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Untouchability in India: Is It Being Operated Only with 'Sacredness' Or

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Untouchability in India: Is it being Operated Only With ‘Sacredness’ or Holding Some Materials too? Presented by Safrin B. International Institute for Population Science, Mumbai, India. The concept of caste The segregation of people in Hindu society and allocation in different sections of works .. Caste- The chaturvarna (The system of four varnas) -Brahmin- The priests -Kshatriya- The warriors and rulers -Vaishya- The traders, merchants and minor officials -Shudra- The unskilled workers (Further divided into around 4000 endogamous jaatis i.e. sub- castes) Caste- The chaturvarna (The system of four varnas) -Brahmin- The priests -Kshatriya- The warriors and rulers -Vaishya- The traders, merchants and minor officials -Shudra- The unskilled workers (Further divided into around 4000 endogamous jaatis i.e. sub- castes) Outside these varnas- the ati-shudras (Harijans), the untouchables An ancient legal text “Manu Smriti” (Laws of human) A Hindu law book “..for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds he (Lord) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet...” “.. in order to protect this universe He, the most resplendent one, assigned separate (duBes and) occupaBons to those who sprang from his mouth, arms, thighs, and feet. To Brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda), sacrificing for their own benefits and for others, giving and accepBng (of alms); the Kshatriya he commanded to protect the people, to bestow giGs, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), and to abstain from aIaching himself to sensual pleasures; the Vaisya to tend caIle, to bestow giGs, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), to trade, to lend money, and to culBvate land. One occupaBon only the lord prescribed to the Sudra, to serve meekly even these (other) three castes. Man is stated to be purer above the navel (than below); hence the Self- existent (Svayambhu) has declared the purest (part) of him (to be) his mouth. Concept of caste.. Division of people in hierarchical scale of enBtlement, of duBes, of puries and polluon. These puriBes and polluBons seIle into an elaborate system of ancestral occupaBons. “Manu Smriti” (Laws of human) 1250 BC (Sir William Jones) 1000 BC (Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel) ------- 18th century philologists One of the first Sanskrit texts translated by Sir William Jones... ...during the British rule of India in 1794 .. ...used to formulate the Hindu law by the colonial government. A jus(ficaon of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth funconing of different kinds of works! A jus(ficaon of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth funconing of different kinds of works! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar A jus(ficaon of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth funconing of different kinds of works! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar “.. Enclosed class” “.. The study of the origin of caste must furnish us with an answer to the quesBon—what is the class that raised this "enclosure" around itself?” “..It is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other” Discriminaons against dalits -Use of public roads -Drinking from public well -Hindu temples -Privileged caste schools -Women to cover their upper bodies in public -Tying broom to their waist to sweep away the polluted foot-prints -The very shadow is not to be touched by -Undisputed right over the bodies of dalit women by upper- caste men. Current scenario.. - Road, drinking water, temples, schools. - Mee(ng, crossing, even seeing.. - Beang up of dalits for their food habits - Honor killing - Pushing of dalit students to suicide - Beang and Killing of dalit men - Raping and killing of dalit women Pracce of untouchability, recent evidence Thorat Amit and Joshi Omkar, 2015 India Human Development Survey, 2011-12 Current scenario.. Examples- Khairlanji incident: Current scenario.. Examples- Khairlanji incident: Four members of a family were murdered in a small village called Kherlanji in Maharashtra. ...for "opposing" the requision of their field to have a road built over it. -The two women among these were paraded naked in public, abused sexually and hacked to death. Current scenario.. Examples- Khairlanji incident: 29th September 2006 Four members of a family were murdered in a small village called Kherlanji in Maharashtra. ...for "opposing" the requision of their field to have a road built over it. -The two women among these were paraded naked in public, abused sexually and hacked to death. Current scenario.. Examples- Assault of dalit men over skinning dead cow, Gujarat: Men belonging to a local “cow protec(on commiIee” are stripping the dalit men, tying them to a car before brutally beang up with iron pipes and s(cks. Current scenario.. Examples- Assault of dalit men over skinning dead cow, Gujarat: 11th July, 2016 Men belonging to a local “cow protec(on commiIee” are stripping the dalit men, tying them to a car before brutally beang up with iron pipes and s(cks. Una movement, Gujarat, July 2016 Una movement, Gujarat, July 2016 Keep your mother cow, Give our lands back.... Objecves With the central objec(ve- To invesBgate into the economic privilegeness of, or the dependancy by the households belonging to different castes in India Objecves • To investigate into the main sources of income and level of income of Indian households belonging to different castes in India during 2011-12. • To examine the pattern in the amount of land holding and land cultivation in the households by different castes in India during 2011-12. • To examine how much was the largest amount of loan received by households belonging to different castes during a reference period of 5 years and to investigate into the main purposes and sources of taking those loans. Data • India Human Development, second wave 2 (IHDS II) Ø 2011-12 Ø 42,152 households • Caste is covered in detail To cover the experience of untouchability, all the Scheduled Caste (SC) households were asked this question- “In your household, have some members experienced untouchability in the last 5 years?” Results Sources of main income Allied Profes agri./ Non sion/ Agri. Organiz Cultiva Artisan/ agri. Petty Salaried Pensio Caste categories wage ed Others Total tion Independ wage shopkeeper work n/ labour business ent labour Rent worker etc. Brahmin 26.8 1.9 1.3 7.5 11.5 1.6 32.5 12.8 4.1 100 Forward/General (excluding 25.6 2.4 5.8 14.8 14 2.3 24 7.8 3.3 100 Brahmin) Other Backward 26.1 3.4 9.6 24.1 12.2 1.2 14.9 4.8 3.6 100 Castes Scheduled 13.8 2.1 21.1 31.4 6.7 0.3 17.4 4.1 3.2 100 Castes (SC) SC untouchables 15.8 1.3 21.2 40.3 5.9 0.2 10 3 2.3 100 Scheduled Tribes 35.5 1.8 14.5 26.2 4.1 0.2 13 2.9 1.8 100 (ST) Others 24.1 4.2 5.1 33.4 11.9 1.2 15.7 3.1 1.4 100 Total 24.4 2.7 11.1 23.5 10.7 1.2 17.8 5.5 3.3 100 Mean HH income per capita 70000 59,400 60000 Metro urban Other urban Rural 48,732 50000 41,688 39,940 39,416 40000 38,039 34,519 33,817 In rupees 32,054 30000 25,517 23,097 24,168 21,016 18,968 20000 15,943 15,036 11,407 12,498 10000 0 Brahmin Forward/General Other Backward Scheduled Castes Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes except Brahmins Castes without experiencing experiencing untouchability untouchability Mean land holding (in acres) 4.0 Kharif Rabi Summer 3.48 3.46 3.5 3.45 2.94 2.91 2.87 2.80 3.0 2.77 2.75 2.43 2.42 2.5 2.42 2.0 1.54 1.54 1.52 1.49 1.46 1.5 1.43 1.0 Mean land holding (in acres) 0.5 0.0 Brahmin Forward caste Other Scheduled Scheduled Scheduled except Backward Castes without Castes Tribes Brahmins Castes experiencing experiencing untochability untochability Mean amount of loan taken during last 5 years, from 2011-12 250000 Metro urban Other urban Rural 209064 200000 170705 166000 150520 150000 141678 129222 121856 102589 106691 105651 97228 100000 86857 80352 73890 52627 50000 37824 33509 38292 0 Brahmin Forward/General Other Backward Scheduled castes Scheduled castes Scheduled Tribes castes except Castes without experiencing Brahmins experiencing untouchability untouchability Purpose of taking loan (during last 5 years) Scheduled Scheduled Forward/ Other Castes Castes General Scheduled Brahmin Backward without experiencing Total Purpose of loan except Tribes Castes experiencing untouchabilit Brahmin untouchability y Buy/Improve a house 9.3 13.1 12.4 15.9 9.6 11 12.8 Buy land 3 1.7 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.4 Marriage expenses 16.3 13.1 19.6 21.6 24.3 20.4 18.8 Agriculture/ Agricultural 25.8 23.8 20.2 11.6 10.5 26.3 19.5 equipments Business 6 11.5 8 5.4 4.7 4.8 7.8 Household 9.8 11.7 12.6 14.1 14.2 15.6 12.7 consumption Vehicle 7.3 4.5 2 1.8 0.6 1.9 2.6 Educational 4.8 3.5 3.8 4.4 2 3.1 3.8 Medical expense 14.5 13.7 16.2 19 25.4 12.3 16.3 Others 3.2 3.4 4.1 5 7.3 3.1 4.2 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Source of obtaining the largest amount of loan during 2007-08 Scheduled Forward/ Castes Scheduled Other General without Castes Scheduled Source of loan Brahmin Backward Others Total except experiencing experiencing Tribes Castes Brahmin untouchabilit untouchability y Employer 3 2.2 2.3 2.9 4.5 2.3 1.1 2.5 Money lender 8.6 11.7 21.5 22.2 30.3 19 23 19.6 Friend/ 31 31.9 34.8 36 36.6 36.4 16.6 34.2 Relatives Bank 42.5 41.6 30.4 22.4 15.2 26.7 38.9 30.8 NGO/ 4.6 5.5 2.9 5.6 3.6 4.4 4.9 4 Community Self help group 1.8 3.2 4.4 8.1 7.1 6.4 9.4 5 Kishan credit 6.8 2.2 2.5 0.8 1 3.2 2.7 2.3 card Others 1.9 1.7 1.4 2 1.7 1.6 3.5 1.6 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Discussion • Enclosure of households experiencing untouchablity and other Scheduled caste househlds in the works of waged labour, contrasting to enclosure of Brahmins and other forward castes in the salaried works and cultivation • Huge gap in land holding • Loan: The high dependency on bank by the forward castes and high dependency on money-lenders by the untouchables for taking that loan, reflects the differences in the social relations due to differences in their economic need and privilege.
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  • The Caste System

    The Caste System

    THE CASTE SYSTEM DR. DINESH VYAS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPT. OF SOCIOLOGY MAHATMA GANDHI CENTRAL UNIVERSITY, BIHAR DEFINITION MAZUMDAR & MADAN – 'CASTE IS A CLOSED CLASS’ CHARLES COOLE – "WHEN A CLASS IS SOMEWHAT STRICTLY HEREDITARY, WE MAY CALL IT A CASTE.” GHURAY – 'CASTE IS THE BRAHMIN CHILD OF THE INDO-ARJUN CULTURE, CRADLED IN THE GANGES & YAMUNA & THEN TRANSFERRED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY'. WHAT IS THE CASTE SYSTEM? • INDIAN SOCIETY DEVELOPED INTO A COMPLEX SYSTEM BASED ON CLASS AND CASTE • CASTE IS BASED ON THE IDEA THAT THERE ARE SEPARATE KINDS OF HUMANS • HIGHER-CASTE PEOPLE CONSIDER THEMSELVES PURER (CLOSER TO MOKSHA) THAN LOWER- CASTE PEOPLE. • THE FOUR VARNA —BRAHMAN, KSHATRIYA, VAISHYA, AND SUDRA—ARE THE CLASSICAL FOUR DIVISIONS OF HINDU SOCIETY. IN PRACTICE, HOWEVER, THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MANY SUBDIVISIONS (J'ATIS) OF THESE CASTES. • THERE ARE FIVE DIFFERENT LEVELS IN THE INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM:- BRAHMAN, KSHATRIYA, VAISHYA, SHRUJRA, AND, HARIJANS. BENEFIT OF THE CASTE SYSTEM: • EACH CASTE HAS AN OCCUPATION(S) AND CONTRIBUTES TO THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE • JAJMAN—GIVES GIFT (LANDLORD) • KAMIN—GIVES SERVICE TO THE LANDHOLDER (LOWER CASTES) CASTE SYSTEM IS A KINSHIP SYSTEM; • A CASTE (VARNA) IS AN INTERMARRYING GROUP • KINSHIP; HEREDITARY MEMBERSHIP • A CASTE EATS TOGETHER • A HIGH-CASTE BRAHMIN DOES NOT EAT WITH SOMEONE OF A LOWER CASTE; DIFFERENT DIETS FOR DIFFERENT CASTES • DIVIDED BY OCCUPATION: PRIEST, WARRIOR, MERCHANT, PEASANT LEGAL STATUS, RIGHTS BASED ON CASTE MEMBERSHIP ORIGINS OF THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA • NO COMMONLY APPROVED ORIGIN/HISTORY THAT EXPLAINS THE FORMATION OF INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM. • COMMON BELIEF: THE CASTE SYSTEM WAS FORMED DURING THE PERIOD OF MIGRATION OF INDO-ARYANS TO THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT.