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ISSN: 2321-8819 (Online) Asian Journal of 2348-7186 (Print) Impact Factor: 0.92 Multidisciplinary Studies Volume 3, Issue 2, Feb. 2015

Dalits and : A Discussion on the

Anshika Srivastava Phd Scholar, Zakir Husain Cenrte for Educational Studies University (JNU), New Delhi,

Abstract: The spread of education ,introduction of policy of reservations in government jobs and educational institutions and other policies of the State have led to the emergence of a middle class from within the Dalit community referred to as the ‘Dalit Middle Class’ (Ram, 1995; Savaala, 2001; Pandey, 2011; Jodhka, 2012; 2015). This group constitutes the educated who have entered into modern occupations associated with the middle class. While these Dalits have undoubtedly secured occupational and economic mobility and have witnessed an improvement in class position, as literature highlights, their identity as ‘Dalits’ still continues to mediate their daily life experiences of ‘being the middle class’ and stigmatise their identity unlike the ‘mainstream middle class’. This renders the understanding of their social mobility as complex. It is the case of this Dalit Middle Class and their social mobility which the present paper takes up for discussion. Through a review of literature, this paper argues that given that the considerations of caste are still at as far as the relations and interaction between the Dalits and the larger society is concerned, an improvement in class position for these educated middle class Dalits may not necessarily lead to an improvement in their . Despite gaining an entry into the middle class fractions, many of them still face as well as resistance to their assimilation in the mainstream middle class. As the paper will show even if their class position improves, their caste identity intervenes in their relationships with others from the middle class and higher classes. Along with this, the paper also emphasizes that to understand the complexity of the social mobility processes and experiences for groups like Dalits that have been marginalised, it is important that research on social mobility not only entails quantitatively studying the intergenerational shifts in occupation, education, income etc., but also qualitatively studying the processes, strategies and experiences of social mobility in terms of their interactions with others from their class and other classes. The latter specifically implies understanding social mobility in terms of the degree of social and ritual distance between the Dalit middle class and other non-Dalit middle class members as well as those from other classes. KEY WORDS: Dalits, Dalit Middle Class, Social Mobility

INTRODUCTION: development in the contemporary times has been the emergence of the educated Dalits who have Dalits1 in India constitute a significant proportion entered into modern occupations associated with of the Indian population (16.2 %, Census, 2011), the middle class. Rather these Dalits have been but as it is well documented, they have been one of seen as the „new entrants‟ to the middle class and the most socially discriminated group in India that have been called the „Dalit middle class‟ (Ram, has also been politically marginalized and 1995; Savaala, 2001; Pandey, 2011; Jodhka, 2012). economically vulnerable. However with urbanization, introduction of education and When looked through the conventional approach of affirmative action policies, there has been a tracing social mobility, wherein mobility is weakening of the caste-occupation link and examined by comparing social origins of an considerations of purity and pollution, wherein the individual – examined in relation to his/her father‟s Dalits have experienced a relative change in their , occupational status, income, or socio-economic conditions. Though, this change education – with his/her own attainments expressed has not been uniform for all, but a very significant in similar terms (Krishna, 2013), these Dalits in any case will be regarded as upwardly mobile, as 1 Here the term Dalit is used to refer to the the new members of the middle class. But a critical Scheduled Caste communities in particular, though point that emerges through the existing studies the term is used today to include other oppressed (though a few), is that despite such occupational groups as well. mobility and their entry into secular occupations, many of these „upwardly mobile Dalits‟ not only experience discrimination at the workplace and

Available online at www.ajms.co.in 127 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

continued caste based against their area suggest, there is a considerable ambiguity communities in the society at large (Jodhka, 2012), around the ranking of , especially in the but also resistance to their assimilation in the middle ranges across regions and that there is a mainstream „middle-class‟ (Jodhka and Sirari, great deal of disagreement about the mutual rank 2012). Such a situation, highlights how despite a between the jatis (Srinivas, 1962; Ghurye, 1969). move away from the traditional occupation, their But at the same time as noted, despite this caste identity mediates their daily lives making ambiguity surrounding the ranking of the castes in their experiences and identities stigmatised unlike the middle levels, the top and the bottom positions the „mainstream middle class‟( Jodhka and Sirari, of the caste hierarchy continue to be occupied by 2012). Thus there emerges incongruence between specific castes throughout the regions (Srinivas, their class position and status (Weber, 1946 ). It is 1962). While the „‟ have more or less the case of these Dalits which the present paper occupied the highest position in the caste hierarchy, discusses, unravelling through the existing the bottom has been occupied by the Dalits – the literature, the complex nature of their social „(ex) untouchables‟ who have been considered to mobility into the middle class. In doing so, it also be the most impure by birth and are traditionally reinstates that the co-existence of two kinds of assigned occupations like skinning of animal social hierarchies in the Indian context - caste and carcasses, tanning leather, removal of human class structure, makes the study of social mobility waste; attendance at cremation grounds to name a particularly problematic (Naudet, 2008). So as it is few, considered to be the most polluting of all the argued, through the following sections, any inquiry occupations. They still hold the lowest ritual status into the social mobility of these Dalits calls forth among all the castes and have been regarded as so for looking at it broadly, where it has to be polluted that even their touch has been considered understood not simply in terms of shift to an as a cause of impurity and pollution to other castes. occupation placed higher in occupational hierarchy. Having recognized that it is the supposed purity Rather the need is to also capture the influence of and impurity of the castes that has defined their the larger social, historical, economic context of ritual status in the traditional caste system, it is people on the pathways and experiences of social critical to also realize that „caste is not merely the mobility (Froerer and Portisch, 2013). That is, in opposition between the pure and the impure, but at order to understand social mobility for this group a more fundamental level it incorporates other holistically, it is imperative that the processes, kinds of oppositions such as domination and strategies and experiences of social mobility in subordination, exploitation and oppression, based terms of their interactions with others from their on unequal access to material resources‟ class and other classes are also looked at. (Chakravarti, 2006, p. 21). In this sense caste THE DALITS, SOCIAL MOBILITY AND THE system is a system of material inequality and EMERGING DALIT MIDDLE CLASS: entails an unequal and hierarchical entitlement of economic and social rights as well as privileges The caste system is viewed as one of the oldest that are predetermined and ascribed by birth for forms of stratification that has thrived in the Indian each caste (Thorat and Newman, 2010). So, castes society for centuries. This system of stratification not merely hold a differential ritual status but most divides the society (here Hindu) into a series of importantly a differential social and economic local, hereditary and endogamous units or „jatis‟, status that provides unequal economic and social arranged in a hierarchy according to the ritual rights and privileges to them. Thus disparities are status. Each jati has also traditionally been assigned observed between castes in the social and economic a hereditary occupation. This ritual hierarchy life. Moreover as „the economic and social rights among the castes, as the scriptures suggest is based are unequally assigned, therefore the entitlement to on the notions of „purity and pollution‟, with castes rights are diminished as one moves down the caste opposed as „high‟ or „low‟, in terms of being ladder‟ ( Thorat and Newman, 2010, p. 7). This ritually pure and impure on the basis of their therefore implies that privileges are concentrated at association with the „purity of blood‟ and „the the top thereby leaving the castes at the bottom – nature of work‟ assigned to them (Chakravarti, the Dalits in particular, socially and economically 2006). It is this opposition between the „high‟ and deprived. „low‟ that in turn accounts for the respective prescriptions and pertaining to the Over the years with urbanization, introduction of social intercourse between castes. Thus in ritual education and affirmative action policies there have terms, the status and the nature of social intercourse been some changes in the caste system in terms of of castes in the traditional caste system come to be the weakening of the caste-occupation link as well derived and defined by the relative purity of the as the purity-pollution considerations ( Beteille, castes. 2002; Shah, 2010). These changes in turn have critical implications for the Dalit social mobility. While the hierarchy between the castes has been a Social mobility as understood refers to the marked feature of the caste system (Srinivas, 1987 movement of individuals, families or groups cited in Guha, 2009), the position of each caste is through a system of . This not always clear and fixed. As field studies in the movement may be upwards, downwards as well as

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(2) February, 2015 128 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

horizontal. Given that it is their traditionally hierarchy, though with time they have shown some associated occupation and the considerations of movement into other occupations. purity and pollution from which their lowly status Researchers have also traced the patterns of accrues, for Dalits upward social mobility will intergenerational mobility across caste groups. For entail movement upwards in the occupational instance, Deshpande and Palishkar (2008) study the hierarchy as well as corresponding improvement in intergenerational mobility among 4 generations of status. However as the existing literature suggests different caste groups in Pune city. In the analysis social mobility in this sense has not been possible of their mobility across generations for respective for all and to the same extent. occupational categories, they find that over four The educational disparities by the caste are generations, Dalits are still not into higher persistent and Dalits still lag behind the non-Dalits occupations3 in large numbers. But at the same both in terms of literacy and educational attainment time a sharp decline across the four generations in (Deshpande, 2011). Uneven spread of education to the category of very low occupations is noted. In some extent explain the fact that despite a the case of upper middle occupations also, while weakening of the caste –occupation link for them, the first three generations of the Dalits show a many Dalits „remain disproportionately clustered in steady rise, there was a decline in the fourth the lowest rungs: casual labour, agricultural labour generation. Similarly, while the second generation and unemployed while the others dominate the of Dalits experienced upward mobility in the case more prestigious occupations‟ (ibid, p. 74). Being of middle occupations, the mobility rates were low poorly paid, such employment further adds to their for the third , which were now increasing for the economic deprivation. The research on social fourth generation now. All these patterns suggest mobility of Dalits suggests that „much of the how while there has been a decline in the mobility appears to be merely horizontal, from proportion of Dalits engaged in the lowest traditional caste occupations or agricultural labour occupations, there has also been a corresponding in the village to insecure jobs at the lower end of rise in the numbers of those engaged in lower and India‟s vast informal economy‟(Jodhka, 2015, p. lower middle occupations. Thus upward mobility 222). of the Dalits remains limited given that it is found largely within the low range occupations as For instance Kumar et.al (2002) in their study compared to the other caste groups. Kumar et al based on an analysis of the National Election (2002) report of a continuity of class positions of Survey data show that while the Dalits are still fathers and sons and conclude that the „dominant found to be most highly concentrated in manual picture is one of continuity rather than change.‟ work, the upper castes are the least likely to be (Kumar et.al, 2002, p. 4096).Thus, caste indeed found in this work and mostly in the salariat2 , works to block those located at the lower end of consisting of executives, professionals, white collar caste hierarchy‟ (Kumar et al, 2002, Thorat and employees and class IV employees, farming and Attewell, 2007; Thorat and Newman, 2010; Vaid business sectors. But at the same time, only some and Heath, 2010 cited in Judge, 2015, p.222) Dalits have managed to reach the salariat. So as far as the inter-generational mobility of Majumdar (2012), in his analysis of educational Dalits is concerned, while for a large proportion and occupational attainments of the various social there is no stark upward shift in „higher status groups states, that the educational and occupational occupations‟ for them across generations, but at the attainments is more among the „advanced castes‟. same time there has been shift away from the His analysis suggests that the movement of the lowest occupations for some. So as it emerges from „excluded castes‟ (including the Scheduled Castes, the preceding discussion, only a very small Scheduled Tribes and OBCs) in various proportion has been able to enter the middle and occupational groups like the white collar, pink higher end occupations in the occupational collar, blue collar is minimal as compared to the advanced castes (upper castes). So as he suggests 3 upward mobility is more evident for the „Advanced For the purpose of analysis of intergenerational castes rather than the „Excluded castes‟. occupational mobility the researchers classify Works like these and others ( for instance Vaid and occupations into upper or higher, upper middle, Heath, 2010; Thorat and Newman, 2010, middle, lower middle, poor or low and very poor or Deshpande, 2011 etc.) largely seem to suggest that very low. These occupational categories as they the Dalits are still concentrated in lower status state „implicitly refer to ideas of status attached to occupations (manual work) in the occupational various occupations, opportunities for generating wealth and requirement of knowledge 2 skills/technical skills or mere physical labour‟ The class schema used by Sanjay et.al (2002) (Deshpande and Palishkar, 2008, p.67) included 4 main groupings. These were the Salariat, Business class, manual labourers and agriculture.

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(2) February, 2015 129 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

hierarchy. It is in this context that the discussion of upper fractions (Hunt, 2014). Further, it is only the Dalit middle class comes up. some members from some caste groups like , Jatavs, Mahars and few others who have The small, but a significant proportion of educated cornered most benefits accruing from reservations Dalits entering occupations associated with the and other provisions ( Nambissan and Sedwal, middle class have been seen as recent entrants to 2002), that have come to comprise this new middle the middle class4 and are referred to as the Dalit class. Middle Class (Ram, 1995; Savaala, 2001; Pandey, What makes these Dalits, „new‟ or different from 2011; Jodhka, 2012; 2015). As mentioned earlier the old middle class is their distinct recent origins. also, the rise of the Dalit middle class is associated These Dalits are the new entrants to the already with the spread of education and most importantly existing middle class, though they may be found in the reservation in government jobs and institutions the lower fractions of the class. These new entrants of higher education. to the middle class need to be differentiated from In 1972, Roy Burman considered the „New Middle the „new middle class‟ that is seen to have emerged Class‟ as „a section of people belonging to the in the times of liberalization in the 1990‟s. This scheduled casts who avail of the reservation new middle class is „not new in terms of newness facilities and belong to the families of marginal of its social base‟. Rather it comprises of the „upper farmers‟ (Roy-Burman ,1972, p.3 stated in Ram, echelons of that class, and its „newness‟ is 1988). Nandu Ram in 1988 used this term for constituted through its identification with a new „salaried persons of the Scheduled Castes who have economic sector – the private sector‟ (Fernandes, adopted a life style and achieved a socio-economic 2000 cited in Deuchar, 2014). Thus what makes status and thereby a class position different from these new entrants (Dalit middle class) different the earlier ones‟ (Ram, 1988: 119). While these from India‟s otherwise new middle class is that it scholars include only the members of the has a broader social base than the other. Scheduled Castes, some like Saavala (2001) and THE DALIT MIDDLE CLASS AND THE Pandey (2011) make this category inclusive of EXPERIENCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY: other groups as well. As Savaala (2001) defines it „the middle class people who originate from lower The engagement of Dalits in the occupations caste backgrounds and whose relative economic commonly associated with the middle class, when security is of recent origin‟ (Saavala, 2001, p.295). seen through the conventional approach of studying Another phrase used for these Dalits is the social mobility that involves comparing an „subaltern middle class‟ as Pandey (2011) refers to individual‟s father‟s social class, occupational it. As he puts it, the subaltern middle class refers to status, income, or education with his/her own the „ middle class groups that emerge from and attainments expressed in similar terms (Krishna, remain in various ways tied to long stigmatised 2013), clearly suggests an upward shift of these lower class and under class populations‟ (Pandey, Dalits in the occupational hierarchy and their move 2011, p. 15). In his work he includes both the away from the traditionally associated occupations. upwardly mobile Dalits and African-Americans However this observation only suggests a change in while discussing the category. their class position. But as the existing literature suggests, this change in class position has not been An important observation about the Dalit middle congruent with the improvement in status for many class has been that given that the middle class of them. As studies, though a few, that trace the comprises of different fractions, the Dalits have qualitative experiences of mobility for these Dalits entered the in significant suggest, the caste identity of the Dalits intervenes numbers, while few have managed to reach the and mediates their class status as the new entrants to the middle class. These highlight the ways in which the caste identity of the occupationally 4 mobile Dalits still interferes with their inter- The size and characterstics of the middle class personal relations with others of their class and remains much debated and different connotations their participation and interaction in the spheres of and definitions of the middle class exist. Among social life. These spheres include the workplace, the different characteristics, occupation remains family and community, neighbourhood etc. In all important to define middle class. Middle class, in these cases, the Dalits have traditionally been this respect can be understood as a complex excluded to engage equally with the higher castes. heterogeneous and dynamic category composed of As the following discussion shows, for these Dalits, multiple fractions that have entered a range of achieving the middle class identity does not mean „white collar salaried occupations‟ in both that the caste identity now no more interferes in government and private sector from their interpersonal relations with the other members managerial and professional positions to lower- of their class and becomes insignificant. Rather it is level, white-collar jobs and include technicians as their caste identity as a Dalit which defines their well as owners of small business (Nambissan, experiences of mobility into . Also what 2009). becomes important is the way these Dalits respond

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(2) February, 2015 130 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

to such an exclusion and intervention of caste and landlords refuse to rent to those belonging to identity. the Dalit castes‟ (Hunt, 2014, p. 10) An early attempt to understand mobility of the Jodhka (2015), in his study on the Dalit middle educated Dalits has been made by Nandu Ram class urban activists working in and around Delhi, (1988). His study looks at the social mobility among other aspects reports of experiences of among Scheduled Caste government employees subtle and not so subtle forms of discriminatory (where such employment is associated with the situations they experienced in the urban context. middle class) in Kanpur. Along with examining the He classifies them into 3 categories, including intergenerational occupational mobility, he also „denial and untouchability, devaluation and explores the nature of their inter-personal humiliation and institutional and cultural bias‟ relationship with Non-Scheduled castes. This is (Jodhka, 2015, p.194). The intervention of caste looked on certain basis like attendance of identity on their mobility into the middle class ceremonies by Scheduled Castes and Non- becomes explicit from his observation that „ Even Scheduled Castes, taking meals/refreshments and when some of them would like to forget their caste entering kitchen of acquaintances (Ram, 1988). He origin and be a part of the urban-middle class social found that while many respondents and setting, they find it hard to swim in the difficult acquaintances attended ceremonies at each other‟s waters of caste prejudiced social spaces‟ (ibid, home, some occasionally had refreshments from p.224) acquaintances and vice-versa, but a large number Studies like these very well substantiate the fact never entered each other‟s kitchen. Thus a that social mobility cannot be merely seen in terms distancing between Scheduled Castes with Non- of enhancement in occupational status. The impact Scheduled Caste in the private realm of the home is of caste on the interactions of Dalits with others of evident here. Also as Ram (1988) found, both they their class and caste as well as their participation in and their acquaintances had reservations in their various spheres of social life will have to be interactions and each other‟s free acceptance understood to look at the social mobility of the because of their caste background and the stigma group comprehensively. attached to it. Thus the caste identity of the respondents mediated their relations with the Non- A closely related aspect that the available literature Scheduled castes. also reveals is that given the kind of inter-personal relations between the mobile Dalits and the others, Kamble (2002) in his study on untouchability in there can be different responses of the Dalits to urban settings in Mumbai looks at the ways in their mobility as the Dalit middle class and with which Dalits face segregation in residence areas respect to their relations with other members of the and at work place. Stating the testimonies of middle class and other classes. One of the middle class Dalits working as government identified responses is that of „Passing one‟s servants and lecturers, Kamble establishes how identity as non-Dalit‟ in public sphere. This they faced prejudices especially around their practice of passing was noted not only in the early reserved status though covertly. As the respondents studies on Dalit middle classes like that of Isaacs shared, the Non- Scheduled Castes officials were of (1965), Ram (1988) but even in the recent times . the view that „people from the quota are For instance Pandey (2011) discusses how the incompetent‟, which was communicated to them Dalits may engage in adoption of neutral caste indirectly. Further they were also watchful of the names, use of first names, using more respectable respondents and their „competence to work surnames etc in an attempt to hide their caste efficiently‟. location and background. Patel (2008) in her study among the government Savaala (2001) through her study among the office employees in Delhi and other states, also middle class Scheduled Caste (SC) group the Malas reports of jokes and comments being cracked in in Hyderabad adds a further dimension to this government offices on inefficiency of the Dalits, aspect of passing. She highlights how even if the lack of class and culture specific tastes and even middle class Dalits may hide their caste identity, subordinate‟s disregard for them etc that explain they may adopt strategies for identity formation. As how the Dalits are stigmatised in the office sphere she argues, „even if the cultural identification of the as well. Their identity as a Dalit and the associated new middle-class people is ambivalent (in the sense prejudices mediated their relations with colleagues. that they have to face questions concerning their Hunt (2014) in her study of the Dalit literature also identity which higher caste people might not), their recognises how as Hindi Dalit writers have situation is not necessarily as bleak and hopelessly disclosed in their writings, caste based problematic as we are led to believe……. tendency discrimination is also experienced in cities wherein to conceal identity and „pass‟ should nevertheless keeping one‟s caste anonymous temporarily is not close our eyes to other strategies of identity possible. She also discusses the case of middle- formation that are adopted by middle-class SCs.‟ class Dalits in Delhi, „who face discrimination in (Savaala, 2001, p. 296). She reports of the Malas workplace, where the colleagues constantly ask „passing‟ their identity and adopting Hindu rituals intriguing questions until caste identity is known that have been traditionally denied to them. But she

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(2) February, 2015 131 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

takes her analysis further to describe other hiding their identity may be assertive of it. The strategies of identity formation that are adopted by Chamars in Punjab have been most mobile through middle-class SCs. Their strategies are not only education, modern occupations, and international those concerned with not being revealed and not migration. As he finds, they have begun to assert being identified, but also active ones, aimed at their caste identity post 1970‟s. Judge identifies creating a new type of identity. She reveals a three features of such assertion. First, there is a number of different strategies other than concealing trend in publicly displaying their identity (for one‟s jaati, to gain recognition as middle class. instance presence of graffiti like „“Putt Chamaran These included idea of the light skin colour, De” (Sons of Chamars) on vehicles. As he notes, cleanliness, neat way of dressing, healthy this is not simply a reflection of identity assertion, appearance, courteous manners and ability to speak but an effort to create counter-structure, because English. However the most important factor in such a trend was exclusively found among the passing as a middle-class family was the choice of dominant Jats. Secondly, the Chamars seek to residence outside the basti. maintain their caste identity by sticking to caste endogamy and thirdly instead of fighting exclusion, Further she also reflects on their practices to they have begun to emerge as a socially exclusive engage in Hindu upper caste rituals. What she group, which has enabled them to exclude argues most crucially is that these rituals are not themselves from the other Dalit groups. Thus what adopted in an attempt to mimic upper caste . is reflected here is a sense of self-worth and a lack Rather they give their own meanings to it. These of feeling of being defensive of their caste identity practices were not only performed to bring in these Chamars. auspiciousness to the family, but through these rituals they also engage in ritual gift-giving which Similarly, the Dalit Activists in Jodhka‟s study is a way of manipulating social tensions in urban (2015), as he documents very proudly asserted their areas. They interpreted in a way that they identity and fought for rights of Dalit individuals. create a low caste- casteless Hinduism, wherein the As he states, they „felt strongly committed to their concept of auspiciousness and not purity-pollution communities‟ and to many this was a „way of come to define Hinduism. So, these SC‟s viewed paying back to them‟. these rituals differently than mimicking them in The post modern times has witnessed a strong their attempt to become the middle class. articulation of dalit identity as evident in collective A contrary response to passing can be not hiding mobilizations and at the level of the individual in one‟s caste identity. Mobile Dalits could also the day to day life. Further even the growing Dalit identify with their own caste as well -what Ram writings and narratives for instance that by Valmiki (1988) refers to as ethno-identification. As he (2003) , Jadhav (2003),Kamble (2008), found in his study, some SC‟s identified with their Kumar(2010) and others have emerged as caste and disclosed it. Interestingly, they wanted to articulations of the Dalit self. demonstrate their „achievement‟ given the So the discussion above shows how for the traditionally low status of the caste group and occupationally and economically mobile Dalit maintained their loyalty with their caste (Ram, middle class, caste identity may cast its shadow on 1988). their interpersonal relations with the other members Naudet (2008) through her ethnographic work of their class as well as their acceptance by the among upwardly mobile Dalits in different Indian latter. As it emerges through the literature, an cities asserts that experience of upward social upward movement in the occupational hierarchy as mobility for Dalits may not be characterised by a well as a change in their class position need not tendency to forget the group of origin, or feel effect a corresponding change in the way society ashamed of it or be marked by sentiment of guilt on perceives them and their identity as members of the abandoning the group . Rather what she highlights middle class. is how „the perpetuation of a link with the group of CONCLUSION: origin (i.e the caste group) seems to completely shape the experience of mobility‟ (Naudet, 2008, p. Given the disadvantages which the Dalits have 414). Interestingly she reveals that the preservation suffered from, both in the past and the present, the of the links with the group of origin is often emergence of the Dalit middle class is a very presented as a moral obligation, in terms of the significant development. However, as discussed, it ideology of paying back to the society. Works like cannot be seen as signalling a complete change in these open up the need for the analysis of the the socio-economic position of the Dalit experience of Dalit mobility to explore their community. This is so, firstly because only a relations with the caste members not only in terms miniscule of Dalits comprise this group and of a tension between the group of origin and the secondly as the paper has highlighted, their group of arrival, but also directs our attention to see movement away from the traditional occupations and look at factors that help reduce these tensions. into those associated with the middle class, does not necessarily imply a change in their social Judge‟s (2012) study of Chamars in Punjab also status, wherein still the caste identity of many of brings forth how the mobile Dalits rather than

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(2) February, 2015 132 Dalits and Social Mobility: A Discussion on the Dalit Middle Class.

them, comes to mediate their experiences of being structure, but will necessarily have to also the part of the middle class. However the response understand whether and how caste identity shapes to such mediation may vary. Further what also their experiences as members of a class. Their emerges from the discussion is that any inquiry into acceptance into the class fractions they enter will social mobility especially for such disadvantaged need to be seen in terms of their interaction and groups like the Dalits, will not only require an participation in different spheres of social life and inquiry into their movement across the class in what ways they may continue to be excluded.

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