjust loot, robbery and theft. This ( parasitical ) class has done nothing to earn this.
II. Second: Indian society is divided into the class ruled over and the 'Ruling' class', whose interests mutually clash as a class conflict between the 'Ruler-Exploiter' and the 'Ruled –Exploted', is fundamental, and this fact remains all encompassing.
III. The rights of workers and the toilers can be defended , ( and will be secured ) only when the reins of 'Political power' will be in their own hands.
If the 1920s were the decade of learning and education in Dr Ambedkar's life , the 1930s were a period of struggle ,agitation , deep sensitivity and commitment to the cause of the oppressed and the exploited of all classes and communities ; the decade of the 1940s demonstrated his ability for creativity and innovation of national level institutions and experimentation . Few equal his contribution in this decade which preceeds and transgresses India's Independence / partition ,the founding of the Republic and great hopes and aspirations to real democracy, however troubled they were in the predominant class structure in 1947.
It was evident that the not so young Dr Ambedkar was burning the candle at both ends , unmindful of his health , all fired up with hopes and dreams.
As Labour Member of the Viceroy's Council , 1942-45, he initiated programs to help increase the productivity of workers, by providing them education and skills , health care and maternity leave provisions for women workers, for example . Dr Ambedkar set up the Tripartite Labour Council in 1942, to safeguard social security measures to the workers , giving equal opportunity to the workers and employers to participate in formulating labour policy and strengthening the labour movement by introducing compulsory recognition of trade unions and worker organizations. Labour was placed in the Concurrent List. Chief and Labour Commisioners were appointed , so was a Labour Investigation Committee. Minimum Wages Act was his contribution. So were Employment Exchanges and importantly worker's 'Right to Strike'. Productivity and job security went together , unlike the Reformers and Globalists of today, bent on contract labour and its informalisation thru 'hire and fire' or 'Exit Policy'.
Dr Ambedkar's vision and economic philosophy is best illustrated by his thrust to improve human capital and human resources. He established the Central Water Commision , the Central Electricity Authority , the Central Irrigation & Waterways Commision in 1944 which became the Central Waterways, Irrigation , Navigation Commision on the approval of Babasaheb in 1945 , and the Central Water , Power , Irrigation and Navigation Commission, the latter's integration to concurrently enhance employment opportunities , in 1948. The Central Water & Power Commission later bifurcated into the Central Electricity Authority and the Central Water Commission. Environment was a central concern. Downstream it gave birth to State Electricity Boards ( now sought to be unbundled and privatized ), the Regional and National Grids ( and Corporations ), the National Thermal Power Corporation a giant in the Power sector today , the Damodar Valley Corporation , work on both initiated in 1943-44. His initiative and contribution on the Multi-purpose Plan for Development of Orissa's rivers is noteworthy . Such was the energy and vision of a great 'Dalit' son of the soil.
We now come to perhaps his greatest contribution to the Nation State, to the Republic and to his much dreamed concept of democracy . Appointed Chairman of the Drafting committee of a Constitution for India , Dr Ambedkar found himself the only active member of the seven originally nominated . Extraordinary though , he was still subject to being over-ruled , specially in the interest of the dominant class as regards production and property relations .
Dr Ambedkar clearly saw that unless the means of production were nationally owned by the state and agricultural lands too were nationalized and the property of the State there would be no real democracy . The village commons were in earlier times, not under the ownership of individuals / families . They were only scantified as private property, just over a hundred years ago by Wellesley's Permanent Settlement and the Zamindari system introduced to make it convenient to help collect revenues for the East India Company and later the Crown , which had destroyed the social and economic fabric of our villages, by an order of magnitude. The Dalits and the landless of whom the Dalits were a majority , had no hope in hell , so to say. For the call for 'Land to the tiller' did not cater for the interests of the Dalits as they were not even tillers or 'hissedars' and 'bataidars'.
While presenting the main memorandum on 'State and Minorities' he clearly stated that " The main purpose behind the clause is to put an obligation on the State to plan the economic life of the people on lines which would lead to the highest pont of productivity without closing every avenue to private enterprise and also provide for the equitable distribution of wealth ." Dr Ambedkar was against monopoly in every form because he knew monopoly leads to exploitation…..it extracts work at low wages and creates artificial scarcities…..monopoly of capitalists cannot give justice to the exploited , poor classes." He wrote in 1956 in the RPI manifesto , "that any scheme of production must in the view of the RPI remain subject to one overriding consideration that there should be no exploitation of the working class." Dr Ambedkar made it clear that economic reforms by equalization of property must have precedence over every other kind of reform , noting that man is not just an economic creature ( the monster of caste also had to be killed ).
To recapitulate , Dr Ambedkar's radical proposals for inclusion in the Constitution were :-
1. Consolidation of land holdings and tenancy legislation are worse than useless, as they cannot help the 60 million untouchables , who are just landless labourers ….only collective farms set out on the lines in the proposal can help them.
2. State Socialism is vital for the rapid industrialization of India. Private enterprise cannot do it and if it did it would produce those inequalities of wealth which private capitalism has produced in Europe.
3. Nationalisation of Insurance serves a double objective. Apart from greater security to people ,it also gives the State resources for financing its economic planning in the absence of which it would have to resort to borrowing from the money market at a high rate of interest .
This plan , elaborated in clause 4, Artcle II of his Memorandum to the Constituent Assembly included recommendations that :-
1. Agriculture be a State industry.
2. Key and basic industries would be owned by the State.
3. A life insurance policy would be compulsory for every citizen.
4. The State shall acquire the subsisting ( existing ) rights in agriculture and private owners will be compensated for by transferable debentures. ( Nationalisation of land would simultaneously abolish caste , in Dr Ambedkar's view. )
5. The land acquired shall be divided into farms of standard size and let out equitably , and cultivated collectively . Finance or credit shall be provided by the State.
6. All this was without closing every avenue for private enterprise .
Dr Ambedkr's ardent desire was that the plan of State Socialism must become a part of the Constitution . He further cautioned that this essential condition for the success of a planned economy should not be liable to suspension , abrogation or abandonment by the Parliament or the Government ( and how prophetic he has turned out to be today ). Political democracy , he said rests on the principle that the State shall not delegate powers to private persons ( entities ) to govern others .
Dr Ambedkar went on to write " Anyone who studies the working of the system of social economy based on private enterprise and pursuit of personal gain will realize how it undermines , if it does not actually violate , the last two premises on which democracy rests . How many have to relinquish their constitutional rights in order to gain their living ? How many have to subject themselves to be governed by private employers ?
Ask those who are unemployed whether what are called Fundamental Rights are of any value to them . If a person who is unemployed is offered a choice between a job of some sort , with some sort of wages , with no fixed hours of labour and with an indirect restriction on joining a union and the exercise of his right to freedom of speech , association , religion etc can there be any doubt as to what his choice will be ? How can it be otherwise ? The fear of starvation , the fear of being compelled to take children away from school, the fear of having to bear the burden of public cost are factors too strong to permit a man to stand out for his fundamental rights . The unemployed are thus compelled to relinquish their fundamental rights for the sake of securing the privelege to work and to subsist….
What about those who are employed ? Constitutional lawyers assume that the enactment of Fundamental Rights is enough to safeguard their liberty , and that nothing more is called for . They argue that where the state refrains from intervention in private affairs , economic and social , the residue is liberty. What is necessary is to make the residue as large as possible and state intervention as small as possible . It is true that that where the state refrains from intervention what remains is liberty . But this does not dispose of the matter ; one more question remains to be answered. To whom and for whom is this liberty ? Obviously, this liberty is liberty to the landlords to increase rents , to the capitalists to increase the hours of work and reduce the rate of wages . This must be so . It cannot be otherwise , for in an economic system employing armies of workers , producing goods in mass at regular intervals , someone must make rules, so that the workers will work and the wheels of industry run on . Liberty from the control of the state is another name for the dictatorship of the private employer." The Advisory Committee did not accept his proposals . Dr Ambedkar pressed repeatedly with the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly to incorporate his proposals in the Chapter on Fundamental Rights of the Constitution and not disallow them on 'technical grounds'. He argued that it was a matter in which the labouring classes in general and the scheduled castes in particular , are vitally concerned . That is the precise reason why it was not permitted in the justiciable part of the Constitution ..but relegated to the Directive Principles , now more honored in the breach than practise ( that is why the PS Appu Committee observed in its report on Land Reforms in 1972, that the hiatus between precept and practice, between policy pronouncements and actual execution has been the greatest in the domain of land reforms . )
The Constitution remains our compass ; Dr Ambedkar's economic ideology the guidance document . The application , in steps and phases can only be implemented when the mazdoors in both the formal and the informal sector, kisans , landless workers , rural and urban men and women without livelihoods and entitlements, adivasis, artisans , bundkars, students , teachers , educated unemployed , technicians and engineers ,employed or unemployed , subscribe and dedicate themselves to a better future for all . Quite obviously the Dalits as a caste group are not sufficient in numbers to change the system, its core policies , priorities and its structure without joining with the other oppressed groups, communities and demonstrating an overwhelming democratic majority. Dr Ambedkar had emphasisied this again and again in all his writings and speeches. For this a United Front of all sections and elements who constitute the exploited majority must be forged as a federation with decentralization as its watchword . Then and only then will the Dalits advance forward to their goal of social and economic justice . Otherwise they must remain as they are confined to receiving a few crumbs from the top table, always at the mercy of the Capitalist class and their ideology of Brahmanvad as defined by Dr Ambedkar.
The program , policies and objectives will need the agreement of all. However there will be sufficient flexibility for local initiatives depending on the material and human resources , and the stage of development which have been reached in different locales , in the uneven matrix of social and economic indicators that we are confronted with , as long as they conform to the direction and goals of the movement .
Dr Ambedkar is honored as the Principal Architect of the Indian Constitution . The Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy are his special contribution . If the chapter on Fundamental Rights , particularly its cardinal articles on Equality before the Law , Equality of Opportunity and the Right to Life ( and Livelihood ) as interpreted by the Apex Court are indeed held sacred , then read with Articles 37, 38 and 39
of the Directive Principles they are the guiding spirit of the Constitution and immutable. Unfortunately those who take their oath of office by swearing to uphold the Constitution are the very same who are swimming with the tidal wave of Globalisation and 'Reforms' which violate in substance and spirit , the Constitution of India andx that threaten the very existence people's livelihood and their peaceful existence in a democratic , equal order , with dignity and self-respect . The Directive Principles of State Policy, were held to be legally unenforceable at the time the Constitution was adopted in the name of " We the People.." . However Directive Principles of State Policy have a mandatory character, as the injunction to the State and , therefore, to the Judiciary , Legislative and the Executive is always " SHALL" and not a 'May'. The Founding Fathers and Dr Ambedkar can be presumed to know the difference in jurisprudence !!! What the Government , the Legislatures and the Judiciary in times today are doing are not only violating the " soul " of the Constitution , as many former Justices of the Apex Court have publicly expressed , but in fact may be effectively participating in a 'foreclosure' of the democratic process and the path to Democracy that Dr Ambedkar sincerely paved . The Western Capitalist system and the 'Reforms' " dictated by the Structural Adjustment Loan / Programs", which amount to a Recolonisation of India, are neither conducive to a democratic order nor compatible with a democracy for 1100 million ( growing to be 1800 million ) Indians. No foreign model , in its entirety , forced from above, or even legally upheld by the courts, can be a model to emulate.
The most worrying and distressing aspect of all this is that 50 years after the passing away of Dr Ambedkar , the torch and the baton have not been carried forward.
Debate and discussion are usually confined to issues such as Reservations and promotions in the public domain / services and now the latest 'red-herring' , reservations in the private sector ( including MNCs) which provide only 8.3 % jobs in the formal sector. (7000 MNCs provide only 28 million , low paid jobs in their world wide 'looting' operations) .
The question of asserting the SC/ST rights in admissions to educational institutions at all levels , specially higher and technical courses , which are again being effectively denied, has been brilliantly exposed in the pioneering work done by Sarvashri Pradeep Gaikwad and Prof ( Dr ) Awani Patil in respect of Maharahtra . Privatisation of education , now state sponsored and subsidized from public funds , is making higher and technical education a right and privilege only for the 'Haves' or the exploiting classes ' which is more than just a fascist characteristic and , therefore, to be fought as Dr Ambedkar would have done , for Dalit rights ; shoulder to shoulder , together with all other 'deprived sections and classes'. The essence of Buddhism and Dhamma as Dr Ambedkar observed was socialist ( even the first communist idea ) and thus his dream of establishing an egalitarian society , with the help of Buddhism.
However, after all this agitation , if those who benefit from reservations change or 'convert' or transform unto another class , an upper class , and stand with the exploiting class , directly or indirectly , then what is gained for the overwhelming majority who remain where they have always been , along with the others who have been marginalized by loot , robbery and theft , phrases which a person of such refined legal education as Dr Ambedkar used in Manmad and thereafter ? Dr Ambedkar expressing concern for the downtrodden , said in one of his lectures, "…ever since I began to understand the meaning of life , I have always followed one principle in life and that is to serve my 'untouchable' brethern . Wherever I may be and in whatsoever position I may be , I have always been thinking and working for the betterment of my bretheren . I have never given so much attention to any other problem . I must guard the interests of the untouchables ; that has been the aim of my life in the past and will continue to be in the future too ." In the context in which his life and work and economic philosophy /ideology should be faithfully understood , that is Bhimrao Ambedkar, the revolutionary who fought for political and economic democracy for the oppressed and exploited masses of the Indian people ; we have to ask ourselves just one question : Do we stand with Dr Ambedkar and the exploited or the upper and middle classes to which we have migrated ; and therefore betray the class where 99% of our people are enslaved ?
Recently a Dalit Leader of education, learning and standing , told me that since 'Money' had overtaken free and fair elections the danger was not that he would be able to democratize the system but whether he would be corrupted and taken over himself.
If Babasaheb is made unto granite , stone or marble then he too is in danger of becoming an 'idol' to be revered and worshipped on two days in the year. On the other hand , Dr Ambedkar , can be our daily inspiration "to educate , agitate and organize" as he himself exhorted so often . On a personal note , how so ever symbolic, if every Dalit can carry a pocket size card with the main articles of the Constitution, on his person in his own mother tongue, and discuss it in his habitat or cluster of Jhopdis and Jhuggis for five minutes every day, in the neighbourhood , what Babasaheb has as his message, then there is a fair chance that they may begin to question the self appointed Netaji(s) on what is to be done. Certainly not to break the homes and hearths of those who share his misery . Every one does not need higher education , though everyone who has the merit must have those doors open to him or her. Everyone , however , needs to be able to live with self respect and in dignity , in a society where he has the right to livelihood, equal education opportunities for his children and medical care if they fall sick as they are bound to with nothing in their stomachs , and suffering chronic mal- nourishment , as the large majority of his compatriots . If we continuously lower the poverty line then the number in the BPL will of course reduce in the Government's Annual Economic Surveys , the Central Statistical Organisation's books; and the National Sample Survey's figures.
The adherents of 'hard' Hindutva and 'soft' Hindutva are effectively Trojan horses of the recolonising forces . Hindutva is a mask for Brahmanvad . This Hindutva loudly propagandises 'rashtravad' while it goes about as a salesman and poster- boy for foreign capital and the MNCs ,banks and insurance ( brokers and commission agents of big foreign companies of the US and Europe , as Mahatma Gandhi described them ) . Hindutva has created its 'internal enemies' like the Nazi Party did in Germany . It assumes its sacredness by wearing the tilak on the forehead . This does not hide its destructive character and mentality , or wash its murderous, bloody hands . Like in the past Hindutva or Brahmanvad , is fronting the parasitical class. A Finance Minister had opened India to the multi-nationals on the dishonest plea 'that the nation has been living beyond its means –nation indeed , when a good majority of our people simply have no means to live and most others none to indulge in living beyond….' Another Finance Minister pleading with the Globalisers in London said " You came to India and stayed for 200 years . Now come prepared to invest and stay for another 200 years and there will be huge rewards ." How do the parties representing the expropriated classes , the 80 % majority gear up to the challenge ? The parties of the Dalits have 20 splinter groups in Maharashtra alone and the parties that claim to pursue forward looking economic programs are also split into 20 and more groupings on the all India level. This is not a mere accident. This may not be engineered by the new Brahmins , but it certainly enjoys their support . Dr Ambedkar always said 'we are Indians firstly and lastly. ' The challenge is before us and that is why it is so incumbent on those who are Ambedkarites to carry forward the central mission where Dr Ambedkar left off.
To conclude, Dhamma or Dharma enjoins another ideal . It says unequivocally that without Justice for all , a King is no King ; and his Kingdom will perish and cease to exist. If that caution is not heeded, then someday the phoenix must rise !
Acknowledgements:
To Shrimati Niloufer Bhagwat , jurist , who introduced me to the real Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar whose socialist ideology was until some years ago also unknown to me.
To Shri Pradeep Gaikwad , Publisher & Editor Samta Prakashan, a dedicated Ambedkarite , who gave me his time and attention to make an enquiry into the truth of 'social and economic justice' , which Dr Ambedkar relentlessly pursued.
To Dr ML Kasare , distinguished Professor , whose book "Economic Philosophy of Dr BR Ambedkar" which I read recently further enlightened me in my understanding of the 'Man and his Ideas' .
To all three my grateful thanks . I accept responsibility for any errors in the paper , even though I believe that I have humbly attempted to highlight the revolutionary Ambedkar's outstanding ideas and his central mission , his total identification with the toiling masses of our country, to free themselves from bondage and slavery , and establish economic democracy.
B.R. Ambedkar
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Childhood and Early Life of B.R. Ambedkar
Born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the fourteenth child of his parents, Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji. He was the victim of religious untouchability by birth. He was born in a family, which was a part of the Hindu Mahar caste. This caste was considered to be untouchables in the society and have to face immense discriminations, both in the social as well as in the economic fields. The male members of Dr. Ambedkar's family were engaged in the Army. His father was also in army and was promoted to the rank of Subedar in the Mhow Cantonment, Indian Army.At birth, "Sakpal" was the surname of Bhimrao and "Ambavade" was the name of his native village. To avoid the socio-economic discrimination and the ill-treatment of the higher classes of the society, Bhimrao changed his surname from "Sakpal" to "Ambedkar" by the help of a Brahmin teacher, who had great faith in him. Since then, Bhimrao and his family used the title, Ambavedkar or Ambedkar.
Education of B.R. Ambedkar
Though B.R. Ambedkar was born in a family that was deprived socially as well as economically, he had great interest in education. There were special schools run by the Government for educating children of Army personnel and Ambedkar was lucky to get admission in one of those schools. The standard of education was good and Ambedkar developed a good grasp over Marathi and English. After his father retired from the Army, the entire family shifted to Satara, Maharashtra. Ambedkar was admitted to a local school there and had to face discriminations from all sectors. He was made to sit on the floor, away from other students. The teachers also discriminated him. He was a man of patience from his early childhood and underwent all this agony without a fuss. In 1908, he passed his Matriculation exam with flying colors from Bombay University. His higher education continued in Elphinstone College. Political Science and Economics were the subjects in which he graduated from the Bombay University in 1912.Just a year after his graduation, Bhimrao Ambedkar lost his father. He acquired a job in Baroda and it was the Maharaja of Baroda, who awarded him a scholarship to go for higher education to the United States of America. It was in New York that he could pursue his studies without any discrimination. Finally, he acquired a degree and doctorate from Columbia University in the year 1916. He was a Master of Arts and also attained a Doctorate in Philosophy on his thesis on "National Dividend for India: A Historical and Analytical Study". In 1917, his scholarship was terminated by the Government of Baroda and Bhimrao Ambedkar had to come back to India.
Social Reforms and Political Life of B.R. Ambedkar
After his return to India, Bhimrao Ambedkar was made the political secretary of the Maharaja of Baroda. He became victim of caste discrimination again and was humiliated greatly by his peers. It was during this time that Ambedkar began his movement to eradicate caste system and untouchability from society. Ambedkar again went back to London, completed his law education and became a barrister.Untouchability and caste system were the two social evils that had haunted Dr. B.R. Ambedkar since his childhood days. However, he thought of tackling the problem himself and began his fight against untouchability. There were several ways by which he was trying to do this. He started publishing a weekly journal called 'Mooknayak', where he criticized the orthodox system that prevailed in the society. He spoke openly about the discriminations that were made to the lower castes in the society and the humiliations that they had to undergo and endure. He had also voted for creating separate electorates for the backward classes in society. Reservations for "dalits" and other religious communities were also demanded by Bhimrao Ambedkar.
B.R. Ambedkar also formed the "Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha" so that the deprived and backward classes could get some opportunities to upgrade themselves. He arranged for spreading education to these classes and tried to improve their socio-economic conditions. He also became a member of the Legislative Council in the year 1926. After this, he began an active movement by bringing out marches and processions for the lower backward classes. In 1928, he was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee so that he could work with the all-European Simon Commission. With this, B.R. Ambedkar made a mark in the political arena of India.
He had criticized the Indian National Congress as well as the British Raj for not being able to curb the problem of caste discrimination and untouchability. His staunch stance against the orthodox authorities in India made him quite unpopular with the politicians of those times. There were no considerable changes that were evident in the social system of India. Gandhiji had rather started a fast unto death campaign when Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for the backward classes in society. After many upheavals it was decided that reservations would be provided but there would be no separate electorates.
The Government Law College of Mumbai had Dr. Ambedkar as its Principal for two years from 1935. He even contemplated of building a new political party that would work against staunch and orthodox Hinduism. He named this new political party as "Independent Labour Party (India)", which can only managed around 15 seats in the Central Legislative Assembly Elections in 1937. He also occupied important positions in the government of the country. He had been appointed to the Viceroy's Executive Council as the Minister of Labor. Ambedkar had also served in the Defence Advisory Committee.
B.R. Ambedkar and Drafting of the Indian Constitution
The most important thing for which Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is known all throughout India is that he was designer and formulator of the Indian Constitution. Though he was unpopular with many leaders of the Indian National Congress and other political parties in post-independence India, Ambedkar was summoned by the Congress-led Government to take the post of the first Law Minister of independent India. He was also made the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee on 29 August 1947. As he was a learned scholar and an eminent lawyer, he was given this grave task and after the completion of the work, he was praised by all. He used all his experience and knowledge in drafting the Constitution. There are many guarantees and provisions that are provided in the Constitution of India that ensure the general welfare of the common people of the country. He framed the Fundamental Rights and Duties along with the Directive Principles of State Policy that are followed and granted to the people of the country. He also formulated laws and systems for women and backward classes in the society. Ambedkar also tried to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities that prevailed in the Indian society from a long time. He had kept the clauses of the Constitution flexible so that amendments could be made as and when situations demanded. On 26 November 1949, the Constitution of India was finally adopted by the Constituent Assembly.His stint in Indian politics too did not last for a long time. His resignation from the Cabinet came in the year 1951. He contested for the Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate in 1952 but was unfortunately defeated. However, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha the same year.
With passage of time, Ambedkar's interest from politics started to shift and he aligned himself to Buddhism. For that he even went to Sri Lanka, where he spent much time with Buddhist monks and scholars. He was so impressed with Buddhism and its principles that he decided to convert himself to Buddhism. Ambedkar also went to Burma twice for enriching himself in the Buddhist religion and culture. He also established the Buddhist Society of India and wrote books on Buddhism and its principles and beliefs. B.R. Ambedkar also attended Buddhist conferences that were held all round the world.
Works of B.R. Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was a scholarly person and had written several books that dealt with myriad topics ranging from politics to Buddhism, from castes in India to important political figures in India. Some of his major writings are as follows:- Essay on Untouchables and Untouchability: Social
- Small Holdings in India and their Remedies
- Buddha or Karl Marx
- Manu and the Shudras
- Untouchables or the Children of India's Ghetto
- Who were the Shudras?
- Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah
- Statement of Evidence to the Royal Commission on Indian Currency
- Buddha and his Dhamma
- Revolution and Counter-Revolution
- Paramountacy and the Claim of the Indian States to be Independent
- Decentralisation of Imperial Finance
- The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial
- The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables?
- History of Indian Currency and Banking
- Communal Deadlock and A Way to Solve it
- Federation Versus Freedom
- Notes on Acts and Laws
- Philosophy of Hinduism
- Ancient Indian Commerce
- Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development
- Annihilation of Caste
- India on the Eve of the Crown Government
- Preservation of Social Order
- Which is Worse? Slavery or Untouchability
- The Constitution of British India
- Pakistan or the Partition of India
- Need for Checks and Balances¾Article on Linguistic State
- Maharashtra as a Linguistic Province
- Riddles in Hinduism
- Lectures on English Constitution
Last Days of B.R. Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar became diabetic since 1948. He also suffered from depression and eyesight failure. Ambedkar was so humiliated in every step of his life that if affected his health directly. He started suffering gravely and was almost bed-ridden in the last years of his life. He breathed his last on 6 December 1956 in his home in Delhi. The entire cremation process of Ambedkar was carried out in Buddhist style, where innumerable supporters and admirers gathered to pay him the last homage.1910 - 1920
Off to Columbia, and on to London
The great escape! At the age of 22, the young Ambedkar came to Columbia, and began to make the intellectual and personal connections that shaped the rest of his life. He experienced what it was to be free--for a time--from the stigma of untouchability.
Milestones
1910:
Shivram Janba Kamble, another early caste reformer, organized a second Mahar conference at Jejuri; this resulted in a memorandum sent to the British government. Young Bhimrao met the reform-minded Gaikwar of Baroda, Sayaji Rao III (r.1875-1939), who then approved a scholarship of Rs. 25 a month for his education. (K. N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 71.)
1912:
Bhimrao [an early photo] passed the B.A. Examination (special subjects: Economics and Politics) from Bombay University, and prepared to take a position in the administration of Baroda State [Imperial Gazetteer] [Imperial Gazetteer map]. His oldest son, Yashwant, was born. (K. N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 71.)
1913:
He had barely begun at his new post when he learned by telegram that his father was gravely ill; he rushed home just in time for a last farewell. "It was February 2, 1913, the saddest day in Bhimrao Ambedkar's life." (--Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p.24; Dr. Ambedkar contributed extensively to this biography.)
1913:
The Gaekwar of Baroda announced his decision to offer scholarships to send students for higher education at Columbia University. A scholarship of 11.50 British pounds a month, for three years, was awarded to the young Ambedkar. (K. N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 72.)
"Receives Baroda State Scholarship to join the Political Science Department of the Columbia University as a Post Graduate Student where he worked under Professors Seligman, Clark, Seager, Moore, Mitchell, Chadwick, Simkovitch, Giddings, Dewey and Goldenweiser." (Source: a curriculum vitae from the 1920's, preserved in the Columbia University archives, that was almost certainly prepared by Dr. Ambedkar himself.) NOTE: he was in fact admitted to the Graduate School in general (things were less compartmentalized in those days) and not formally to a "political science" department.
1913:
Arriving in New York during the third week in July, Bhimrao was housed in Hartley Hall [site]. But he didn't care for the food, and only stayed for a week. In August he moved from Hartley Hall to "Cosmopolitan Club" (554 West 114th Street) [photo], a housing club maintained by a group of Indian students. He finally settled in a dormitory, Livingston Hall (since renamed Wallach Hall [site], with his friend Naval Bhathena, a Parsi; the two remained friends for life. (Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], pp. 26-27.)
At Columbia: Prof. John Dewey:
One of the major philosophers of education of the twentieth century, John Dewey (1859-1952) [site] became one of the young Ambedkar's heroes. Writing in 1936, Ambedkar referred to the work of "Prof. John Dewey, who was my teacher and to whom I owe so much." (Annihilation of Caste, Section 25.)
At Columbia: Profs. Shotwell and Robinson:
Another of the young Ambedkar's mentors, Prof. James Shotwell (1874-1965) [site] was a Barnard historian who specialized in international relations, and a former student of Prof. James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936) [site], Barnard's first historian--who himself was another of the mentors named by Dr. Ambedkar.
At Columbia: Prof. Edwin Seligman:
A friend of Lala Lajpat Rai [site], the well-known economist Edwin R. A. Seligman (1861-1939) [site] became a particularly sympathetic mentor to the young Ambedkar, who continued to correspond with him for years.
At Columbia: coursework:
During his three years at Columbia (including summers) his coursework consisted of: 29 courses in economics, 11 in history, 6 in sociology, 5 in philosophy, 4 in anthropology, 3 in politics, and 1 each in elementary French and German. (Source: Office of the Registrar, Columbia University.)
1915:
The young graduate student passed his M.A. exam in June, majoring in Economics, with Sociology, History, Philosophy, and Anthropology as other subjects of study; he presented a thesis, "Ancient Indian Commerce." For his outstanding achievement, he was honored by students and professors of the Faculty of Arts at a special dinner. In 1916 he offered another M.A. thesis, "National Dividend of India--A Historic and Analytical Study"; it was this one that later became the nucleus of his Ph.D. dissertation. (Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 29.)
1916:
On May 9th, he read his paper "Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development" before a seminar conducted by the anthropologist Prof. Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940) [site]. Dr. Ambedkar was very proud of this paper, and remained so. He promptly got it published in the Indian Antiquary (May 1917). As late as 1936 he wrote that only shortage of time prevented him from reworking Annihilation of Caste so as to include in it this early seminar paper (Preface to the 3rd edition, Annihilation of Caste).
1916:
In June he went to London, and in October he was admitted to Gray's Inn [site] for Law, and to the London School of Economics and Political Science [site] for Economics, where he was allowed to start work on a doctoral thesis. He often worked in the British Library Reading Room [site].
1917:
The term of his scholarship from Baroda ended, so that he was obliged to go back to India in June with his work unfinished; he was, however, given permission to return and finish within four years. He sent his precious and much-loved collection of books back on a steamer--but it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. (Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 32.)
1917:
He was appointed Military Secretary to the Gaikwar of Baroda; he had agreed to join the Baroda service as a condition of his scholarship. But this experience was not a happy one. Even to reach Baroda, he had to pay his own expenses; he used the damages paid by Thomas Cook and Company for his torpedoed luggage. And when he arrived in Baroda, things went from bad to worse.
1917:
Meeting in Calcutta with Annie Besant [site] as its President [site], for the first time in its history the Indian National Congress adopted a resolution endorsing "the justice and righteousness of removing all disabilities imposed by custom upon the Depressed Classes." (K.N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 74.)
1918:
After the Baroda fiasco, he tried to find ways to make a living for his growing family. With the help of Parsi friends, he became a private tutor, and found some work as an accountant. He also started an investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients learned that he was an untouchable. (Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], pp. 37-38.)
1918:
Finally he became Professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics [site], in Bombay. (This position came about through the recommendation of his London acquaintance, Lord Sydenham, former Governor of Bombay.) He was mostly successful with his students, but some of the other professors objected to his sharing the same drinking-water jug that they all used. (Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 39.)
1918:
In the new Journal of Indian Economies (1,1), he reviewed a book by Bertrand Russell: "Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society." And in the new Journal of the Indian Economic Society (1, 2-3) he published "Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies."
1919:
He testified both orally and in writing before the Southborough Committee [site], which was investigating franchise matters in the light of the planned Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. He demanded separate electorates and reserved seats for the untouchables: "The real social divisions of India then are: (1) Touchable Hindus. (2) Untouchable Hindus. (3) Mohammedans. (4) Christians. (5) Parsees. (6) Jews." (--from the transcript of the proceedings, Jan. 27, 1919). Discussion: Chandrabhan Prasad; Syed Amjad Ali.
R. C. Rajamani
AS THE nation observers his 49th death anniversary today (December 6), it may surprise many to know that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, celebrated as the "Father of Indian Constitution," found economics closest to his heart and got his doctorate for a thesis on "The Problem of the Rupee". He was a Professor of Economics in Bombay's Sydenham College in the early 1930s. A keen student of economics, Ambedkar's M.A. thesis was on `Ancient Indian Commerce' and the M.Sc (London) thesis on `The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India'.
Ambedkar strongly believed that the fundamental cause of India's backward economy was the delay in changing the land system. The remedy was democratic collectivism that entailed economic efficiency, productivity and overhauling the village economy, he wrote.
This, he said, would wipe out elements of economic exploitation and social injustice. He did not want landlords, tenants, or landless labour. His idea of economic realism sought both freedom and welfare.
The essential feature of his approach to economic problems was the condemnation of such extreme views as laissez-faire and scientific socialism. Mixed economy was the cornerstone of his economic ideas. He advocated an end to the glaring social and economic inequalities produced by the capitalist system.
His evidence before the Hilton-Young Commission was an important contribution to the discussion of currency problems in India. He gave expression to his thoughts on such issues as small-holdings, collective farming, land revenue and abolition of landlordism. It covered nearly four important decades — 1917 to 1956, and touched on all major political and economic events.
He realised that the solution to the problem of the untouchable landless labourers depended upon the solution to Indian agricultural problems or, more broadly, economic problems. He focussed on the injustice in basing the assessment of land revenue on income and advocated that land revenue be brought under the income-tax.
His work "The Problem of the Rupee" was considered an instructive treatise. He wrote that closing of the Mints would prevent inflation and disturbances in the internal price level.
He advocated that the standard of value should be gold and the elasticity of currency should come from this source. That great scholarship and hard work had gone into this book is evidenced by the rave reviews Ambedkar received from the British Press.
The Times (London) described the book as an, "excellent piece of work. English style is easy; and his knowledge of his subject obviously very full... "
The Economist (London): "It is a clear and ably written book. Certainly, none of the other numerous works on one or the other aspect of the monetary problem have anything like the readability of this tract."
Financier: "Ambedkar deals with the problem in a very lucid and praiseworthy manner and puts forward not merely its origin, but also valuable proposals for a solution, which should be studied by bankers and those merchants whose business depends upon the exchange."
A versatile personality, Ambedkar's hunger for knowledge, his passion for books and his erudition were unique. He was a voracious reader and knew seven languages. He described his obsession with books thus: "For a man like me, who was socially boycotted, these books took me to their hearts."'
His love for the printed word naturally led him to extensive writing on a variety of subjects with depth and vision. Ambedkar's book Pakistan drew the attention of many thinkers and politicians. Historians agree that in that book he first clearly spelt out the difference between the community and the nation. Mohammed Ali Jinnah read the books and recommended for reading to Gandhiji. The Mahatma admitted: "It is ably written" but, remarked, "It carried no conviction to him."
On December 5, 1956, he completed writing his book Buddha the next morning his servant found him dead when he went in his room to serve him tea. Like a blessed soul, he truly "slept in God". His death came peacefully in his sleep.
Dr Ambedkar was conferred posthumously the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour, on his 99th birth anniversary in 1990. It was rightly seen as a fitting, though belated, tribute to one of the builders of Modern India.
(The author, a former Deputy Editor with PTI, is a New Delhi-based freelance writer.)
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/06/stories/2005120601420900.htm
| ECONOMIC IDEAS OF ARIGNAR ANNA Arignar Anna was without equals in the art of speaking and persuasive charm of fellowship and simplicity. I have heard his teacher of English Professor. R.Krishnamurti and his mentor in Economics Professor C.D.Rajesvaran, both of them also my teacher to bear testimony and to speak in high admiration of scholastic and oratorical achievements of Anna – (C.N.Annadurai as he was known in his student days.). the banners announcing in 1930 and 1940's, the meetings he would address always carried the degree M.A.(in Economics) which in the early thirties was of very high international standards. For each question paper to be answered, a student may have to read ten or fifteen standard books; few politicians were M.A.'s and invariably many of them took a government service or the legal profession. Anna's contemporaries in the M.A. classes like Professors K.S.Sonahcalam, S.Velayudham and Mr. K.Ragurama Mudakliar all of them still active refer to the extraordinarily shy but the extremely accomplished intellectual powers of Anna. Idealistic, fullest and optimum utilization of funds collected in his name is desirable. In his life time large sums were endowed in the Universities of Madras, Annamalai and Madurai to Study Tirukkural, which was widely popularized by the rationalist movements of his days. Now Anna studies and attracting massive funds; what we need are mature men to guide the youth who are highly motivated, widely read and devoted intellectuals, - to place Anna in the world of learning along side Rouseau and Periyar, Lincoln and Ranade, Veblen and Laski. |
| முகப்பு | இலக்கியம் | அரசியல் | வரலாறு | புகைப்படங்கள் | பேரவை | தொடர்புகொள்ள |
| Reports | |||||||||||||||||||||
India is world's most corruptNew Delhi: At least 30% of 2,742 business executives surveyed across the world regard Indians among the most corrupt when doing business abroad to "speed things up", according to a report by Transparency International India (TII), an NGO. According to the Global Corruption Report-2009: Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR), which was released on Sept.24, 2009. ************************ That the Indian upper caste rulers are corrupt is world famous. Corruption is killing the country itself. The corruption begins at the top but only the small fish is caught and punished (DV Edit Oct.1, 2009: "How can we end corruption & exploitation when Hindu values worship the filthy rich?") — EDITOR. Big Brahmin admits failureOUR CORRESPONDENT Bangalore: A top Brahmin industrialist of India has said India is failing before China. Venu Srinivasan, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, told India's premier Brahminical daily, the Hindu that "our biggest concern today is India is failing to compete with China, Indonesia, Brazil". But the big Brahmin also knows that his jatwalas, Brahminical heroes, defeat the whole world in boasting. IAF no match to ChinaGandhinagar: Air Cheif Marshal P.V. Naik, chief of airstaff, said on Sept.23 that India's "aircraft strength is inadeqate and is just one-third of China's air force." He adhmiited that it will take at least three years for the situation to change. Our present aircraft strength is inadequate, it is not enough. China is one of the many challenges including terrorism. (Times of India, Sept.24, 2009). Brahminical bid to block Dalit judge elevation to Supreme CourtOUR CORRESPONDENT Bangalore: Our mind-manipulators have conditioned our brains to think that "money corruption" is killing India. No. Money corruption is the last and the least harmful variety of corruptions. The most serious one is the (1) intellectual corruption followed by (2) caste corruption (3) moral corruption. (Please read our book, India's Intellectual Desert, 1999, pp.50, Rs. 50, Dalit Sahitya Akademy). PM called a "good man": But all the three being the Brahminical monopoly, the rulers go on talking only about money corruption which is the least harmful of the four. Our Khatri Sick PM belongs to the first category but the rulers call him a "good man". The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, P.D. Dinakaran, a Tamil Dalit Christian, is caught in this corruption whirlpool and his elevation to Supreme Court is opposed by the entire upper caste gangsters who are the fountain head of all the four varieties of corruption. It is the intellectual corruption that is killing the country — not money corruption. The moment intellectual prostitution is stopped all other varieties of corruption will fall dead. In DV, we have denounced all the four varieties. If Dinakaran is proved corrupt his head must fall. When he was CJ in Karnataka he never took any interest in the Dalit or Dalit Christians who permanently suffered at the hands of the ruling class. He may be wearing the Dalit dress but he kept silent when our people were crying. A toady: We have no sympathy for such toadies who put on Dalit fancy dress when in trouble. Our complaint is why this sudden noise when a Dalit judge is elevated? Did not the same upper castes come in the way of the elevation of K.G. Balakrishnan, also a Dalit and Christian from Kerala, as the Supreme Court CJ? Why these lily-white lollipops cry of corruption only when SC/ST/BCs and Muslims are entering the prohibited sacred sanctum sanctorum? Dalai Lama promotes second Israel inside IndiaOUR CORRESPONDENT Bangalore: The notorious Dalai Lama, groomed by India's Brahminical rulers to annoy China, is helping the zionists to set up a "second Israel in India". According to a P.1 story in the Milli Gazette, a Muslim English fortnightly from Delhi (Sept.1-15, 2009), over 20,000 Jews have already descended on Dharmashala, headquarters of the Dalai Lama, who it says gets large funds from the zionist state and also CIA. The report by John Kaminski says the zionists are trying to take over three North-East states to fight Muslims and Islam. The Aizwal-based Chhinlung Israel People's convention with 0.25 million army is behind establishing the "New Jerusalem". Streams of Jewish priests (Rabbis) are pouring into Mizoram and Manipur. Anti-China hysteria: The writer asks why the Indian security forces and the Brahminical media ignored the fierce fight that took place inside Bombay's famous Jewish centre, Chabad House, in the 26/11/2008 terrorist attack on Bombay. Meanwhile, the media led by the Times of India has stepped up anti-China hysteria aided and abetted by top Brahminical leaders. The Govt. of India said it would prosecute the press but we have our own doubts. Question mark on Delhi's Commonwealth gameOUR CORRESPONDENT Bangalore: Anything the Brahminists touch turns into mud. This is the curse of Nature on this tiny "Jews of India". The latest to suffer and turn into mud is the Delhi 2010 Comonwealth Games. A Karnataka Brahmin, Kalmadi, the Congress boss of Pune, was appointed the chief of the event with a big budget (Rs. 16 billion) and the ever hungry wolves had a nice meal. India is top to bottom corrupt. Ruling class heart in cricket: The Games to be contested by 8,000 athletes from 71 countries in October 2010 will be chaotic like everything else in "Hindu India". The heart of the ruling Brahminists is in the useless cricket which is neither a game nor a sport. This stupid pastime of the idlers is not only glamourised but the minds of every youth is mesmerised and made to call it our "national sport" — which no industrialised country plays. The cricket-loving idle rulers of India were put to shame by the dazzling Beijing Olympics which simply stunned the whole world. But the boasting Brahmins are not bothered. They are not interested in making the Delhi 2010 the biggest-ever sporting event. Their only interest is to eat the money and enjoy. Now tell us if the Bhoodevatas love the bhoomi they live in? Is it not clear they don't belong to this Bhoomi (land)? DV May 16, 2009 p.12: "Cricket as game of Brahmins to fool Bahujan masses". DV Nov.1, 2007 p.12: "Cricket used to convert India into Hindu rashtra". THUS SPAKE PERIYAR Burning constitution for calling us shudrasWe are going to launch an agitation on the 25th of this month. I appeal to you all to take part in large numbers. Elders and women must come forward to agitate. We are going to burn the constitution. Our demonstration must be peaceful and disciplined. We will have to do many things in a planned way. We should not give room for any violence. We must face repression. The police may lathicharge. We must bear with it. Where is the need for us to use violence. Whom are we fighting against? We just make it clear that the govt. should come forward to amend the constitution, if we are to remain as citizens under this constitution, if we are to remain as citizens under this govt. We say that we cannot remain as sons of prostitutes any longer under this govt. It is for that we want to burn the constitution. I have already burnt the constitution. So let us all rise up to the occasion and burn the Constitution again. Get yourselves well equipped and participate in the agitation. I am not making any atheist propaganda here. I have not come here to say that there is no god. We will have other occasions for that. Avoid power politics: Our work is to eradicate evils. We cannot do it if we have the desire to become MLA. We cannot do it if we covet ministership. We cannot do it if we are greedy of office and power. That is why we keep away from such desires. Our cardinal aspiration is to reform the society. Think over seriously. We must succeed in our attempt. Come forward in large number. Make the agitation a great success. We may be thrown behind bars. Let us take up the matter seriously. Fill up the prison cells. If you are not able to go to prison, you must try to send some one else. Induce your relatives, friends and neighbours to court imprisonment. Everyone should feel that he played his part well. It will be no wonder if this agitation results in our redeeming our own motherland. It may result in the separation of our homeland. Foreigners rule India: It is our mistake to have given room for aliens. We gave place for the Congressmen and other bad elements. They are Brahmins. Some of the non-Brahmins joined them with selfish motives. They are swindlers. To their own advantage they have accepted their status as the shudras. Even amongst them things are not rosy nowadays. Yet they cannot openly come out with their grievances. It is impossible for them to protest against the Brahmins. You know our country is divided into many states now. Our state is one among them. Our party Dravidar Kazhagam is after all one among the many parties in this state. So it is not really possible to achieve things easily. Today there are many people in other states who do not understand the social tyranny we are suffering. They innocently ask "What if we are called shudras? Are we not shudras? They venerate Rama as god and Maharaj. We cannot blame them for their ignorance. They are not enlightened properly. Nairs born to Brahmin: The pains we are going to take in the coming agitation and the sacrifices we are going to make for the eradication of the shudra status, will make people realize the truth and they will come forward to strengthen our ranks. If we court imprisonment in thousands won't they inquire about our struggle? They will realise that we agitate to do away with the stigma attached to us by birth as shudras. They will realise that they are also deemed to be the sons of prostitutes. They will understand that we are not agitating for any power or pleasure. They will naturally sympathise with us in our cause. They will understand that the agitation is forced on us. They will naturally be induced to think of their own social status. It is certain. Even if the people in the Northern states are lethargic, at least the people in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala are sure to bestow their thought on this vital social problem. You know the Nair Malayalees are the sons of prostitutes, born to Brahmins. They themselves accept it openly. They even take pride in saying so. They declare that they are not the Nairs. They say that they are born to Namboodiri Brahmins. They even offer money to the Brahmins. (To be continued) [Periyar's Declaration of War on Brahminism, (pp.11 to 13) revised (1st edn. 1993) Dravidar Kazhagam Publication, 50 - EVK Sampath Road, Madras - 600 007.]
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Problems of Dalits
RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE
ALL INDIA CONVENTION ON PROBLEMS OF DALITS,
NEW DELHI – FEBRUARY 22, 2006
1. A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE ON CASTE OPPRESSION
The thoroughly reactionary varna and caste system has hounded Indian society for thousands of years. India is the only country in the world where such a system came into being and still exists. The varna and caste system was sanctified by Hindu religion and by Vedic scriptures. This was the main reason for its consolidation. The notorious text, Manusmriti, codified the then prevailing social norms and consigned the shudras, atishudras and women to a thoroughly unequal and miserable existence. The distinctiveness of the caste system was that it was hereditary, compulsory and endogamous. The worst affected by the caste system and its social oppression have been the dalits, or atishudras, or scheduled castes. Albeit in a different way, the adivasis or scheduled tribes in India have also faced social oppression over the ages. The stories of Shambuka in the Ramayana and of Ekalavya in the Mahabharata are classic testimonies of the non-egalitarian nature of Hindu society in ancient India.
Along with the curse of untouchability, the dalits had no right to have any property. They had to eat the foulest food, including leftovers thrown away by the higher varnas; they were not allowed to draw water from the common well; they were prohibited from entering temples; they were barred from the right to education and knowledge; they had to perform menial jobs for the higher castes; they were not allowed to use the common burial ground; they were not allowed to live in the main village inhabited by the upper varnas; and they were deprived of ownership rights to land and property, leading to the lack of access to all sources of economic mobility. Thus, dalits were subjected to both social exclusion and economic discrimination over the centuries. In one form or the other, this continues even today in most parts of the country.
As Comrade B.T. Ranadive pointed out "the three powerful class interests, the imperialists, the landlords and bourgeois leadership were acting as the defenders of the caste system, by protecting the landlord and pre-capitalist land system." It will be seen from here that the interests of the bourgeois class rested in maintaining the status quo. There has been no basic change in caste system after nearly 60 years of independence after independence as the bourgeoisie compromised with landlordism fostered caste prejudices. After independence also, the basic structure of land relations, overhauling of which would have given a blow to untouchability and the caste system has not been changed.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw great social reformers like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Sri Narayan Guru, Jyothiba Phule, Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy Naickar and others. These social reform movements conducted many struggles against the caste system, caste oppression and untouchability in many ways. But, despite the struggles against caste oppression, the social reform movement did not address the crucial issue of radical land reforms. It got delinked from the anti-imperialist struggle. The Congress-led national movement on its part, failed to take up radical social reform measures as part of the freedom movement.
Diametrically opposed to the progressive role of the reform movement was the thoroughly reactionary role on social issues that was played by the RSS and the Sangh Parivar ever since its inception. Apart from its rabid communal ideology, the RSS adopted a Brahmanical stance right from the beginning. With this understanding, the RSS opposed the amendments to the Hindu Code Bill after independence. The BJP's opposition to the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations was also on this basis.
Wherever the BJP is in power in the states, atrocities on Muslims, dalits and adivasis have increased markedly. At the same time in some areas, they sought to pit the poor people belonging to dalits and tribal community against Muslims and Christians. So, the fight against caste oppression and communalism are interlinked.
The experience clearly shows the need to link the fight against caste oppression with the struggle against class exploitation. At the same time, the class struggle must include the struggle for the abolition of the caste system and all forms of social oppression. This is an important part of the democratic revolution.
2. THE CPI (M) ON THE CASTE QUESTION
The CPI(M) Programme updated in 2000 succinctly summarises the caste question as follows: "The bourgeois-landlord system has also failed to put an end to caste oppression. The worst sufferers are the scheduled castes. The dalits are subject to untouchability and other forms of discrimination despite these being declared unlawful. The growing consciousness among the dalits for emancipation is sought to be met with brutal oppression and atrocities. The assertion by the dalits has a democratic content reflecting the aspirations of the most oppressed sections of society. The backward castes have also asserted their rights in a caste-ridden society.
"At the same time a purely caste appeal which seeks to perpetuate caste divisions for the narrow aim of consolidating vote banks and detaching these downtrodden sections from the common democratic movement has also been at work. Many caste leaders and certain leaders of bourgeois political parties seek to utilise the polarisation on caste lines for narrow electoral gains and are hostile to building up the common movement of the oppressed sections of all castes. They ignore the basic class issues of land, wages and fight against landlordism, which is the basis for overthrowing the old order.
"The problem of caste oppression and discrimination has a long history and is deeply rooted in the pre-capitalist social system. The society under capitalist development has compromised with the existing caste system. The Indian bourgeoisie itself fosters caste prejudices. Working class unity presupposes unity against the caste system and the oppression of dalits, since the vast majority of dalits are part of the labouring classes. To fight for the abolition of the caste system and all forms of social oppression through a social reform movement is an important part of the democratic revolution. The fight against caste oppression is interlinked with the struggle against class exploitation."
The Political Resolution of the 18th Congress of the CPI(M) held in 2005 gives concrete guidance to the Party to take up caste and social issues. In the section titled "Caste Oppression and Dalits", it says, "The caste system contains both social oppression and class exploitation. The dalits suffer from both types of exploitation in the worst form. 86.25 per cent of the scheduled caste households are landless and 49 per cent of the scheduled castes in the rural areas are agricultural workers. Communists who champion abolition of the caste system, eradication of untouchability and caste oppression have to be in the forefront in launching struggles against the denial of basic human rights. This struggle has to be combined with the struggle to end the landlord-dominated order which consigns the dalit rural masses to bondage. The issues of land, wages and employment must be taken up to unite different sections of the working people and the non-dalit rural poor must be made conscious of the evils of caste oppression and discrimination by a powerful democratic campaign. There are some dalit organisations and NGOs who seek to foster anti-communist feelings amongst the dalit masses and to detach them from the Left movement. Such sectarian and, in certain cases, foreign-funded activities must be countered and exposed by positively putting forth the Party's stand on caste oppression and making special efforts to draw the dalit masses into common struggles."
In the section titled "Fight Caste Appeal", the Political Resolution says, "The intensification of the caste appeal and fragmentation of the working people on caste lines is a serious challenge to the Left and democratic movement. Taking up caste oppression, forging the common movement of the oppressed of all castes and taking up class issues of common concern must be combined with a bold campaign to highlight the pernicious effects of caste-based politics. The Party should work out concrete tactics in different areas taking into account the caste and class configurations. Electoral exigencies should not come in the way of the Party's independent campaign against caste-based politics. Reservation is no panacea for the problems of caste and class exploitation. But they provide some limited and necessary relief within the existing order. Reservation should be extended to dalit Christians. In the context of the privatisation drive and the shrinkage of jobs in the government and public sector, reservations in the private sector for scheduled castes and tribes should be worked out after wide consultations."
FIXED CAPITAL ASSETS: In 2000, about 28 % of SC households in rural areas had acquired some access to fixed capital assets (agricultural land and non-land assets). This was only half compared to 56 % for other non-SC/ST households who had some access to fixed capital assets. In the urban areas, the proportion was 27 % for SCs and 35.5 % for others.
AGRICULTURAL LABOUR: In 2000, 49.06 % of the working SC population were agricultural labourers, as compared to 32.69 % for the STs and only 19.66 % for the others. This shows the preponderance of dalits in agricultural labour. Between 1991 and 2001, the number of agricultural labourers in India increased from 7.46 crore to 10.74 crore, and a large proportion of them were dalits. On the other hand, the average number of workdays available to an agricultural labourer slumped from 123 in 1981 to 70 in 2005.
ATROCITIES, UNTOUCHABILITY AND DISCRIMINATION: During 16 years between 1981 to 2000 for which records are available, a total of 3,57,945 cases of crime and atrocities were committed against the SCs. This comes to an annual average of about 22,371 crimes and atrocities per year. The break-up of the atrocities and violence for the year 2000 is as follows: 486 cases of murder, 3298 grievous hurt, 260 of arson, 1034 cases of rape and 18,664 cases of other offences. The practice of untouchability and social discrimination in the matter of use of public water bodies, water taps, temples, tea stalls, restaurants, community bath, roads and other social services continues to be of high magnitude.
With the onset of the imperialist-dictated policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation by the ruling classes of our country during the last decade and a half, the problems of dalits, adivasis, other backward castes and the working people as a whole have greatly aggravated. The drive to privatise the public sector has directly hit reservations for the SC/STs. The closure of thousands of mills and factories have rendered lakhs jobless and this has also hit dalits and other backward castes. The ban on recruitment to government and semi-government jobs that has been imposed in several states has also had an adverse effect. The growing commercialisation of education and health has kept innumerable people from both socially and economically backward sections out of these vital sectors. In this background, reservation in private sector has become very important because the joblessness among the SC and STs has witnessed a steady increase in the recent period.
The most disastrous effects of these policies can be seen in the deep agrarian crisis that has afflicted the rural sector. Rural employment has sharply fallen and this has hit dalits, adivasis and women the most. Mechanisation of agriculture has further compounded the problem. The real wages of agricultural workers, of whom a large proportion are dalits, have fallen in many states. No efforts are made to implement minimum wage legislation even where it exists, and periodic revision of minimum wage is also conspicuous by its absence. The dismantling of the public distribution system has increased hunger to alarming proportions. An overwhelming proportion of the malnutrition-related deaths of thousands of children in several states is from dalit and adivasi families. Thus, the neo-liberal policies have accentuated both the economic as well as the social divide in the country.
5. COMMUNIST STRUGGLES AGAINST CASTE & FEUDAL OPPRESSION
It was in the great anti-feudal peasant struggles led by the Communists in the 1940s that India for the first time got a glimpse of the possibility of the annihilation of caste and communalism once and for all. Historic struggles like Telangana, Tebhaga, Punnapara Vayalar and others squarely targeted landlordism and imperialism and in this process, they succeeded in forging the unprecedented unity of all toilers, cutting across caste and religious lines. The struggle reached its highest point in Telangana. Thousands of villages were liberated from landlord rule and actual land redistribution to the landless was carried out. A large number of the beneficiaries of this land reform were dalits and adivasis, who got possession of land for the first time. The remarkable class unity of the peasantry that was forged in this struggle struck the first blows at caste and communal ideology and practice.
In more recent times, the CPI(M) and the mass organisations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere have been leading a concerted statewide campaign and struggle for the last few years on the issues of untouchability and caste oppression. This is meeting with encouraging public response, with dalits being attracted to the Left.
Besides this, the rights of nearly 15 lakh sharecroppers have been recorded, covering 11.08 lakh acres of land, and 5.44 lakh poor families have been given homestead land. Over 42 per cent of the recorded sharecroppers belonged to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Now nearly 72 per cent of the land in West Bengal is managed by poor and marginal farmers. As a result of land reforms and other measures taken by the Left Front government, agricultural production has increased by 250 per cent and more. Landless agricultural labour has been guaranteed a minimum wage and is provided with work during lean months. A large proportion of the beneficiaries of these measures naturally belong to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. In the three-tier panchayat system, the representation of SCs, STs and women is considerably higher than the reserved quotas in both West Bengal and Tripura. Panchayat Raj institutions in these states are largely controlled by poor peasants and agricultural labourers, unlike in most other parts of the country, where they are in the grip of landlords and rich peasants.
The West Bengal LF government has also initiated a large number of schemes to specifically support dalits and adivasis. Scholarships are provided to 1.1 lakh dalit students and 80,000 adivasi students. 240 hostels for primary and secondary students from the dalit and adivasi communities have been constructed. 32,000 dalit students and 28,000 adivasi students are provided with expenses for living in hostels at the pre-secondary level. An SC/ST Development and Finance Corporation has been established to support poor dalit and adivasi families by providing finance for household-based self-employment schemes. As against the poor national average that we saw above, 26 % of primary teachers and 29 % of secondary teachers in West Bengal come from the scheduled castes. For scheduled tribes, the percentage is 9 and 11 respectively.
The Tripura Left Front government also has a creditable record in the upliftment of the SCs and STs. In 1991, while the overall literacy was 60.44 %, the SC literacy was 56.66 %. The 2001 census figures of literacy are not yet available, but they are expected to show a considerable increase. Female SC literacy doubled from 23.24 % in 1981 to 45.45 % in 1991. A striking feature in the state is that SCs are not confined exclusively to 'Paras' or 'Bastis' like in some other parts of the country. They by and large live and intermingle with each other. There are no bonded labourers among SCs in the state. Provision of minimum wage to agricultural labourers, many of whom are SCs, is stringently implemented. SC families are legally protected against exploitation by money-lenders. Reservations in services, posts and educational institutions are strictly monitored and implemented. All scavengers engaged in carrying night soil by head load were liberated in 1991 itself and special schemes were undertaken for their rehabilitation. In the small state of Tripura, 40,000 SC students are being given pre-matric scholarships by the government. 2000 meritorious SC students are being given the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Memorial Award each year. The sum of the award ranges from Rs. 400 to Rs. 1500 per annum. 30 hostels for SC boys and girls have been set up. Special schemes have been started for providing housing and medical assistance to SCs. Special development programmes for welfare of SCs are taken up and implemented every three years.
It is as a result of a long process of struggle combined with the above governmental measures, and an intensive ideological campaign by the Party and the Left that untouchability and caste oppression against dalits and adivasis have been reduced to a large extent in West Bengal and Tripura under Left Front rule. Atrocities against dalits and adivasis, which abound in many other parts of the country, are almost unheard of in these two states. Thus, in 2001, at the All India level, there were 33,503 cases of crimes committed against scheduled castes, of which 716 were murders, 1316 were rapes and 400 were abductions. In West Bengal that year, there were only 10 such crimes and in Tripura there were only 2 such crimes. In the same year, at the All India level, there were 6,217 cases of crimes committed against scheduled tribes, of which 167 were murders, 573 were rapes, and 67 were abductions. In West Bengal that year, there were only 2 such crimes and in Tripura there was not a single such crime. All this conclusively shows that it is only a Left alternative that can show the way to ending the age-old scourge of untouchability, caste oppression and social discrimination.
Taking into account the severity of the caste problem, Com. E. M. S Namboodiripad wrote in 1979, "One has to realize that the building of India on modern democratic and secular lines requires an uncompromising struggle against the caste-based Hindu society and its culture. There is no question of secular democracy, not to speak of socialism, unless the very citadel of India's 'age-old' civilization and culture, the division of society into a hierarchy of castes – is broken. In other words, the struggle for radical democracy and socialism cannot be separated from the struggle against caste society."
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LAND REFORMS: The central and state governments must immediately set in motion a process of land reforms whereby land will be redistributed to the landless agricultural labourers and poor peasants gratis. All loopholes in the present laws must be plugged. All schemes to reverse land reform legislation and give away land to multinational corporations and big business houses should be scrapped forthwith.
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RESERVATIONS: All the backlogs in reserved seats and posts and in promotions for SCs, STs and OBCs must be filled forthwith with special recruitment drives. The three Constitutional amendments made to correct the three OMs issued in 1997 diluting reservations for SCs and STs should be implemented. The pre-1997 vacancies based roster should be restored. A comprehensive legislation covering all aspects of reservation for SCs/STs in employment and education both public and private institutions should be enacted.
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SPECIAL COMPONENT PLAN: Special Component Plan should be properly implemented in all the states with proper allotment of funds according to the population of dalits. A National Commission should be set up to assess the real position of dalits including reservation. The state level commissions should be set up to oversee the implementation of all schemes connected with the SCs including reservation.
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INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT: Infrastructure development in the scheduled caste areas like road, water, health, culture and other needs has to be given proper importance. When allotting fund for infrastructure development, a separate allotment for scheduled caste areas should be provided.
A comprehensive National Programme of Minor Irrigation for all irrigable but unirrigated lands of SCs and STs through wells, community wells, bore-wells, community bore-wells and tube-wells, bandheras, check-dams, lift, etc., should be immediately undertaken and implemented.
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ROOTING OUT UNTOUCHABILITY: All forms of untouchability must be rooted out of the country by strengthening the relevant laws, ensuring their strict implementation and most importantly, by launching a mass movement of the people.
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PROTECTION FROM ATROCITIES: The Central Government should amend and strengthen the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, providing for special courts with judges, investigating officers and public prosecutors unburdened by any other work. Social and economic boycott and blackmail should be included as substantive crimes. Full economic rehabilitation of victims and their survivors must be ensured.
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EMPLOYMENT: The privatisation drive should be stopped as it leads to loot of national assets, greater unemployment, a curtailment of reservations and also a spurt in corruption. The Central Government should enact a bill to provide reservations in the private sector, which has been a long-standing demand of SCs and STs. Special schemes to provide self-employment to SC youth should be started. The Right to Work should be incorporated as a fundamental right in the Constitution.
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EDUCATION: The commercialisation of education should be stopped since the massive fee and donation structure of private educational managements is something that socially and economically backward students cannot afford. For this, the central government must increase its own outlay on education to 6 % of the GDP. SC/ST students should be given special scholarships to pursue their studies. The stipends in Social Welfare hostels should be raised and the quality of these hostels improved. Steps should be taken to universalise primary education and expand secondary education. Special measures to curb the drop-out rate among SCs should be undertaken.
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AGRICULTURAL WORKERS: The Minimum Wages Act for agricultural workers must be stringently implemented throughout the country. A comprehensive bill for agricultural workers is another long-standing demand and it must be enacted without delay. Homestead land must be provided for SCs, STs and agricultural workers.
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RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act must be strictly implemented all over the country by involving the people, their mass organisations and the panchayati raj institutions. It should be extended to all districts and also to urban areas of the country.
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PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM: The public distribution system must be universalised to ensure food to all. Until this is done, BPL ration cards must be issued to all poor families, many of whom are from SCs and STs. The grain under the BPL scheme should be made available at Antyodaya prices.
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CREDIT: Agricultural credit to peasants and agricultural workers must be made available at 4 % rate of interest. For SCs and STs in both rural and urban areas, credit facilities should be expanded and the credit given at concessional interest rates.
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BONDED LABOUR AND CHILD LABOUR: The total liberation and full rehabilitation of bonded labourers must be ensured. The pernicious practice of child labour must be abolished and children properly rehabilitated and educated. Similarly, total liberation and full rehabilitation must be ensured for Safaqi Karmacharis who are engaged in scavenging.
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SCAVENGERS: Ensure total liberation and full rehabilitation for scavengers (safai karamcharis), ban engagement of contract labour in safai services and other services where SC and ST numerically predominate and instead introduce necessary improvements by involving such Karamcharis; and reactivate the Central Monitoring Committee for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis and State, Municipal and District Level communities.
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INTERCASTE MARRIAGES: Intercaste marriages should be encouraged by giving special subsidized housing and other facilities to married couples immediately after their marriage. We should consciously try to uphold such inter-caste marriages and make them an event of big social participation and sanction.
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Caste in Medieval India: The Beginnings of a Reexamination1
By Dileep KaranthIntroduction
"Who says India says caste, or so it seems." So wrote J. C. Heesterman in his essay "Caste, Village and Indian Society"2, underlining the centrality of the problem of caste in India. Heesterman points out the word caste started out meaning something like "tribe" or "race", but in the nineteenth century it came to mean something very specific, a specifically Indian phenomenon. "caste began to loom large, until it became in our century a shorthand expression for Indian society at large: Indian society is caste."
The inequalities of the modern caste system and the fissures in Hindu society resulting from it are too well-known to need elaboration. The caste system is so pervasive that it has become a feature of life of all religious groups that live in India. At least, that was the case when first contact with Europeans took place. Thus it is not surprising that caste and Hinduism have often been equated. Sir Denzil Ibbetson wrote of the "popular and currently received theory of caste" (which he would go on to challenge) as consisting consist of three main articles:
- that caste is an institution of the Hindu religion, and wholly peculiar to that religion alone;
- that it consists primarily of a fourfold classification of people in general under the heads of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra.
- that caste is perpetual and immutable, and has been transmitted from generation to generation throughout the ages of Hindu history and myth without the possibility of change.3
Caste Among Indian Muslims
The caste system, however, exists even among Indian Muslims. But many a scholar traces it to Hindu influence:
The Muslim caste system is a result of Hindu influence; the Indian Muslims have acquired the system, …, from the Hindus through constant and continuous culture contact; the system of caste groupings itself resulted in the concept of social distance between the two communities, the Hindus and the Muslims.4
In this paper we will try to collect some background information which will hopefully help in sparking a debate regarding caste. That a debate is necessary is clear from a recent book by Marc Gaborieau, Ni Brahmanes Ni Ancêtres, in which the author presents his detailed findings, after several years of field work in Nepal, studying the Curaute, a caste of banglemakers. The book is sure to revolutionize our understanding of caste. We will present several quotes from Gaborieau's classic in this article.
Writing about the dominant trend in British ethnography, Gaborieau claims that the British took a simplistic view of castes and presented Hinduism, taken as a whole, as inherently hierarchical in structure, as opposed to Islam, taken as a whole, taken to be inherently egalitarian.5 Any elements of hierarchy in Islamic society is taken to be a relic from Hinduism, just as Ansari has done in the quote above. This idea has become very strongly rooted in the literature on caste. This idea has been championed particularly by Muslim scholars in the 19th century, as they defended their faith against criticism by Western scholars. The basic thrust of these arguments was that
far from bringing about forcible conversions as accused of by the British, the Muslim conquerors carried out peaceful conversions, notably by means of the Sufis. The chief reason for its success would have been the particular attractiveness of Islam, as an egalitarian faith, for the lower castes especially the untouchables. The cities and qasba established by the new conquerors would have been spaces of liberty; they would have permitted the most disfavored people to rise in the social hierarchy, by opening new economic outlets.
Gaborieau points out that the best example of this theory is the book by Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, for which the author collaborated with two influential Indian Muslim thinkers, Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898) and Shibli Nu'mani (d. 1914). The book, which was written in Aligarh and was first published in 1896, says among other things: "A Hindu will naturally be attracted by a religion which receives everybody with discrimination" (Arnold, 1965, 291-291); and: "It is this absence of class prejudice which constitutes the real force of Islam in India and which allows it to win so many converts from Hinduism" (pp. 118-119).
In Arnold's book we clearly see the formulations of a theme that had been or would be elaborated by many other scholars, such W.W. Hunter6 and James Rice. In the context of conversions to Islam in Bengal, Rice wrote that the Islamic armies "were welcomed by the out-cast Chandals and Kaibarrta."7 In the face of numerous such claims, it could be expected that modern Muslim society in Bengal would present an egalitarian picture. However, it turns out that such is not at all the case. No less a man than Dr. B. R. Ambedkar took cognizance of the existence of castes even in Muslim Bengal. Quoting the Superintendent of the Census for 1901 for the province of Bengal, Ambedkar noted:
"The conventional division of the Mahomedans into four tribes – Sheikh, Saiad, Moghul and Pathan – has very little application to this Province (Bengal). The Mahomedans themselves recognize two main social divisions, (1) Ashraf or Sharaf and (2) Ajlaf. Ashraf means 'noble' and includes all undoubted descendants of foreigners and converts from high caste Hindus. All other Mahomedans including the occupational groups and all converts of lower ranks, are known by the contemptuous terms, 'Ajlaf', 'wretches' or 'mean people': they are also called Kamina or Itar, 'base' or Rasil, a corruption of Rizal, 'worthless'. In some places a third class, called Arzal or 'lowest of all,' is added. With them no other Mahomedan would associate, and they are forbidden to enter the mosque or to use the public burial ground.
"Within these groups there are castes with social precedence of exactly the same nature as one finds among the Hindus.8
Bengal would become the seat of intense political activism and lobbying in the years after Ambedkar wrote these words. Caste would become a much talked-of political commodity, politicians would campaign for the loyalties of the masses, the province would go on to be partitioned, and yet even as late as 1973, caste would be an abiding feature of Bengali Muslim life. M.K.A. Siddiqui, who contributed an essay9 to an important book on the caste phenomenon among Indian Muslims,10 points out that there are several caste groups among the Muslims in Calcutta. Siddiqui discusses several different ways in which inequality manifests itself – restrictions on commensality, hypergamy, pollution by contact, etc. He divides the castes into three categories. The castes in any one category can accept food from the others in the category, but not from castes in lower categories.
The Dafalis who work as priests for the Lal Begis, or the Qalanders who sometimes live in their neighbourhood, refuse to accept food or water from Lal Begis.11
The groups are descent groups, "with or without occupational specialization". For example, the Lal Begis (who roughly correspond to the Bhangi caste in Hindu society) are generally regarded as unclean on account of their humble occupation – "they often experience difficulty in getting their dead buried in the common Muslim burial ground."
Hypergamy is widely practiced in the highest category, meaning that women from lower castes can be married into the higher castes (Sayyad and Sheikh), but not vice versa. The children of these mixed marriages are called "Sayyadzada" and "Sheikhzada" respectively. They do not attain the full status of their fathers, and are expected to make alliances of with people of their status.
Siddiqui regards the emphasis on birth as not being sanctioned by scripture, which he says, wiped out distinctions of colour and race. However, as Islam spread to distant lands, social stratification resulted as a result of historical developments and adjustments made to local traditions. Kinship with the Prophet became a new criterion of nobility. Siddiqui discusses a few other aspects of the caste structure, and, significantly notes that "the founders of the [Sufi] mystic orders belong exclusively to categories that claim foreign origin. Most of them are Sayyads."
The situation in Bengal was similar to that in central regions of India, as shown by studies by Zarina Bhatty12 and by Imtiaz Ahmad. Bhatty studied the case of a village Kasauli in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and found the village society to be deeply caste-riven. At the top of the hierarchy was a lineage of Sayyads, and a subcaste of the Sheikhs, namely the Kidwais. These were the only Ashraf castes in the village. Elsewhere in India, the Ashraf castes include Sayyds, Sheikhs, Mughals and Pathans. These are communities claiming descent from population groups hailing from outside India. Bhatty points out that all four noble castes permit interdining, but commensality with the lower castes, consisting of groups descended from Indian converts, is not allowed. Also Sayyads and Sheikhs intermarry, but marriages between Sayyads and Sheikhs on the one hand, and Mughals and Pathans on the other, are not socially acceptable. In the village of Kasauli, there are eighteen other castes, consisting of groups defined by occupation. Closely linked to occupation is a notion of pollution, depending on the materials handled by persons following the occupation. A kind of hierarchy is defined, with castes who come into proximity with the Ashraf regarded as higher.
Nats, who skin dead animals and make drums, find a place close to the bottom of the scale while Julahas and Darzis are at the top end. Dhobis, who must wash soiled clothes, are closer to the Nats than to the Julahas.13
Bhatty discusses the interesting case of a divide in the musician community. The Mirasis who perform for the higher Ashraf castes, are regarded as superior to the Nats, who perform the same social functions, but for the public at large. The Mirasis have adopted the dress of the Ashraf, and have learned to speak Urdu, while the Nats converse in the local dialect. Thus the Mirasis have improved their social standing by the imitation of and association with the upper castes, who set the norms for the whole society.
In his article on the Siddique Sheikhs of Uttar Pradesh, Imtiaz Ahmed informs us of the various considerations taken into account when determining hierarchy within the status group called the Sheikhs. There are at least four of them:
- affiliation with an Arab tribe.
- descent from a person of Arab origin who is known to have close ties the Prophet.
- relationship to a place in Arabia or Persia.
- descent from someone who is said to have entered India along with the early Muslim armies.
According to Ahmed, the Sheikh subgroups emphasize their foreign origin and links to some Islamic personage of repute. The groups who claim to be descended from the Prophet's own tribe, Quraish, are regarded as the highest. Then follow the descendants of first Caliph, Abu Bakr Siddique. Next in rank are those who count the next two Caliphs, Usman and Umar among their ancestors. They are followed by descendants of the close friends and associates of the Prophet. Descendants of other Persians or Arabs who may have come with the Muslim armies are ranked last.
As for the Siddique Sheikhs studied closely by Imtiaz Ahmed, they have only recently been recognized as descendants of Abu Bakr. Their Kayastha Hindu antecedents are quite well established, and their striving for recognition as Ashraf is a phenomenon quite well known all over India. Ahmed points out that the circumstances of the Siddique Sheikhs' conversion is not known, but after conversion to Islam, they were allowed to retain their traditional occupation as land recordkeepers, a fact which is also attested to by the fact that the members of the caste also served as patwaris well after the annexation of the area by the British. (emphasis added)
Ahmed makes some other very interesting observations about the Siddique Sheikhs:
Convert groups to Islam are generally characterized as New Muslims and they are looked down upon by the social groups which are known to be descendants of foreign sources or who have succeeded in eliminating the stigma of recent conversion. This gave rise to certain differentiations in the adjustment of the Sheikh Siddiques after their conversion to Islam in the different villages. In villages that were largely or predominantly Hindu, the Sheikh Siddiques were excluded from the framework of interaction with the Hindu castes but they continued to enjoy a somewhat superior status as a Muslim group. But in villages where there were numerous other Muslim groups of superior status, the Sheikh Siddiques were not merely excluded from the social hierarchy of Hindu castes, but were also relegated to a somewhat lower position even within the hierarchy of Muslim castes.
The continued prestige of the Siddique Sheikhs in their native villages even after conversion can probably be explained by the fact that they were already a community which enjoyed prestige among the Hindus. After all, they were allowed to retain their prestigious occupation as land recordkeepers. But in Muslim dominated villages, the Siddique Sheikhs commanded little prestige among the Muslims, since they were not Ashraf. This is an example of conversion from Hinduism which has obviously not been motivated by a desire to escape the disabilities of the Hindu caste system.
Ahmed's observations regarding the inferior status of "New Muslims" seems to be applicable widely in India. We find confirmation of this generalization is places as far removed from Uttar Pradesh as the Moplah-dominated regions of Kerala. The hierarchies in Moplah society have been studied by Victor D'Souza.14 He reports that there are five distinct sections among the Moplahs: Thanghals, Arabis, Malbaris, Pusalars and Ossans. The Thangals who are at the top of the pyramid, are a small group of people who trace their descent to the Prophet, through his daughter Fatima. The term Thangal is a respectful term of address, usually applied to Brahmins in Kerala. The Arabis are a group of people mostly concentrated in Quilandy (a town north of Calicut), who are descendants of Arab men and local women, but who have preserved the memory of their descent. The association of the Arabis with Arabia entitles them to a respect in Moplah society second only to that of the Thangals. The Malabaris also claim descent from Arabs, but they are those who followed a matriarchal system – the so-called "mother-right" culture. As for the Pusalars and the Ossans, D'Souza writes:
The so-called Pusalars are converts from among the Hindu fishermen, called Mukkuvans. Their conversion took place relatively late. Because of their latter conversion and their low occupation of fishing they are allotted a low status in the Moplah society. The Pusalars are spread all along the coastline of Kerala and they still continue their traditional occupation of fishing.
The Ossans are a group of barbers among the Moplahs and by virtue of their very low occupation they are ranked the lowest. Their womenfolk act as hired singers on social occasions like weddings.
The hierarchies in Moplah society also show a tendency to accord the highest place of honour to the Sayyads, and lowest place to new converts and despised groups, such as barbers. The motive for conversion could hardly have been the keen desire to escape the disabilities of the Hindu caste system. Why would converts voluntarily accept similar disabilities in the new society they were going to join? The realities of Indian Muslim society flatly contradict claims such as the one made by the renowned Islamic thinker, and rector of Deoband, Shibli Nu'mani:
If an Asiatic converts to Christianity, he does not obtain the rights (huquq) of the European community (qaum), even though he may have the same religion; even on the plane of religious rights, he cannot be equal (ham-sar) to the Europeans. In contrast, the "communitarian identity" (qaumiyyat) of the Muslims is not bound to the country, nor to the race (nasal), nor to lineage, nor to any other criterion – it is only bound to religion. Whether one is Persian ('ajami), Indian (hindi), European or Asiatic, as soon as one enters the Muslim community, by the sole fact of conversion, one immediately (daf'atan) becomes the equal (barabar) of other Muslims sous le rapport de all rights: As soon as he has pronounced the profession of the faith, a tanner (Camar) can take a place in the first row in the mosque, thus putting himself on a rank equal to that of the [Ottoman] Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan; the Sultan cannot then claim to dislodge him from that place (cited in Shams-i-Tabriz Khan, 1983, 58-59).15
Gaborieau points out that this ideal picture of Muslim society fails to correspond with reality. Nu'mani aimed to fight Western scholars with their arguments. He wished to show that while conversion to Christianity did not guarantee the Asiatics racial equality with Europeans, such was not the case within Muslim society. Muslim society, in Nu'mani's romantic view, was even ahead of the Christian West. However, Gaborieau points out that equality did not fall to the lot even of Nu'mani himself:
His immense learning was recognized the world over: but he lacked any mystic aura. Most importantly, he was descended from converts; and what is worse, his lineage lacked prestige locally. He was a pseudo-Rajput, in fact, from an obscure caste of peasants. He was perfectly conscious of this stigma. This is what led him, like Iqbal, to overemphasize learning and the role of Islam, and to be extremely determined to exact the mark of respect due to him in the capacity of scholar. He never succeeded in gaining admittance into the intellectual and religious establishment of the day. He was not able to establish himself in the two prestigious institutions where he taught, (Aligarh and the Nadwatu'l-'ulama' of Lucknow) which had been founded by genuine Sayyids and were populated with Ashraf; in both cases he had to resign (Metcalf, 1982a, 340-342).16
As we have seen before, scholars such as Ansari regard manifestations of societal inequality within Islamic society as an inheritance from Hinduism. In regions where the demographics have not shifted in favour of Islam, the influence from the ambient Hindu society on the Muslim minority is indeed strong. However, the practice of segregating the lower castes has continued in regions where Hindu political power, and possibly Hindu demographic preponderance, has long vanished. As discussed before, in the case of Bengal, castes like the Lal Begis have been discriminated against long after the majority of the population turned Muslim.
Matters were hardly different at the other end of the Indian subcontinent, in Baluchistan. The Census Superintendent of Baluchistan wrote in 1931 that members of the Chuhra caste or tribe, who identified themselves variously as Hindu Balmiki, Hindu Lal Begi, Musalman Lal Begi, Musalman Balashai, Sikh Mazhabi or simply as 'Chuhra' were 'without exception … not allowed to drink from wells belonging to real Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs' and were 'not permitted to enter their places of worship'.17
The disabilities inflicted on the lower castes in Kerala's Muslim (and of course Hindu) society also continued in the Laccadive Islands, after the islands' link with Hindu society had been severed. The caste hierarchies prevailing in the islands have been studied in some detail by Leela Dube, one more contributor to the book edited by Imtiaz Ahmed. The aristocracy, called Karnavars are descendants of Nambudiris and Nayars. They are also referred to by the respectful appellation, Koya, which means a religious dignitary. It was this class that monopolized land- and boat-owning. The Malumis or Urukkars formed the sailor-caste, and the Melacheris (literally, tree-climbers) formed a class of serfs, who earned their livelihood by "plucking coconuts, tilling their lords' lands, rowing their boats." The number of castes or classes varied from island to island, some places having four instead of three. One island, Agatti, was regarded as a Melacheri island.
In view of evidence such as has been adduced above, Gaborieau argues that a hierarchical ordering is quite characteristic of Islamic society. He points out that Hindu society is not unique in holding some occupations in ritual opprobrium:
The influence of the Indian context is often invoked to explain the opprobrium suffered by the barber, the weaver, the butcher, the tanner, the sweeper,18 etc. These are professions stigmatized as being low and even impure. The last two are even regarded as untouchable. But this interpretation is short-sighted: the Hindu ideology only confirms prejudices formerly more widespread spread throughout the world. The tanner who handles animal carcasses is universally detested; the Hajjam who is the scarifier (and, among the Muslims, the circumcizer), as well as the barber are looked down upon in the Talmud as well as under the Sassanians, among Hindus and among Muslims. The contempt towards weavers also dates to remote times. Here we are dealing with traditions which date back to prehistoric times and can be found very different civilizations (for all these questions, see the important documentation analyzed by Brunschvig, 1962, 46-57.) This fact demolishes the contrary argument according to which Islam in India is supposed to have rehabilitated the depressed castes – the professions which are cited as examples, the barbers, weavers, and tanners, are precisely those whose inferior status is most explicitly affirmed in the Islamic tradition. The stereotypes attached to them in India are widely attested in Islam and in the most ancient traditions: the barber is greedy and arrogant; the weaver – wretched, stupid and treacherous. The conversion to Islam of those who practiced these professions unquestionably opened for them new economic outlets – and this is precisely the reason for their conversion; their conversion in no way improved their status.19
In addition to the material already available in the literature, Gaborieau brings to the discussion the results of his own long years of field work in Nepal. He has seen Muslim Curautes redoing their ritual ablutions if they happened to touch a [Muslim] untouchable by mistake. He has also studied the phenomenon of ritual uncleanness associated with some professions, and social hierarchy based on profession, at work in Muslim society. One of his examples concerns the Kashmiri Muslims in Nepal who pass for Ashraf. Periodically, these high born Muslims send for a barber from India, at great expense. However, the barber becomes wealthy, and turns his back on the profession in favour of something more respectable. He refuses to perform circumcisions, and the need for another barber is acutely felt. A new barber is sent for, and he despised, he faces the same stereotypes, and the cycle is repeated. The stereotypes, applied to barbers and weavers, are an old Islamic tradition.
While individual social mobility is attested, collective mobility is virtually impossible, because there is a kind of "barrier" separating the Ashraf castes from the artisan castes:
Nowhere have I sensed this barrier as strongly as in my field work in Nepal. The oldest Ashraf of Kathmandu, the Kashmiri, traditionalists and devoted to the cult of the saints, totally refuse all socially significant transactions with other Muslims of low status from the valley, who are collectively called Hindustani and who are recruited from various artisan castes. At the most they sometimes accept, under the rubric of hypergamy, some of their daughters as secondary wives who are never any more than concubines. A primary marriage would be unthinkable. The Kashmiris have always been opposed, even in multiple proceedings in front of Nepalese tribunals composed of Hindus, to having common mosques and even a common cemetery with the Hindustani . This is a clinching argument when we remember that the total number of Muslims in the valley does not ever exceed twelve hundred persons. The Hindustani may well be reformed, instructed in religion and devout, they can never cross the barrier (Gaborieau, 1977a, 52-54).20
Gaborieau's studies of conversions into the Muslim Curaute caste contradict the theory that conversion has taken place in India selectively from the lowest orders. The Curaute admit conversions into their caste from Hindus of higher castes such as Chettri and Gurung. But they do not accept untouchables into their caste.
Indeed even conversion effected by the Sufis does not seem to wipe out the stigma of untouchability. Gaborieau points out that
the Ashraf monopolize the so-called orthodox Sufi brotherhoods (ba-shar'), as opposed to the "heterodox" brotherhoods (be-shar') who are relegated to the level of the lowest castes (Gaborieau, 1986c)21
and also that
the heterodox brotherhoods are lower than and subservient to the former, so much so that the musicians (qawwal), who pronounce the mystic chants (qawwali) and play the drum, are in fact untouchable musicians (as in the Hindu temples) even though they claim affiliation with a Sufi order. The heterodox Sufis and these musicians are relegated to the far corners of the shrines dedicated to Muslim saints.22
A caste-like phenomenon exists in the Punjab with the Chishtis forming a hereditary clan, controlling not only the tomb of their ancestor Baba Farid-ud-din (d. 1265) at Pak-pattan, but also the lands and the cultivators surrounding it.23 Clan members had justified their hypergamous codes of marriages even in front of British courts. The noted historian Richard Eaton rejected these claims as being contrary to Islamic tradition, and as reflecting the influence of the ambient Hindu culture. Gaborieau disagrees with his famous colleague, pointing out that such hypergamous traditions are completely in consonance with worldwide Islamic practice. According to Gaborieau, Robert Brunschvig (1962, 55) had long ago compared the laws of the Manu Smriti to Islamic tradition:
If a young girl likes a man of a class higher than her own, the king should not make her pay the slightest fine; but if she unites herself with a man of inferior birth, she should be imprisoned in her house, and paced under guard. A man of low origin who courts a maiden of high birth deserves a capital punishment. (Laws of Manu (VIII, 365-366))
Following Brunschvig, Gaborieau claims that this law is exactly that which the dominant Hanafite tradition of jurisprudence would require,24 as has been spelled out on in the famous compendium of the Moghul period titled Fatawa-i-'alamgiriyya. The idea that a woman can only marry a man of equal or higher status has been upheld as late as the twentieth century by scholars even of the eminence of Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi (d. 1943). The marriage of a woman to a man of lower status can be annulled by the family's request, or by a Qazi's judgment.
Gaborieau calls for a frankness in studying the phenomenon of caste in Indian Muslim society. The Muslims who entered did not seem to be shocked by the institution of caste, and if they were not shocked by it, it must be that they were not unfamiliar with such arrangements themselves. Even writers such as Ansari (whom we have quoted on the first page), who trace the caste inequalities in Indian Muslim society to Hindu influence, admit however that Islam was not egalitarian when it entered India.
The ideal of equality among Muslims was practicable only in the then prevailing conditions of Arabia. In the course of the expansion of Islam and its contact with other complex cultures the democratic forms of political organization and social equality within the community gradually disappeared.25
He then traces the origin of caste to the "Indo-Iranian community". Ansari declares that though "Islam proclaimed the message of equality and universal brotherhood", "the established and deep rooted institution of social segregation in Persia" eventually won out.
Even the reputed Muslim scholars of Persia, like Nasir-ud-Din at-Tusi preached the division of society; his classification of society remained the same as it was during the Sasanian period. In his book, Akhlaq-i-Nasiri (which was finished shortly before the fall of the Caliphate), at-Tusi considers that each of the social classes should be kept in its proper place. A seventeenth-century work, Jami-i-Mufidi, again retains the same four-fold division of society, but it puts forward a slight change in giving precedence to warriors at the top and reducing the relative rank of priests to that of second in the hierarchy. In addition to these philosophers, the noted statesman of Persia, Nizam-ul-Mulk, in his Siyasat Nama, instructs his subordinates to maintain the people in their proper ranks.26
The idea of social hierarchy, Ansari says, had already become part of Islamic society by the time it entered India in the twelfth century. Over the centuries attitudes only hardened, until at last even untouchability entered Islamic society. The plight of Muslim untouchables is described by Ansari in moving detail:
A Bhangi, either Muslim or non-Muslim, is not permitted to enter a mosque no matter how clean he may be at the time. Although in theory a Muslim Bhangi or Chamar is allowed to offer his prayer[s] in a mosque, but in usual practice their entrance into such pious places as mosques and shrines of Muslim saints is socially disapproved and thus it is resisted. Even if they could get into a mosque or shrine, provided they have had a bath and are dressed in clean clothes, they do not usually proceed beyond the entrance steps. In contrast to the Hindu caste system, Muslim Bhangis are allowed to learn the Quran, but they are not expected to teach it.
It is a common practice observed in almost all the households of Ashraf, Muslim Rajputs, and the clean occupational castes, that Bhangis, either Muslim or non-Muslim, are generally served food in their own containers. If they do not have their own bowls they are served in clay pots which are not again used to serve clean caste members. Bhangis are given water to drink in such a way that the jar does not touch even their lips.27
However Ansari never explains how caste structures in India can be attributed to Hindu influence alone, if Muslim society had also stratified into hierarchies, before Islam's advent in India. Several such problems in the literature need explanation. Gaborieau again offers perspective:
... While we have good contemporary studies of Hindu untouchables, no work was done on Muslim untouchables during the colonial period. The absence of work on this key point deserves reflection. This refusal to consider the reality is understandable on the part of Muslim scholars; the problem of untouchability clashes against their ideological convictions on the ecumenical character of Islam. And what is more, any conversion even of untouchables involves burning political complications. On the part of western researchers, this omission is less excusable: I regard it as a manifestation of the prejudice according to which Muslim social order must necessarily obey a different logic than the Hindu social order, and also by the illusion of believing that the enumeration of castes is done from top down, whereas in reality it happens from the bottom up, starting from the untouchables.28
Gaborieau also explains that advent of Islam did not spell the demise of hierarchical structures in Indian society. The Muslims allowed the hierarchical structures to remain, and were not even shocked by it; not only that, they occupied the apex of the pyramid (in the form of the Ashraf castes), without otherwise undermining it.29
Caste in the Islamic World
We have already seen from the examples of the Ashraf's practices regarding marriage, or admittance to mystic brotherhoods, etc., the Ashraf also retained their own stereotypes and prejudices which cannot be traced solely to Hindu influence.
But that is not the whole story. Even if the caste structure was largely a relic from the pre-Islamic past, new castes also sometimes came into existence. The Maratha Bugtis in Balochistan are an interesting case of what may be a caste forming even under Islamic rule. Theirs is a clan claiming descent from Marathas captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali) after the fateful battle of Panipat.
In time they underwent 'Bugti-ization'and became Muslims. Although for all practical purposes they may now be considered Bugtis, and are even in the forefront in education and employment, they were once considered little better than bonded labour. They could not own or buy land. Up to two generations ago they could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Their women were fair game for Bugtis.
The Maratha Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years they have come to occupy higher positions, and their prosperity is resented by the Bugtis.30 It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.
The Maratha Bugtis were not alone in their position as a group living in the Islamic world, with their inferior position determined by heredity. The Haratin31 or Harratin of southwestern Morocco and Mauritania are "a socially and ethnically distinct class of workers". They are descended from slaves, but are now serfs, "without the privileges of freedom". (One of the people who is trying to help them to become independent is Abdel Nasser Ould Yessa, whose life and work is discussed at the following web site:
http://www.iabolish.org/act/abol/profile/yessa1.htm)
The facile practice of regarding all hierarchies in the Islamic world as a substratum from pre-Islamic societies does not always work. Hierarchies (in other words, castes) exist even in places like Yemen and the rest of the Arabian peninsula.
As a perusal of the informative entry on "Bedouin" in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica32 reveals, Bedouin society in twentieth-century Arabia was also divided into various groups. While the nomads have been settled after the formation of the modern states, the societal hierarchical and patriarchal structure has been retained. The Bedouin tribes were classified on the basis of the species of animal on which they depended. Camel nomads were highest in prestige. They were spread on extensive territories in the Sahara, Syrian and Arabian deserts. Sheep- and goat-herding nomads, rank below, and live closer the cultivated zones in Jordan, Syria and Iraq. The noble tribes are proud of their ancestry, and are divided into "Qaysi" (northern Arabian) or "Yamani" groups. In addition to the noble elements, the Bedouin society also includes vassal tribes, which are "ancestorless" (i.e., tribes whose heredity is not prestigious). These groups are subservient to the noble tribes and include professional groups such as artisans, blacksmiths, entertainers, etc.
Caste-like phenomena are attested in other regions of the Arabian peninsula, even among the sedentary populations. Paul Dresch has studied the situation in Yemeni tribal society at the beginning of the twentieth century.33 He observes that two groups of people are widely regarded as not belonging to the tribe, but are still endowed with rights and obligations. The first of them is the Sayyids – a group claiming descent from the prophet, and the Qadis. (The Qadis are also a group defined by heredity. While elsewhere in the Islamic world the title Qadi refers to judges, in Yemen it only denotes a member of this class, whether judge or not. The Qadis or mashaykh are also said to be descended from the Prophet Hud. The mashaykh do not enjoy as much prestige as the Sayyids.34) Below the tribesmen rank the 'weak' people (dua'fa) (sing. da'if). Weak people have no prestige. They include people of various trades, some respectable and some not so respectable.
Artisans and merchants in the traditional towns tend to be highly organized into castelike guild groups that are ranked largely according to the nature of their craft. In many areas those who ply so-called respectable trades are sharply differentiated from the bani khoms, or sons of the five, practitioners of the five despised trades of barber, bloodletter, butcher, bath attendant, and tanner. In the Hadramaut artisans who handle clay, such as masons and potters, also fall into the despised group, as do sweepers, fishermen, and some others, depending on locality. Poor farm laborers also occupy a low status, but it is higher than those of the despised crafts.
The akhdam, in many areas the lowest group, are so isolated from society that they have been compared with the untouchables of India. Found especially along the Tihama coast and in southern Yemen (Sana) but also in the Hadramaut, they are often distinguished socially by their negroid appearance and often follow the despised trade of sweeper. The akhdam appear to be descendants of slaves, although not all former slaves occupy such degraded positions. Slavery existed in the territories of the Aden Protectorate until the 1930s and persisted in Yemen (Sana) until 1962.35
The Sayyids in Yemen did not allow intermarriage with other Yemeni castes. This superiority was challenged only by expatriates in Singapore in 1905, and again under the Irshadi movement in Java in 1915.36
It would thus seem that the practice of forming hierarchical structures is quite a widespread phenomenon. In fact, not only hierarchies, but the specific practice of untouchability is attested in Burma and Japan. The idea of pollution by contact is attested in Qajar Iran, to cite but a single example.37 An exhaustive comparative study of all the different phenomena that are usually subsumed under the notion of caste is yet to be undertaken. Home hierarchichus is not endemic only to India; Homo sapiens everywhere has mostly been Home hierarchicus.
Even the institution of caste may have served its purpose in India. A.L. Basham regards the institution of caste as having been directly responsible for the survival of skills, handed down from generation to generation in India, whose counterparts were lost in other countries.38 Yet over the years it has become an oppressive institution, and a great obstacle to human freedom and national integration.
While studying caste it is certainly important not to lose one's perspective in the zeal to undermine the caste system. It is counter-productive to demonize one religious community as inherently caste-ridden and inegalitarian, and absolve other hierarchically structured religious groups of their responsibility. Indeed, the exclusive identification of caste with Hinduism has caused the situation in Pakistan and in Indian Muslim society to be largely neglected. Several important facts have gone virtually unnoticed.
Gaborieau points out that Syed Ahmad Khan, spearhead of Muslim thought in the Indian subcontinent in the last century, was an Ashraf working for the welfare of the Ashraf. He used to say that his Aligarh college was not for weavers. The Muslim League's social program was copied off the Congress' program, and made no radical improvements. The Congress however, has been labeled a baniya party, and that is how it has been portrayed to generations of Pakistani students. Land reforms in Pakistani Punjab (1959, 1972) have not been as successful as in Indian Punjab, and large landholders still have a disproportionate share of the land.39 A human rights commentator points out that Bhutto's land reforms were 'cosmetic', because landowners had been previously warded to transfer their lands to their family members.40 This has not provoked the public outrage that it should have. The same commentator also points out that the ulama have not campaigned for the eradication of feudalism. Thus, even in the year 2002 the situation seems to be no different that which obtained in the early forties, when the peasants of Punjab and especially of Sindh were
"under the spell of the pirs," and "had imbibed the doctrine of taqdir (fate) from the constant preachings of the pirs", … whose message was "He is low forever because God has made him so.""41
The advent of Islam has not automatically ensured equality. Indeed, the example of former Prime Minister Bhutto shows that inequality continued to be rampant. Bhutto's family owned, according to his own admission, hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Sindh and for generations. His ancestor Sheto had obtained tax exemptions and other benefits, including the title of khan, from Aurangzeb.42 Populists such as Bhutto have been able to get away with the rhetoric of musawat (equality), which he held out in his electoral promises, while doing nothing to promote social reform.
In a future article we will look at the issue of the development of vernacular languages on the subcontinent. The idea that Hindu society is inherently more hierarchical has led to the blanket assertion that Sanskrit stifled the growth of regional languages, which needed the stimulus of Islamic society before they could come into their own. This claim is also quite untenable. But here we content ourselves with the remark that in the subcontinent it was again India that took the lead in promoting regional languages. The regional languages in Pakistan have not been able to acquire parity of status with the Ashraf-imposed Urdu.43
It was left to the outspoken Dr. Ambedkar to point out that responsibility of fighting the iniquities of the caste system on the subcontinent devolve equally on Muslim and Hindu:
The existence of these evils among the Muslims is distressing enough. But far more distressing is the fact that there is no organized movement of social reform among the Musalmans of India on a scale sufficient to bring about their eradication. The Hindus have their social evils. But there is this relieving feature about them – namely, that some of them are conscious of their existence and a few of them are actively agitating for their removal. The Muslims, on the other hand, do not realize that they are evils and consequently do not agitate for their removal.44
The situation has changed much since the days when Dr. Ambedkar wrote these words. The battle against inequality on the subcontinent, however, is far from won. There is every indication that the battle will yet prove to be long and costly. As a very first step, it is hoped that intellectuals will rise up to examine the institution of caste with an unbiased mind, and rid us of all illusions in this matter.
Notes:
1. This study is the work of secondary scholarship. The author claims no originality, as the reader can see from the many quotes. A reexamination of the problems of the caste system has long been underway. It is the author's hope that this reexamination will now be debated vigorously on the internet.
The casual reader no less than the specialist will notice that the word caste is used throughout in a loose sense, meaning a population group that is defined by heredity. We have not examined very minutely whether the principle governing caste relations are based, for instance, on notions of purity/pollution, or occupation. Problems such as a precise definition of 'caste', the question whether the Ashraf are really a caste, or a comparison between notions of purity and pollution among Hindus and among other religious groups, will be discussed in future articles.
2. J.C. Heesterman, The Inner Conflict of Tradition, The University of Chicago Press, 1985.
3. Caste in the Punjab, From the Census Report of the Punjab, 1881, by Sir Denzil Ibbetson, K.C.S.I.
4. Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh (A Study of Culture Contact), Ghaus Ansari, Lucknow, 1960, Page 66.
5. Ni brahmanes ni ancêtres: Colporteurs musulmans du Nepal by Marc Gaborieau, Nanterre, Société d'ethnologie (It must be pointed out that there have been several British scholars who did not take this view. Sir Denzil Ibbetson is one. Gaborieau's point is valid broadly speaking.)
6. See, for instance, Sir W.W. Hunter, "The Religions of India", The Times, (London), February 25, 1888.
7. Dr. James Wise, "The Muhammadans of Eastern Bengal", J.R.A.S.B, (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1894), No. 1, p. 32.
8. Pakistan or The Partition of India, B. R. Ambedkar, Thacker & Co., Ltd., Bombay, pp. 218-219
9. Caste among the Muslims of Calcutta, M.K.A. Siddiqui, in Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims, Imtiaz Ahmad (ed.) (see next footnote).
10. Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims, Imtiaz Ahmad (ed.), Manohar, 1973
11. M.K.A. Siddiqui, in Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims … op.cit., pp. 149-150.
12. Status and Power in a Muslim Dominated Village of Uttar Pradesh, Zarina Bhatty, in Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims … op.cit.
13. ibid., p. 95.
14. Status Groups among the Moplahs on the South-west Coast of India, Victor S. D'Souza, in Caste... op.cit., pp. 45-60.
15. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 266.
16. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 378.
17. Quoted in Caste in India: Its Nature, Function, and Origins by J.H. Hutton, Oxford University press, 1963, p. 219.
18. In Pakistan many Christians from farming communities became landless after independence, and had to become sweepers by profession. This has caused them to be further stigmatized, indicating that dignity of labor is not yet widely upheld, even though the region is nearly devoid of Hindus. (Religious Minorities in Pakistan, Dr. Iftikhar H. Malik, 2002, Minority Rights Group International, p. 12)
19. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 370.
20. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 383.
21. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 378.
22. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 354.
23. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 291, 356.
Gaborieau also gives us the example of the Nizami clan, which manages the tomb of Nizamu'd-Din Auliya'. This clan claims descent from and intermarries with high-born Sayyid. The clan has inherited the mystique and sanctity attached to the founder of the hospice. (Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 375).
It appears that the phenomenon of Pirs and Pirzadas is caste-like, in that sanctity and prestige are inherited by birth. In Caste in India, J.H. Hutton gives the example of Pir Pagaro in Sindh, who is a "hereditary religious leader descended from a family which entered Sind with the Arabs in AD 711."
24. Gaborieau, op.cit., p. 356.
25. Ansari, p. 28.
26. Ansari, p. 30.
27. Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh (A Study of Culture Contact), Ghaus Ansari, Lucknow, 1960, Page 50.
28. Gaborieau, op. cit., p. 393.
29. Gaborieau, op. cit., p. 387, p. 415.
30. Marginality and Modernity: Ethnicity and Change in Post-Colonial Balochistan, Paul Titus, (ed) , Oxford University Press, Karachi, 1996, pp. 54-55.
31. "Haratin" http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=40019
32. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=14268>
33. Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen, Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, p. 117.
34. Area Handbook For The Yemens, Richard F. Nyrop, et al., 1977, p. 74.
35. Area Handbook For The Yemens, Richard F. Nyrop, et al., 1977, p. 77.
36. Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen, Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, p. 27.
37. Iran and the Muslim World: Resistance and Revolution, Nikki R. Keddie, Macmillan Press Ltd, 1995, p. 147.
38. Certainly this is true of music in the lands west of India. Until very recently recording music has not been possible. The musicians in Baluchistan, Iran and Afghanistan happen to be hereditary caste-musicians (Doms, Jugis, Loris) all with Indian caste counterparts. These musician castes will be studied in a future article. It will be seen that they are in all probability descendants of Indians brought as slaves or serfs. These castes completely dominate the folk music scene in Baluchistan and Afghanistan.
39. Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation?, Christophe Jaffrelot (ed.), Manohar, New Delhi, 2002, pp. 59-60.
40. Religious Minorities in Pakistan, Dr. Iftikhar H. Malik, 2002, Minority Rights Group International, p. 7.
41. Politics in Pakistan: The Nature and Direction of Change, Khalid B. Sayeed, Praeger Special Studies, 1980, p. 7
42. Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times, Stanley Wolpert, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 3-4.
43. As late as the 1901 census, it was only the Ashraf who claimed Urdu as their mother-tongue, even in the Gangetic belt. The others spoke one of many regional languages which have all been declared 'dialects' of Hindi/Urdu. (In fact, an authority on the Muslim League estimates the population of Ashraf to be about 7 percent of the total Muslim population, based on the number of people claiming Urdu as their language. See The All India Muslim League, Muhammad Saleem Ahmad, 1988, Ilham Publishers, Bahawalpur.)
44. Pakistan or The Partition of India, B. R. Ambedkar, Thacker & Co., Ltd., Bombay, p. 223.
Dileep Karanth dskaranth@yahoo.com
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_karan_caste.htm
| Saffron politics and dalit mobilisation |
| Badri Narayan's book Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation attempts to deconstruct the tactics used by the Hindutva forces to politically mobilise dalits to its side. It explains how community myths have been appropriated and twisted to oppose the composite heritage of the people Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation, Badri Narayan, 2009, Sage, Pages: 195 "…The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world -- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife -- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanise America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face." -- Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk) The question of mapping 'agency' as it unfolds itself in the trajectory of the oppressed has been a recurring theme in the social sciences of the 20th century. In his historic treatise The Souls of Black Folk, the legendary African-American social scientist and activist, Du Bois, discussed the "double consciousness" that inhabits the Negro (this was the term used then for African-Americans) and tried to delineate the dilemma through which every oppressed individual/formation is condemned to pass. According to Du Bois, a black individual lives with a feeling of "twoness" in a dominant white society. On the one hand s/he is engaged in confrontation with the dominant white world to oppose racial discrimination, and on the other hand s/he also yearns to become an American "without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows". If the feeling of "twoness" inhabited the blacks, is it possible to think about the dalits in a varna society along similar lines? The contradictory consciousness is very much visible in this case as well. On the one hand s/he is engaged in imitating/following the varna hierarchy (this process of upward mobility is variously described as Brahminisation/Sanskritisation by scholars like M N Srinivas) and, on the other hand, there is a strong current of resistance towards this co-option. Interestingly, 60 years after India became a republic – when, to quote Dr B R Ambedkar, we became a political democracy where one wo/man had one vote, but not a social democracy with one wo/man one value -- an altogether different situation awaits us. We have before us the zenith of dalit assertion, signified by a dalit ki beti becoming chief minister of the largest state in the Indian Union. The guest-actor role of the dalits in the Indian polity is becoming a thing of the past. Simultaneously, one encounters the ideological and institutional incorporation of a section of subalterns -- namely dalits, tribals, backward classes -- in the unfolding Hindutva agenda also coming to fruition. If the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai made us aware of the communalisation of a section of women who turned stormtroopers for the Hindutva brigade (discussed and debated in detail in the book Women and the Hindu Right), throwing our earlier assumptions about women's empowerment to the winds, the Gujarat genocide in 2002 made us aware of the dangerous and anti-human detour of dalit consciousness. Interestingly, while it is easy to comprehend dalit assertion along autonomous lines, connecting it to the glorious tradition of cultural revolt led by the likes of Phule, Jyothee Thass, Periyar, Ambedkar and others, one is baffled by the co-option of a section of dalits in the Hindutva forces. Badri Narayan's book, titled Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation (Sage, 2009), attempts to unravel the dynamics of dalit identity to "deconstruct the tactics used by the Hindutva forces to politically mobilise dalits" to its side. The articles in this book -- a few of which have appeared in different journals/magazines -- are based largely on original empirical data collected by the writer through extensive field trips to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, wherein he has looked at the recent goings-on in individual marginal communities and the manner in which the politics of identity is being played out in these communities at the behest of political forces on the right, namely Hindutva forces. The writer focuses his attention on four dalit castes -- Pasis, Nishads, Musahars and Dusadhs -- and their clever manipulation by the RSS-BJP. The book is divided into eight chapters and an introduction in which the author lays down the basic premise of his work and describes in detail how politically motivated communal forces are silently, but ingeniously, working among the common people. Communalisation of the identity construction of different communities, their positing against other communities which are, in turn, projected as enemies, conversion of the pride of a community in its identity into feelings of hatred for other communities, replacement of narratives of self-respect by narratives of violence against other communities -- essentially the modus operandi used by Hindutva forces -- have been explained at length. The book's introduction examines the use of 'pastness' among individuals/communities, which is the source of the person's/community's identity and which is deeply entrenched in his/her/their dreams/desires. For the author, 'pastness' is "both the truth and the imagination of the past" that takes shape "during the process of remembrance of the past". For communities, the sense of 'pastness' "helps fight anxieties and insecurities that arise from an increasing feeling of temporariness" -- a result of its "encounters with statehood, modernity, the onslaught of globalisation and changing forms of the market". Political parties and other agencies engaged in impacting communities cleverly exploit this strong desire of communities to assert their identity. One notices a shift in the strategy of political mobilisation by these political formations. If earlier the emphasis was on making promises and offering inducements to the gullible masses, since the 1980s, with stronger dalit assertiveness, creative strategies are being employed to mobilise smaller castes/communities by arousing their sense of 'pastness'. The interplay between these new mobilisation strategies and greater assertiveness by communities themselves has "led to the evolution of prevailing political strategy based on the exploitation of 'pastness'". This process unfolds in the picking out of heroes from myths, histories, and legends present in the oral culture of castes; reinterpretation, recreation and reconstruction of such heroes to suit the political ideologies of the concerned party; and their transmission back to the people as symbols of their own caste identity. The next stage involves celebration of these heroes by organising programmes, erecting statues, holding rallies, bringing out booklets and pamphlets praising these heroes, and narrating their legends in a form that suits the party's political agenda. Although the phenomenon of identity construction and assertion is visible at an all-India level, for the author this political strategy is being most successfully carried out in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This may be attributed to the social formation of this region that makes it amenable to those parties engaged in caste and identity politics. Interestingly, while most political parties here are engaged in the game of identity politics, the BSP and BJP may be considered the main players as far as politics in Uttar Pradesh is concerned. And both parties seem to be following diametrically opposite approaches to the issue. If the BJP is trying to win dalits over to its side by appropriating their past and identity as a Hindu past and identity, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) appears to be empowering dalit communities by providing them self-respect and confidence. It is debatable whether this understanding can be said to be still valid. A close look at the trajectory of the BSP during the last one-and-a-half decades shows a number of changes. When the strategy earlier was to challenge and question upper-caste hegemony, the slogan was 'Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, Inko Maaro Joote Char' [Tilak (Brahmins), Taraju (Banias) and Talwar (Kshatriyas), bash them up with shoes); today, when power considerations have led to new alignments, the key slogan is 'Haath Nahin Ganesh Hai, Brahma Vishnu Mahesh Hai' [It is not an elephant but Ganesh, it is also Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh]. Two inferences are unavoidable. One, that there has been no conscious attempt to stop/decelerate the process of Hinduisation of dalit identity; two, since attaining political power seems to have become a key goal for the BSP, alliances with upper caste-dominated forces like the BJP in UP, on three occasions, briefly during 1995 and 1997, and from 2002 to 2003, have definitely impacted the process of dalit assertion. One also comes across the re-creation of memories through myths, heroes and caste histories in a manner that suits the political formation. Sometimes, the same caste hero or myth invoked by the BSP is interpreted by the BJP in a more aggressive style and posited as an anti-Muslim hero. Another significant difference between the two parties seems to be that whereas the BSP focuses on myths of dalit women heroes of the 1857 revolt -- Jhalakaribai, Udadevi, Mahavirdevi, Avantibai and Pannadhai -- supposedly to buttress the image of its leader Mayawati, one rarely comes across myths of dalit women in the BJP's political discourse. The manner in which the story of Suhaldev, caste hero of the Pasis, has been appropriated is a case in point. The dargah of Ghazi Mian situated in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, is very popular among the local populace. On any normal day, thousands of devotees throng there for a glimpse of the mazaar. Lakhs of people gather in the month of May when a fair is held in his memory. Interestingly, most of the devotees are Hindus. As popular perception goes, the dargah is a place where the wishes of all devotees are granted. There are two contesting versions about Ghazi Mian in the region. If the first can be said to be the popular folk version, the other appears to be the product of the machinations of communal elements. Ghazi Mian, whose actual name was Salar Masood and who was the nephew of Mahmood Ghazanavi, came to Bahraich to hunt. He was apparently approached by local people and asked to act as their saviour. This was the period when Suhaldev was king of the Bhar/Pasi community. Suhaldev was a cruel, oppressive king. When he heard about Ghazi Mian, he attacked and killed him and his entire army. Suhaldev too died in the battle. Ghazi Mian's popularity arose from the fact that when his tomb was built, it supposedly acquired magical powers. Local people believe that both Hindus and Muslims are blessed after praying there. A parallel version, which has been consciously built and circulated by communal elements, talks of the great warrior Maharaja Suhaldev who defended Hindu religion and Hindus from the invader Masood who despoiled Indian cultural traditions, ravaged women and killed children and men. One can see that there are two reasons behind the contradictory stories surrounding the myth of Suhaldev. If the first pertains to the appropriation of the Pasis -- a dalit caste that, numerically, is second among them -- into the political fold, the second is to extend and construct a Hindu history against Islam to mobilise Hindus in the fold. In order to counter the popularity of Ghazi Mian -- where a majority of devotees are Hindus -- and bring straying Hindus back into the fold, Hindutva elements/formations have started organising parallel fairs and cultural programmes/events to commemorate the memory of Suhaldev. A number of programmes are organised to celebrate the king -- Kalash Yatra, yajna, sports competitions, a huge wrestling match, and a Ram katha. Here one witnesses the "spatial strategy" (to quote Satish Deshpande, page 85, Contemporary India, 2003, Viking) of Hindutva in full play. To quote: "The strategy based on the site has two facets. First, a chosen spot or site is invested with some unique particularity, such that it can be declared to be the only one of its kind; or if a site already has some such claims, these claims are refined and amplified. However, the criterion of selection is that the spot must implicate the 'other' deeply enough to prevent easy extrication. The combined result is to prepare a battleground where Hindu 'pride' or 'self-respect' can be defended only by inflicting an insult of some kind on the 'other'." Apart from projecting Salar Masood as a cruel person, the RSS emphasises repeatedly that the dargah was once the ashram of Balark Rishi. Salar razed both the ashram and the suryakund inside it to the ground. To denigrate Hindus who are believers in composite culture and heritage, the RSS claims that Hindus have forgotten the 'saviour of the nation and Hindu religion' and that they have no qualms about praying at the imaginary tomb of an 'invader'. It is worth noting here that despite the feverish attempts by the RSS and its affiliated organisations to vitiate the atmosphere, the popular narrative of the people contradicts what is being peddled by them. This narrative looks at Suhaldev as a villain and Ghazi Mian as the hero. There is no denying the fact that the 'construction of Suhaldev as a great warrior' has helped Hindutva forces mobilise people and build up a solid constituency among the Pasis who are a significant population in the areas around Bahraich. For the Pasis, Suhaldev is an iconic figure who was born into their own community. Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation discusses similar interventions in other dalit communities as well. In the case of the Nishads, a sub-caste of the Mallah caste which is a 'water-centric' community whose primary occupation is boating and fishing, it discusses the use of cultural resources by other dalit parties. The metamorphosis of these ''castes'' into a ''political constituency'' that the "political parties are contesting to win" is explained in great detail. Narayan writes: "All these political parties are using the same mythical and cultural resources, with the common motive of winning the votes of these castes, but are reinterpreting and recreating them in different ways to suit their political agendas." The book also finds that as an interesting side-effect of this process, the castes are acquiring power to negotiate with various parties in the fray. Taking advantage of the mythical hero of the Nishads, namely Nishadraj Guhya, who supposedly helped Ram, the BJP-RSS combine skilfully used the community during the infamous Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque agitation. In 1990, when L K Advani was undertaking his rath yatra around the country, and his entourage was prevented from entering Ayodhya, the Nishads were mobilised to transport the kar sevaks to Ayodhya via the water route. In the case of the Musahars, the myths of Savari -- a character in a minor sub-plot in the Ramayana -- and that of two warrior brothers Dina-Bhadri have helped the community assert itself, raise itself in the social hierarchy, and develop social confidence. And they have become handy for the BJP-RSS to further its agenda. As the Musahars consider themselves descendants of Savari, the RSS-BJP has tried to mobilise the Musahars to help in the Ramkaj (incomplete work of Ram). The two brothers Dina-Bhadri are also projected as reincarnations of Ram-Laxman. The BJP-RSS however is careful not to highlight the struggle of the Nonia and Beldars against contractors and people employed by them to dig the land. The author laments the fact that left and other democratic forces have not understood the significance of using cultural resources to mobilise the Musahars and build up popular support. Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation is a welcome addition to the small, albeit growing, scholarly/popular works on the specific issue of Hindutva's engagement with dalits. A combination of detailed field work laced with oral history, and a broad knowledge of the issue based on research adds novelty and authenticity to the book. Not only does the book successfully explain the dynamics of dalit identity, it also looks closely at the manner in which forces like the BJP-RSS -- that are opposed to the composite heritage of the people -- operate in our society. Through various case studies, the author conveys the danger that this situation poses to the dream of an inclusive, tolerant, just India. The book emphasises an important point that has not received the attention it deserves. Whenever there has been talk of the Hindutvaisation of dalits, witnessed as a phenomenon during the 2002 Gujarat genocide, attempts have been made to deny 'agency' to the dalits. The participation of a section of dalits in the anti-Muslim violence was explained on grounds that they were either misled or used by varna-dominated communal forces. The author rightly explains that the "success" of Hindutva forces in saffronising myths and legends belonging to dalits has not only been due to smart strategies employed by Hindutva forces but also a strong urge within dalit communities "to seek acceptance from the upper-caste Hindus who had always culturally and socially marginalised them". The only drawback of the book is that it could have been edited better. The author could have avoided a lot of repetition that makes for dull reading. It is also surprising that the book does not mention other important publications on this phenomenon that appeared in the interim; notable among them is Hindutva and Dalits edited by Anand Teltumbde, 2004, Samya. In conclusion, one can only hope that a radical dalit community emerges which can critically engage with the reconstruction and reappropriation of its memory by vested interests, and move towards the emancipatory agenda put forward by Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar and others. (Subhash Gatade is a social activist, translator and writer whose writings appear regularly in Hindi and English publications and occasionally in Urdu publications. He edits a Hindi journal Sandhan) Infochange News & Features, August 2009 |
http://infochangeindia.org/200908197898/Human-Rights/Books-Reports/Saffron-politics-and-dalit-mobilisation.html
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