.PREJUDICE'WITHOUT'POLLUTION'? SCHEDULEDCASTES IN CONTEMPORARYPUNJAB

SurinderS. Jodhka

The ltistoricaLevidence on casterektiotrs and the empirical literatureavailable on the status of dalits in the region clearly show that though cctstehas existedin Punjab, the structureof caste hierarchy itr the region has beenquite differentfrom other parts of the sub-continent.It certainly dctesnot crtnJortttto the nnnner itt which castehas beenpopularly theorised,viz., the vann systenl oJhie rctrc14'. TIte B rcLhntins have not only not enjoyedthe kind of statusthat the varna theory attributes to thent;tlte Braltninical ideologvtoo hasbe an quiteweak in the region.

Tlte et'otutnticdevektpntent experiettced in the regionduring thepost-idependence period has also broughtabout nrunychanges in the nrunnerin which casteworks in the Punjab toda\,.The nevv crgrarianteclutologv led to the disintigratiottof the traditional structuresof patronageand loyal4,. TheprocessofdevelopnrcntduringtheLastfivedecadeshascrecttedavenuesofemploymentinurban, seni-urban and rurcti areas that are "caste-free"in nature.The occupationaldiversificcttion of the SchedulerlCttstes of Punjub has beenquite significant,at leastin someparts of the state.Hoviever" a large nruloritt of tlrcnrstilL lives in conditiortsof dcprivation.

"Whensorne one says "l am a Jat",his chest expands. But whenwe say"Chamar", we contract to nothing"IAggarwal, 1983, Pp. 2-4].r

"That they (the Brahmins)could be the leadersof society,in a positionof privilege,I only discoveredwhen I wentto live outsidethe Punjab. With usthe Brahmins were an unprivilegedclass andexercised little or no influenceon thecommunity" [Tandon, 1988, p. 73].

"l thinkyou shoulddo yourstudy in Rajasthan.Discrimination is verystrong there. In Haryana andPunlab it is rluch less.I can tell you becauseI havebeen in theseareas. The changeis greatest rnPun;ah" lAggurwal. 1983. p.901.-

Among all the statcsof India,the Punjabhas category.They aremade up of diversecommu- the highestproportion of the ScheduledCaste nitieswith theirownindividual identities and with 'l'he population. ScheduledCastes accounted fbr differentlevels of culturaldisabilities and social 28.3percent ofthc total population ofthe Punjab development.Strategies for socialmobility and in 199l, muchhigher than the all-India average parlicipation in political and social reform ot' 16.32pcr cent.rIn sonredistricts of the state, movementshave also been quite varied among they make up to 38 per cent of the population. them. More recently there have been attempts, Given the thct that the ScheduiedCaste in the thoughnot assuccessful as in someother parts of Punjab are lcss urbanizedthan their counterpart India,to forgea commonpolitical non-ScheduiedCaste population, there would be identityamong manyvillagcs in thestate where they constitute a the Scheduledand the Backward Classesof the majorityof thcpopulation ISingh, 1975,p.216].' state.While theseefforts bring them togetherfor a commonpolitical programme,at the socialand As elsewhere,the ScheduledCastes in the cultural levels they maintain their distinct iden- contemporaryPunjab are not a homogeneoustities.

SurinderS. Jodhkais Professorof Sociology,Department of Sociology,Punjab University, Chandigarh. The author is gratcful to ProfessorAndre Beteilleand ProfessorNilakantha Rath for their commentson an earlierdraft of this paper, PramodKumar who gave hirn accessto all the rnaterialhe had on the subject,to SnehaSudha Komath who readand cornmentedon the frnal draft. However,the authoris responsiblefor errorsand omissions.if any. 382 IOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL Of POLII'ICAL I:CONOMY ]ULY-DF,C.2O0O

'I'able l. District-wisedistribution ofSchedulcd Caste Populationin Punjab l9tll and l99l

\: Nc, \-Lrrrrrri tlre,iistnut S.C.Populatron % tr9lil S.fl. Populatron% l99

i_ti (iurcirspur lJ.6e 2,t.11 Anrrrtsar 26.20 28.01 Kapurthala 16.98 29.41 Jal andhar 36.2't lu.l5 Hoshrarpul 30.81 33.85

6 Rupnagrr lrl.38 14.35 7 I-udirrarrr l5.rrJ )t

ll )lllgrut 16.7{ l- r'l!lltla ll..i i Nag rtr Shahrr* r?8.98 i.; M ukalsar* .36.4.i l5 NI()gr' 30.92

It) Nlansa* 2E.91 1,1l:atehgarhSahib* 29.89 I)urtjab 16.87 18..1I *These drstrictscalne into existence aftcr I 9lJI . Slurcc:us celculated by Choprail99T, Pp.3l-321 liorn StarisricalAbstrrcr of Punjab1995 'fhrough a broadsurvey of the availablesec- Howevcr,despitc this wideiy hcld common- ondarysource materral, I shalltry to explorein senseabout thc pan-lndiannarurc oi caste,therc ;hl\ pancrthe changing sratus of thc Scheduledexistsa considcrabicamounr of variatronin the C.rsteconrmunities in thecontemporary Punjab. manncrin which thc socialrelations among dif'- {-Jsinga historicalperspective, I shall try to l'ercntgroups have becn structuredin different regions.As is widcly known,there irre idcntify specil'icitiesof the regionand focuson diff'erent sctsol-caste groups in dif'f'erentregions ol'India the divcrsc strategiesadopted by dil'fcrent 'the and preoccupationwith purity andpollution depressedcaste groups to arnelioratetheir status. was not equally marked in every part of the Punjabhas also witnessed many religious refbrm country' IBeteille,2000, p. 172].The specil'ic movementsagainst untouchahility by thc "non- historicaltra.jcctorl', the pattcrnsof politico- unlouchablcs".I shall try to lookat their successcs econonricchangcs cxperienced during the posr- andfailurcs as wcll. independenceperiod and the compositiorrol drff"erentethnic communrtres deterrnine the actual Thr.Frontewor*. The institutronof casteand the casterelatlons in a glvenregic.n. practiee ol'untouchabilityarc widely believedto be thecore deliningi'eatures of thc "traditional" TlteHistoricttl Cottte.rt tl Puttjttb:Dcspite being (occupying socialstructurc of India.Caste has been viewed fathersmall in size a little lessthan two per centol'the totalgeographical asan institutionthat distinguished the traditional spaceand havinga little morc thanthe two per centof thc Indiatiom thc West.It is believedto havebeen total populationof India) the contemporary around for ages.It existedeverywhere in the Pun-tabenjoys an importantplace in thecultural sub-continentand everyone practiced While it ! in andpoiitical litb of Inciia.Belore anywhere eisc. Hinduisrn.thc castesvstem and untouchabilityit was rn the Punjabthat thc "grcenrevoir.lrion nadan idcologicalsanction, the othercommuni- becamca success.Agnculturally it contrnuesru tics alsopracticed it, evenwhen not legitimised be the most advancedstate of the countrv.Hls- by theirreligious philosophies. torically also Punjab has becn an extrcniely , \'()t,.t2 NO.3&1 PREJ U D IC E' WITHOUT' POLLUTION'? -illj

importantregion of thesub-continent. Bengal and Punjab crossedover to the Indian side and the Punjab were the only two provincesthat were Muslimsliving on the Indianside left for Paki- partitionedin 194i, at the time of independencestan.Thus, in thepost-partition Indian Punjab the fiom colonial rule. Apart from its active Hindus came to constiturethe majority status. involvementin the lreedommovement, Punjab However,the Sikhstoo gainedin demographic has also wrtnessedsome of the most powerful terms.Apart fiom their proportiongoing up from identity movementsduring the last century. aroundI 2 percent to around35 percent, Sociologically,the significanceof Punjabalso theyalso liesin thc lactthat it is onethe few statesof India cameto concentratein somespecific districts of wherethe Hindus,who constitutemore than 80 the divided Punjabwhere they constitutedmore per cent of India'spopulation, are a minority. thanhalf of the population.When the linguistic 'low Despitebeing non-Hindus, the caste'Sikhs surveyswere carried out to reorganizethe pro- of therstate have the distinction of beingincluded vincialboundaries. the Punjab was declared to be in rhe lrst ol'the ScheduledCastes. a statusthat a bilingualstate with theSikh dominated districts wasnot grantedto theircounterparts in theother beingreported as Punjabispeaking areas and the nrinoritycommunities, i.e., Muslims and Chris- Hindu dominateddistricts as Hindi speaking tians. Even the Buddhistsand Jains were not areas.The Sikh leadership(mostly upper caste) consideredfor sucha status.It wasonly recently saw in the new demographicscenario the possi- that the neo-Buddhistconverrs began to be reg- istcredas ScheduledCastes. According to the bility ol' a Sikh majorityprovince. After a long l96l Censusof India,of the entireScheduled drawn struggle,the Punjabwas reorganizedin Castepopulation of India. 98.56 per cent were 1966by takingout the Hindi speakingareas from returnedas Hindus and the remaining1.44 per it (thesouthern districts were put together into the cenlas Sikhs [as reported in Singh.1995. p. l0]. newstate of Harvanaand the hill districtsbecame Among the Sikhs,the ScheduledCastes consri- partof HimachalPradesh). ruted29.2per cent [Purandare, 1995, p. a5). Though the demand for a separarePunjabi Despitethe popular image of thePunjab being Suba was articulatedin linguistic rerms, the a Sikh state,it was only in 1966,after the reor- mobilizationswere mostly carriedout on com- ganizationol' the statein responseto a strong munallines, both by the Sikh Akalis movementfor a Punjabi speakingprovince, that as well as the Sikhs becamea majority in the state.The theHindu leadership that was opposed to theidea 'reorganisation'. pre-partitionPunjab was a much biggerprovince of Interestinglythe Scheduled where,in religiousterms, the Muslimsoutnum- CasteSikhs also did notshow any enthusiasm for bered both the Hindus as well as the Sikhs. the division of Punjab.They fearedthat the for- According to l9l I censusthe proportion of mationof a Sikhmajority province would further Muslim populationto the totalpopulation of the consolidatethe power of thc alreadydominant unitedPunjab was 50.86 per centand that of the landowningJat Sikhs which would make their Hindus36.35 per cent.Only aroundl2 per cent positioneven more vulnerable in therural society hadreported their religion to be Sikhism(Chris- ofPunjab[Nayar, 1966, Pp. 50-51]. In thepost tianswere aroundI per cent)[Sharma, 1985, p. 1966reorganized Indian Punjab l 781. the Sikhscon- stitutednearly 60 percent while theHindus were The populationexchange that accompaniedaround 38 per cent of the total population. partition in 1947changed the demographicpro- Christiansand Muslims too hadtheir presence in file of the Punjabvery significantly.Almost the somepockets of the statebut their total popula- entireSikh andHindu populationof the western tionswere not much(around one per cent each). 384 JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IULY.DEC.2OOO

Another importantaspect of the demographic areas.As shownin table2, the proportionof the compositionof religious communitiesin the Hindu populationis ashigh as76.46 per cent in Punjab is their uneven rural-urbandistribution. Jalandharand76 per centin Gurdaspur.On the Despitebeing in a minorityat thestate level, the otherextreme, the Sikhs constitute 89 percent of Hindus overwhelminglydominate urban Punjab therural populationin Amritsarand nearly 87 per while the Sikhs are concentratedmore in rural centin Bhatinda.

Table 2. District-Wise Rural-Urban Composition of Population of Different Religious Communities (in percent- ages,l98l)

Rural'

Sikhs Hindus Christians Muslims Sikhs Hindus Christians Muslims (2) (3) (4) (s) (6) (7) (8) (e) '7.67 Curdaspur 5t.42 40.21 0.66 20.t I 76.12 2.65 0.4'7 Arnntsar 91.37 6.54 1.99 0.09 43.64 54.91 0.94 0.i3 Firozepur 64.t9 34;70 0.9'7 0.10 20.60 76.92 |.92 0,21 Ludhrana 88.31 10.88 0.08 066 36.45 6i.14 0"42 r).3I Jalandhar 53.54 45.39 0.64 0.36 23.29 75.1l 0.73 0.23

Kapurthala 7t.52 2750 0.34 0.56 33;70 65.24 0.35 0.35 Ropar 41.89 56.75 0.76 0.57 22.96 75.35 0.35 0.20 Hoshiarpur 62.00 36.6r 0.09 L.L) 36.87 60.80 0.50 o.47 Patiala 64.69 33.34 0.l6 1.74 35.14 6364 0.l4 0.62 Sangrur 80.15 15.87 0.04 3.85 34.03 50.00 0.06 I4.79

Bhatinda 87.69 l 1.63 0.02 0.55 37.2'7 6l .75 0.21 0.34 Faridkot 90.38 9.02 0.il 0.43 4l .55 51.52 0.34 0.l3 Punjab(T) 7l .30 26.51 t.25 0.89 33.19 64.t6 0;t2 1.30

Source:as calculatedby Abbi and Singh II997], appendixL 'The Though all the Sikh gurus came from the in thegiven ideological context, traditional trading casteof Khatris, it is among the peasant structureof theIndian village not merely tolerated casl,eof Jats and the other rural castes(which butrequired the presence of untouchablesfor both includedthe "shudra"and "untouchable"castes economicand ritual reasons.There had to be in of the Punjab countryside)that Sikhism found everygroup of villages,if not in every village, much of its followings [Mcl-eod 1996; Kaur, labourersto do thehard physical work in thefields 1986,Pp. 221-23.9).Thus in casteterms, while as well as scavengers,flayers and tanners to the urban Punjap is largely dominated by the insulatethe community from pollution' [2000. trading castes,Qindus as well as Sikhs (Khatris Pp. 171-721.On the other end, though the pres- and Aroras) and the Brahmins (the Scheduled ence of casteand castebased hierarchies have Castesalso have their presence),the rural pop- beenreported from urbanIndia [Kamble,i99ti. ulationof Punjabis mostly thatof the landowning Pp. l9-231, the scopefor practicinguntouch- JatSikhs and the ScheduledCasres.5 abilityis considerablyreduced given the sizeol' thecommunity and anonymity of relations. Caste system and the practice of untouch- ability are much more pronouncedin the village Thusa sociologicalexercise at understanding setting.The notions of traditional castesystem the changingstatus of the ScheduledCastes in and jajmani relations are conceptualizedin the contemporaryIndia ought to beginfiom the vil- frameworkof thevillage. As Beteillecomments, lage.Given the fact that the village societyof , voL. I2 NO.3&1 PREJ UD IC E' WITHOUT'POLLUTION' ?

Punjab is predominantlya Sikh society and the The Sikh holy book containswritings of many religiousideologies have much to do with the Saints and Sufis of the Bhakti period. This practiceof untouchability,it may be worthwhile includesthe writings of some of the Saintswho examiningthe question of castein relationto the camefrom the Shudra(such as Kabir, a weaver; Sikhsin generaland rural Punjabin particular. Dhanna,a Jatpeasant; and Namdev, a tailor) and untouchablecastes (such as Ravidas,a cobbler; Casteancl the Contemporan'Sikhism: Sikhism Sadhan,a butcher;and Sain, a barber).The Sikh had emergedas a reform movementduring the holy book also containsthe writings o[ some fiftecnth century. Perhapsthe most obvious Muslim Sufis,such as Sheikh Farid and Bhikan. the 'five aspectof thcte achings of thefirst Sikh Guru, Guru Of beloved' who were the first to be baptizedas Khalsas on the Nanak, was his oppositionto the brahmanical dayofBaisakhi in I 699 by the tenth guru, four belongedto the shudra orthodoxyand the caste system. In contrastto the castes. hierarchicalvalues of brahmanicalHinduism, GuruNanak advocated equality of humanbeings At theempirical level also, many have reported in relationto God.For him, theaim of salvation on therelatively lesser hold of casteon thesocial wasunion with God thattranscended the cycle of relationshipsamong the Sikhsin particularand birth and death. presence Since the divine was the Punjabisin general.This is reflectedin the cverywhere,it was availableto everyone.He writings of colonial administratorsas well as in denounced ritualism, ascetic practices,idol socialscientific studies. rvorship and the hermit life in jungles. An 'low importantaspect of Guru Nanak's philosophy Reportingon theproblems of the castes' washis cmphasison the valuesof everydaylife, in thcprovince, one of thecolonial administrators a'thisworldliness'. He preachedthat one should vicwed it more in terms of politico-economic attainGod rvhilebe ing part of the socialworld disabilitiesrather than in terms of their being 'untouchable', andcarning onc's living. as was the casewith the rest of India.A colonialgovernment report, for example, The teachingsof the Sikh Gurusdiffered from observedin 1920s: the brahmiinicalworldview in yet anotherway. It would be misleadingto attachtoo great In contrastto casteexclusivism and the practice importanceto the existenceof castein the of untouchabilityprevalent among the Hindus, Punjab....Notonly is it the case that the Brahman has no practical pre-eminence the Sikh Gurus emphasizedon the need for 'caste' among Hindus, but as between and sharing and communal living. The kirtan (the 'non-caste' Hindus the distinction corporatesinging) and langar (the community is not so strongly marked as to create the political kitchenand eating together) were among the new problem fbund elsewhere in India....The and important institutionsintroduced by the Problem in truth, if one exists, is rather of Gurus.The secondCuru standardisedthe Guru- classessocially depressed than of 'out-castes' mukhiscript, which evcntually became a vehicle assuch; while much remains to bedone for the for the Punjabi languageand identity.Earlier social uplift of some of theseclasses. they GuruN.anak had consciously rejected Sanskrit in hardly presenta separatepolitical problem preferenceto the indigenousspoken language. [Nayar,1966, p. 20].' The fifth Guru. Guru Arjun compiled the first canonof thefaith, the Adi Granth,that eventually Another British author contrasting Punjab cameto be worshipedas theeternal Guru by the with restof thesub-continent and comparing the Sikhs after the death of the tenth and the last of castein Punjabwith the classin Europe wrote, 'nowhere theliving Gurus. else in Hindu India doescaste sit so 386 JOURNAL OI" INDIAN SCHOOL OF-POI,ITICAL ECONOMY IULY-DEC.2O(X)

lightly or approachso nearlyto thesocial classes Most othersludents of Punlabtoo agreethat of Europe' [Andersonin ibid: 20]. Someof the thoughthe structureof hierarchycould be dil'- Westernobservers went to the extentof saying ferentin thestate whe n cclmparedto otherregions 'notable thatthe Punjabwas a exception'to the oflndia,caste divisions did exist antong the Sikhs. castesystem in India [O'Malley in Nayar,1966. To someextent pollution and avoidance were also p.201. practicedin the regionparticularly in rclationto the ScheduledCasre, both amongthe Hindusas More recentlysome anthropologists have also well as amongthe SikhsINayar. 1966; Singh. madesimilar claims and haveargued that caste 1975;Singh, 1977; Saberwal, 19761. inequalitiesin the regionwere much lesserthan elsewherein India. Comparing the disability While recognisingthat caste divisions existed experiencedby the low castein Punjabwith the among the Sikhs, the availableiitcrature also restof India,Saberwal, who studieda smalltown indicatesthat the change experienced in thc atti- of Punjabduring the late 1960swrites: tudestowards caste during thc last centuryhas ...evenif the Brahminswere able to carvea beenquite significant in thercgion. E,videncc for ccremonialplacc at Ranjit Singh'scourt fbr thisis available from studies ot'individual villa,ses themselves,there is no evidcnce or towns,as well as of tl.resocial rclbrm nrove- that they 'low acquiredmuch landor that they wcre ableto mentsfor the uplift of thc ciistcs'. enforcc the social circumstancesthat they would havc required for maintaininghigh LP.Singh [1975 1977].who did a studyol'a villagenear levelsof ritualpurity;and therefore the lowest Amritsarduring the lare 1950sprcl- videsa iairly goodidea castesin Punjab had to carry only a lighr abourthe nature of casre relationsin a Sikhvillage. burdenof ritual impurities,much lighter. Thc Siklrsliving in thc villagewerc divided into two physicallyand socially, than rhe burden else- -sroups.the Sardars (theupper castcs) and the Mazhabis(rhe lowcr- wherein India[Saberwal,1976, p.7]. castescavcn_rlers). Thc l'irstgroup includcclthc JoycePettigrew, another anthropologist, gocs to Jats,Kanrbohs. Tarkhans, Kurnhars. Sunars and theextent of sayingthat the rural society of Punjab Nais(in thcHindu casrc hierarchy, they rvould all differsradically from theHindu India because ol' be treatedas Shudrasand with the cxceptionof theabsence of casteamong the Sikhs IPettigrew. Jats,they were perhaps all includcdin the list ol' 1975,p. 41. 'Other the Backward Classes'). Ihough the agriculturistJats considcred themselvcs hrgher Howcver, not everyone who has studied thanthe othcr groups in thiscategor-y, Singh lbund Punjabagrces with sucha position.Paul Hersh- no feelingol'caste-based avoidance or prcjudicc man,another anthropologist who carriedout his amon_qthem. They visitedeach other's houses. fieldworkin a villagenearJalandhar, for example, interdinedand attendedmarriagc l'unctions ancl completelydisagrecs with thethesis that the ideas celebratedmost of thefestivals together. In tcrnrs of purity and impuritydid not existin Punjabor of the villagc settlementalso. no demarcation that caste in the region functionedmore like existedin thc housesof thescgl'oups. class.?Contesting Pettigrewsclaims on the absenceofcaste in Punjab,he writes: However, the Mazhabis, who constiturcd Pettrgrew appearsto arguefrom the premise nearlyhalf of thevillage population. wcre treated of Sikh theologythat thereis no casteamong differently.Thcy livcd on oncsrdc o1'thc vrllasc. the Sikhs,but this is manifestlynot the case Theyhad a scpilrarcwcll whilc iill tl.rcothe r-casrcs whenone considersthe relationships....Thereuseda commonwcll. In thcvillage fbasts, whcre aremos( certainly many caste divisions within everyonewas invited, thc Mazhabissilt scpa- theSikh fbld IHershman, l98l,p. 2l]. rately.Sincc rnany ol'thcnr r.lorkcd as lahrrurtr.s ' vot,.t2 No.-t&1 PR I'J U D ] C E' WITHO UT' POLI,UTION''! 387

'community' inthe fields of theJat landowners, the latter visited from theHindus and the legalrec- the housesof the Mazhabisbut thev did so as a ognitionto weddingsthrough the Sikh rituals, the patronizin-ggesture. Anand Karaj, madethc village Brahmin priesr redundant.Unlike the Brahmin.the Sikh priest There were also occasionswhere untouch- couldbe from any caste and. as mentioned above. ability was eithernot practiccdor its extenthad the priestin this particularvillage was from a beendeclining. Many Jatsin the villagelet the lowercaste. He hadbeen trained to be a priest Mazhabisenter their houses and did notconsider at their touch polluting. One of them had also the Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar. employeda Mazhabi to clean utensilsin his Priesthoodamong the Sikhs had thus become an house. achieved.rather than an ascribedstatus!

Untouchability was practiced minimally With theexception of Hershman'swork. there amongthe drinkers in the village"The Mazhabis would hardlybe any studyof rural Pun3abthat werethe traditionalbrewers of countryliquor in reportsatrout the superiority of statusenjoyed by thevillage. Brahminsover theJats (the'landowning peasant Mazhabisand Sardars drink liquortogether at caste)and the Khatrrs(mostly in tradeand ser- thefair andoccasionally in thefields. We saw vices).Brahmins themselves tended to concede themdrinking liom thesame glass which was sucha franreworkof passedfiom oneto theother. However, in their rankingID'Souza, 19671. honiesthey usuallydrink only amongtheir own castcmcmbers. On festivalslike Lohri Commcntingon thelack of respectenjoyed by and Holi. when villagersindulge in heavy thc Brahminsin Punjab,Sabcrwal quotes Cha- drinking, no castedistinctions are observed nana: ISingh,1.9i7, p.76]. In Punjabithe word Pandat(Pandit) denotes a Brahmanand may connotesomc respect fbr Thepractice ol'untouchability was also less in the latter.But thc word Bahman(Brahmrn) reiigiousaffarrs. Thcrc was only onegurudwara alnrostalways carries a little contempttas in (theSikh holy place.)in thevillage wirere cvery- Saberwal,1976, p. l0l. one was allowedentry. Thcy also sat together while eatingfood in the gurudwara.Thc priest, who himselfbelonged to a low caste(Cheernba, In his studyof a smalltown of Punjabcarried washcr-man),served all the casteswithout any out during the late 1960s.Saberwal fbund a discrimination.He had performedall thc mar- considcrablcchange in attitudetowards the tra- 'The riagesrn the villagesirrcspective of any caste ditional ideologyof caste. conjunctionof drsrrnctron.Thrs was qurte in contrastto theway pressurefronr above with pressurefrom belou a Brahminpriest functioncd. Thc Brahminpriest hadproduccd new culturalpatterns. rejecting the usedto perlbrrnrituals fbr thcSikhs in thevillagc ideasoiinhcrited purity and pollution' ISaberwal. as well until they beganappointing their own 1973,p.2561. priestlbr the gurudwara.But hc servedonly the uppercaste Sikhs. Thc cmpiricalstudies on thecaste relations in Punjab, Thc rcligiousrelbrm movementsamong thc thoughconfirm that the ideasol purity Sikhsduring the 1920slaunched by the Singh andirnpurity were rather weak in thercgion. tend Sabhasand Akalis had a lastingimpact on the to also emphasizeon the significantrole that religiousliie ol' the Sikhs in the village.Thc different reform movementshave played in insistenceol' Sikh reformersto distancethc bringingthis change about. 388 TOURNALOF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY JULY.DEC.2OOO

The Mobilisations against Untouchabili4, in natureof the rural power structure,'conversion Punjab: Punjab has been witness to a good to Christianityfor thesehighly vulnerablepeople number of religious reform movementsagainst wasa veryrisky actof rebellion'[Webster, 1999, untouchability.Sikhism itself is commonly Pp.96-71. interpretedby modern historians as a reform movementagainst the brahmanicalorthodoxy According to Juergensmeyer,the Christian prevalentin the regionduring the fifteenthcen- missionarieshad not really intentionally targeted 'lt tury.As mentionedabove, the founder guru, Guru the low castes for conversions. was the Nanak. and the later Sikh Gurus advocareduntouchableswho had ori_einallysought out equalityof humanbeings in relationto Cod and Christianity'[ 988,p. 184].They obviously saw thefutility of castedivisions [Mcl-eod, 1996, Pp. a potentialof socialmobility in conversions. 85-861.The Sikh Gurusalso introducedcerrain Originally,the missionaries of thepunjab had institutions that actively discouragedcaste only attemptedto convertthe upper castes, exclusion.Though the Sikh Guruswere all upper sincethey regarded others as beyond the reach casteKhatris, their followings camemostly from of the methods they preferred-intellectual amongthose who wereranked relatively lower in argumentand moral suasion. The enthusiasm the castehierarchy. of the first convert,Ditt, and the subsequent lower casterequests for conversionnor only However,with routinizationover a periodof baffled the missionariesbut embarrassed time, particularlyafter the establishmentof the them:they saw no sensibleor moralreason for Sikh kingdomunder Ranjit Singh, the brahman- keepingthd lower castesout, yet fearedthat ical orthodoxy is believed to have once again allowing them in would sully the church's entrenchedthe region [Singh, 1977,P .8 I ] . It was reputation[Juergensmeyer, 1988, p. l8al. only after the British establishedtheir rule in the regionand introducednew institutionsof gover- Thc l'ears ol' the missionarieswere not nance,particularly census and the notion of unlbunded.When a newspaperarticle in the representation,that the question of untouchabilityTribuneof October19, I 892reported that the rate acquiredprominence in the Punjabonce again. ofconversionswould soonturn the Punjab into a 'a Christianregion, tremoroi fearran through the Along with the British rulerscame the Chris- upper casteHindu and Sikh elite' [Juergens- tian missionarieswith the intentionof spreading meyer,1988, p. l8ll. Therewas a virtualcom- the messageof the Church. The first to find the petitionamong the religiouscommunities, the appealof the Churchattractive in the regionwere Christians,the Hindusand the Sikhs,to win the the members of untouchablecastes. The first untouchablesover to theirside. It wasaround this conversionis reportedto havetaken place in I 873 time thatthe militantHindu reformistorganiza- when a man namedDitt was baptizedin Sialkot. tion, the Arya Samaj,made its 'To entry into the the surpriseof the missionaries,Ditt was Punjab. followedby hundredsofthousands ofothers from lower castes,and Punjab Christianity becamea Thecolonial administrative structure had also de facto movement' [Juergensmeyer,1988, p. begunto deploy new categoriesof social aggre- l8ll.By l890therewere 10,171 Chrisrians living gationand classification. The Britishthought of in 525 villages of Punjab and by l9l I their theirpopulace in termsof religiouscommunities numberhad goneup to 1,63,994and by l92l to andlooked at themaccordingly in theprocess of 'encouraged over 3,00,000 [Webster, 1999, p. 96; Grewal, governance.They the membersof 1994,p. l 301.Most of themcame from a partic- eachcommunity to presenttheir casein com- ularuntouchable caste, the Chuhras (scavengers) munitarianterms' [Grewal, 1989,p. 195].The and mainly hailed from rural areas.Given the rolethat census enumeration played in converting , voL. t2 NO.3&1 PREJU D I CE' WITH O UT' POLLUTION' ? 389

the fuzzy boundariesinto well-dellned commu_ Unlike the other Hindu reform movements. nitieswas perhaps most punjab. evidentin As Fox Arya Samajnot only attacked othcr religions who polnts out. these administrativedrscourses ol had beenconvcrtins Hinclus rnto rheii ioicl bur Britishrulers had far reachinginfluences on thc also sevcrelycriticized rnany of the existing process practicesof the of idcntityformation in the region[Fox, Hindusincluding thc practiceol. untouchability. 19851.The introductionof censusthus madc thc TheSwami aclvocatecl going back 'religious to thc ancientVedic religion communities'sensitive about the whcreinuntouch_ 'Nunrbcrs ableswere presuntably a part of the nunrbcrs. weregcnerally equated with Hindu rcli- gron. He attackedbrahmanical hegemony in stren_9th.particularly fbr employrnentunder thc rcligiousaffairs and emphasizeduprin rhe neeO -sovernmcnt'[Grewal, 199a, p. l3l ]. for sprcadingmodern education amonq the Hin. dus. He advocatedthe inclusionol ihe lowc. Whilc theMuslim population remainedstablc castesinto thc Hindu society through a processof atarouncj -5 i per gg centduring l I to l9l I andrhe rcligious purification, the Shudcthi. Sincc Sikh and the Christianpopulations wcnt up, thc untouchabilitywas presumedto emanatefrom Hindupopulation showed a declincfrom abour ritual impurity,it could be removeclthroueh a '1 religious I percenr in I 88I ro around36 percent in I 9 I I ritualto renderuntouchables touch-abte andSharma, [Jones,1976, 324). The conversionsro Chris_ IPimpley 1985]. tianitywere mostly fiom the low castes:most of At the concretelevel, theShuddhi movemenr whomhad earlier been recorded as Hindus by the wasto involvei) conversionto Hinduismof thclse coionialenumerators. The uppercaste punjabi belongingto foreignreligions; ii) rc-conversion Hrndus.who were alreadyfceling marginalized of thosewho had beenconvertcd ro a fbrersn by the Bengali clerks whom the British ha

the Punjabi Hindu elite in consolidatingtheil Themilitant assertion of Hindutvaidcntity by 'The positionin the region. Punjabi[{indu elite the Arya Samajhad alreadysparked off a dcbate succeedcd.in largc measure.to retain the on rhequestion of Sikh identity.Sikhs began to uniouchablecastes In the Hindu fold thcreby assertthai therrs was a separatereligion and that rncreasingthcir politicalstrength'. As l"aras the they shouid not be clubbed with the Hindus 1994].The practiceof untouchabilityor untouchableswer€ concerned, thcy lbund that a IOberoi, discriminationagainst the low castcsamong the inajorityof'those who wcnt throughthe Shuddhr 'still Sikh wasattributed to thecontinued influence of ccremony sufferedfiom poverty and the Hinduismon thc community.Thus the strugglc stigmaol'untouchability. Their e ducational levels againstcaste and untouchability,that wereseen wercvcry low. Occupationally they wcre engaged as the core Hindu values,rvas implicated in the in agriculturallabour lbrcc or werein low prestige movementfor a separatereligious identity for the occupations.Their geographicalsegregation Sikhs. suggestcdminirnum level o1'social intcraction with orhef castes.Probably, even after their The SinghSabha movement for theliberation Shutldhi,they did not gain anythingexcept for a ol' Sikh Curudwarasfrom the Hindu Mahants :iyrnbolicri-eht of readingthe Vedasand putting launchedduring the 1920aiso becamea move- onthc saclcd thread' IPimplcy and Shanna, 1985, mentfor de-Hinduizatronof the Sikh religron. p.981. One of themain demandsof the movementwas 'unquestionedentrance to Sikhplaces ofworship' (Juergensmeyer, p. Furthcr.despite their criticism o1'the Brah- lbr all 1988, 281. Some membersof theSikh Khalsa Diwan tried to crcate manicalorthodoxy within Hinduism. the strategy 'deprcsscd their own class movements' to cil'Arya Sarnajfor elevatingthc statusol thc cncourageSchcdulcd Castc support. The move- untouchablcswas workedout within thc framc- rnentwas not conl'ined to thcliberation of historic purity Though work ot and impurity. theycon- Sikh Gurudwaras.Its lmpactwent very lar. i.P. tjerrrncdthc prracticeol"untouchability, they did Singhin hisstudy of a villagein Amritsardistricit notrclcct thc concepto1-varna. The verynotion reportedthat thc

villageand a Hinduvillage. While in a Hindu evidentin thedoaba region ol'Punjab where somc village castehierarchy and differenceshave of theChamars had cven gonc to theUnitcd State s religioussanctions behind them, there are no andEngland and had been a partol'the lcf t-wing suchsanctions in the Sikh religion.Thus it organizationsthere. The introductionof sec:ular becomes casier to propagate and instill educationalong with the social mobility that somc equalitvol casterelations rn a Sikh village rndividualuntouchables cxperienced provrdeci 1911. p.'19j. i'Srn.sh, the socialground for suchautonomous mobiii- zations.In thefavourable atmosphere created by Sihli,: LheSikh rcformersattacked caste. the socialrefbrmcrs, by thecarly 1920ssome of the Siki' lcndcrship,having become aware of the Chamarsbcgan to thinkof anorganization of their si!rrlticaneco{ numbers,dicl not denythe exis- tenceof'castc anrong the Sikhsor thatthe low orvn. Most o1'the early leadershipol' thc Ad castesanrong thc Sikhs did not face any Dharnrrnovement had -qrown under the influcncc disabilitiesduc to thcirbirth. The S ikh leadership, of theArya Sarnajbut l'eltuncomfortable with its in 1act,had to lobbya grcatdeal with thenational overallidcology. A SchedulcdCaste member ol. leadershipthat aiong with the Hindus,certain thc Arya Samajfrom Hoshiarpur,Sant Ram. had Sikh castcsshoulci also be includedin the list of begun a new movemcnt for ScheduledCaste theSchedule

Apart fronr the competition arnong thc TheAd Dharmmovcnrent saw itsclf as a new Arya SamajHindus and Christians.the theSikhs, religiousrrovcment. Thcy advocatedthat 'Un- duringthe colonial period Punjab also witnessed touchableswerc a qaunt, a distinct religious autonomousmobilizations by thelocal dalits. The communitysimilar to thoseol'Muslims, Hindus. most inrportantof these was the Ad Dharm and Sikhs,and that the qaum had existedfiom nl()vcrnent.r timeimmemorial' IJuergcnsmcyer, 1988, p. a5]. New opportunitiesopened up by the growing When the 193I Censusapproached. the Ad demandol Ieathergoods such as boots and shoes Dharmis insistedthey be listcd as a separate lbr thcBritish army hadbrought some prosperity religiouscommunity and not be clubbed with the to sonlc o1' the enterprisingmembers of the Hindus.In thc vcry first confelcnceof the orga- Chamar caste.This mobility was particularly nization,they had declarcd: JOURNAI, OF INDIAN SCHOOI, OF POLITICAL ECONOMY JULY-DEC.2OOO

We are not Hindus.We stronglyrequest the ScheduledCastes of Punjabhave beenattracted governmentnot to list usas such in thecensus. by somenew religiousreform movements,such Our faith is not Hindu but Ad Dharm.We are asthe Radhasoamis. They havealso formed their not a part ol Hinduism,and Hindus are not a own organizations,both at thelevel of individual partof us IJucrgensmeyer,I 988, p. 741. castecommunities as well as acrossthe dalit castes. Despitestil'f opposition iiom the localHindu leadership,their demand was accepted. A totalof TheScheduled Castes in ConteruporaryPunjab: 418.789 persons reported themselvesas Ad As mentionedabove, the ScheduledCastes Dharmrsin the 1931Punjab Census, almost equal accountfor a little more than28 per centof the to theChristian population of theprovince. They total populationof the Pun"jab,far abovethe all accountedfor about 1.5 per cent of the total Indiaaverage. Their populationis not only con- populationand aroundii tenthof the total low siderablyhigher than the national average ( 16.32 castepopulation ol'the Punjab. Nearly 80 percent percent) it hasalso been growing faster than the ol' the low castesof Jalandharand Hoshiarpur generalpopulation ofPunjab during the last three districts reported thensclves as Ad Dharmis decades.The Proportion of theScheduled Castes [Jucrgensmeyer,1988, p. 77]. In otherpartsof the populationin thestate went up from24.7per cent Punjabhowcvcr, the locally dominantgroups in 1971to26.9 percentin l98l andagainto28.3 wereable to thwartthe Ad Dharmi drive rather percent in I 99l. el'fcctiveli,IKhan in Saberwal,1972, p" 144]. After the census.the Ad Dharmmovement was This higher rate of populationgrowth among absorbedin Ambedkar'sScheduled Castes Fed- themas compared to the "general"population is eration thal was Iater transformedinto the perhapsdirectly linked to their overall back- RepublicanParty of India. While Ambedkar wardness.They accountedfor more than half of enjoyed a great deal of influencein Punjab, thetotalpoorinthestatebothin l98l aswellas particularlyamong the Ad Dharmisand made in 1991[Yadav and Sharma, p. 14].Educationally severalvisits to the province[Ahir, 1992],few also,they have not faired too well. The Scheduled amongthem followedhis stratcgyof converting Castesof Punjab are not only far behind the to Budhismfor socialmobility [Saberwal.1972, generalpopulation of Punjab,the percentageo1' p 1451. literateamong them is alsolower thanthe all India averagefor ScheduledCastes. While the literacy Aften independence,the Ad Dharmis were ratefor thetotal population of Punjabin l99l was listedas one of theSchedulecl Castes of thePunjab 58.12 percent, it wasonly around33.35 per cent and were clubbedwith the Hindus once again for the ScheduledCastes population (according Over a pcriod of time they too came to see to the revisedfigurcs as given in the Statistica. themselves so. A recentstudy found that as many Abstractof Punjab1999, it was4l percent). The as 98.3 per cent o1' the Ad Dharmis Punjab correspondingfigure for theScheduled Castes at 'caste identifiedthemsclves as a group'and only theall Indialevel was 37.41 per cent. While there 1.6per cent o['them reportedthat they were a hasbeen some improvement in the literacyover separatereligious community. When asked about theyears, the gap between the general population their caste before they began reporting them- andthe Schedulcd Castes has remained, more or selvesas Ad Dharmis,all of themreported to be less,the same(see table 3). They areaiso com- 'Chamars [Kamaljot, 19961.Though attempts parativelyiess urbanized. Compared to 29.55per havebeen made to revivethe Ad Dharmmove- cent of urbanpopulation for the entirePunjab, mentduring the post-independence period, there only 20.55per cent of theScheduled Castes were has not bcen much response.However. the livinein townsand cities in 199L . v)t,. D NO. -1&l PREJ U DI CF:' WITH O UT' POU,UTnN' ? 393

'fable 3. Literacy among the ScheduledCastes ofPunjab (in percentages,1971i 1981; l99l)

lndia Punjab

Year Total SCs SC SC Total SCs SC SC (men) (women) (men) (women)

(l) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

t97| 2945 l2;7'7 20.04 5.06 3367 16.00 22.95 8.l0 198l 36.t't 2l .38 31.12 10.93 49.t2 23.86 33.96 16.67 199I 52.21 3'7.41 49.91 23.76 58.r2 3335 4C.54 23lt

Source:Censusoflndia1971, 1981, l99l (ascalculatedbvYadavandSharmao.5).

F{owever.the ScheduledCastes of Punjab thepost-rndependence Indian State for thebenefit wereurbanizing at a ratemuch faster than the rest of tne ScheduledCastes was the policy of job of the population.The annualgrowth rate of the reservations.Though not designedto eradicate ScheduledCaste populationin urban Punjab poverty or unemploymentamong depressed during196 I -9I was4.3 per centas against 2.9 per communitics,reservations were expectedto centin the caseof non-ScheduledCaste popula- createan influentialgroup of elite amongthem tion. The increasein their populationhas been whocould provide a leadershipto thesedepressed particularlyimpressive in thetowns of Jallandhar. communitiesin their strugglefor social and Hoshiarpurand Gurdaspur IKrishan, 1998]. economicmobility. The availablefigures for Punjabshow that the Scheduled Castes in Thesefigures clearly indicate that even when thestate thernstitution of castewas comparatively weaker did indeed avail the benefitsof reservations. in the state and the socio-culturaldisabilities However.their representationat the different sufferedby the ScheduledCastes were lesser, in lcvelswas uneven. As rcvealedin table4, while termsof developmentalindicators, they seemto they were over representedat the lower lcvel havenot done as well astheir counterDarts in some (class IV) their proportionsdeclined as one otherstates. movedup in thejob hierarchy.However, even at thctop level,their prcsence was net insignificant Perhapsthe most important initiative takcn by (15.32per cent).

T'able4" Iimployment of ScheduledCastes in the Various Dcpartmcnts of thc Punjab Statc Government

ClassI ClassII ClassIII ClassIV

(l) (2) (-3) (4) (5)

Totalsanctioned posts 7111 u,675 1,60.385 70.402 Filledposts 6.290 7.43IJ 2.44.194 62,t63 SchcduledCastes 964 t.r95 4l .608 25,905 % of ScheduledCastes 15.32 16.06 l7.03 +t.o/ Backlog/exccss -9r.68 -11.9.1 -7.97 +16.67

Source:Yadav lnd Sharnra(undared) p. 9. (figuresupto March 1993) JOURNAL OI; INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLfl.lCAl, LCONOMY JULY.DEC.2UOO

As clsewherein India. the ScheduledCastes However. despite such successcases, thc oi' Pun.iabare not a homogenouscategory. In ovelallposition of the ScheduledCastes. partic- Puniabthey are dividedinto 37 dillerentcaste ulnrlyof the smallerand lessmobilized groups. conrnrunrties"Though historically they havc all remainsrather bleak. It waswith theintentron ol bccnvrctrms 01'caste oppression and have expe- targetingdevelopment schemes fbr suchgroups ircrri-cdthc stigrnaof bernguntouchabie, their that Punjab governmentidentified l3 caste 'Deprcssed currcntstrltus is not similar.The differentcaste groups as thc ScheduledCastes'. comrnunitiesdi{'l'er not only in terms of self- Togetherthey account fbr oniy I I percent ofthe idcntiticsbut also in termsof theirlevel of social total ScheduledCaste population. Among these 'de-notified and cconomic devclopment.The numericirLI 3 castes.seven are the tribes'or the 'Vimukta strcngthol' individualcastc groups also varies Jatis'.Since they followeda nomadic considerably. way of Iife, the colonial administrationhacl 'vagrant brandedthem as and criminal tribes'. Charnars (includrng Ramdasrasancl Ad Attcr rndependence,they were inrtially called 'ex-crinrinal L)harrnrs)ancl Mazhabis (includrng Chuhras and tribes'but laterthey were designated 'dc-notil'ied Balmikisr ro.qctherconstitute nearly thlee-fourth flsthc tribes'. ')l' the totai ScircduiedCaste population ol thc Punjab.Most othergroups are much snrallcrin Beingsmall in size,they areunable to act as size(scc appcndix l). Whilethe Ad Dharmisand cfl-ectivcpressure groups within the state politics. theChamars havc been socially and cducationally They'have also not been able to produceany quite mobile.thc Mazhabis,being the largest inlluential leader 1'.-om amongst them. Since some castcgroup, havc enjoyed some clout in thestate ot them havealsu had nomadiclif'e styles, they p<.rlitics.Initially it wasthe Ad Dharmisand the could not accumulateany property for them- Charnarswho seemedto havecornered a maJor selves.Compared to theother Scheduied Castes, partol'the reserved seats. Subsequently, the state povertyamong them rs considerablyhigher. A govcrnmcnl.decided to reservefifiy per cent of studyof thedepressed Scheduled Castes reported thereservation quota fbr the Mazhabis. thatthe number of thoseiiving below the poverty line couldbe ashigh as96 percent of theirpop- Reservationsbenefits also tended to get ulation.Literacy ratesamong them.were also monopolizcdby sonreindividual families among quitelorv. Some of thesegroups (such as Bangali, thcSchcclulccl Castcs. A recentstudy reported that Bauriaand Bazigarsl had only aroundl0 to l2 nrostol'those holding jobs underthc reservation per ccnt literatepopulation IKumar and Kumar, quotawcrc r"lotthe first generationbeneficiaries, 1996.Pp. I l-111.The lack of educationalso i.e.thcy wcrc childreno1'those who hadalready rnakesthem ineligible for governmentjobs under beenthc bencl'iciariesof thescherne IYadav and thereservation ouota. Sharma,p. l0J. Caste,Class ancl Occupational Changes: Despite 'backwardness' Someol'thc Chamarsand Ad Dharmishavc thecontinucd amongsome of the alsc,been cxtrcmcly succcssfulcntl'eprencurs. SchcdulcdCaste communitiesof Punjab, the -fhcy controlnearly the entire surgical industry in overallpicturc has changed quite a lot duringthe the town ol'Jalandhar.About 70 per centof thc lastfive decades. Perhaps the most significant has bigunits and about 80 percent ofthe msdiumand beenthe changcs in theiroccupations. smallunits producing surgical instruments were ownedby thc SchcdulcdCastcs. Thcir presence The processof movingaway from traditional wasalso quitc significant in thesports goods and casteoccupations among the Scheduled Castes of leathcrindustrie sin thetown IYadav and Sharrna. Punjab had begun during the colonial period Pp.3a-351. underthc inlluenceof socialreform movements. voi.. !2 '\'!O.:&t PR EJ UD 1C I.:' W17- 11 O U'1" P 0 I ],'U'f I ON'':

Theestablishlllcnt ol canal colonies by theBritish Sucha high incrcascin thc numbcrol'agri- rulerswould havealso increased the demandtirr culturallaboulers in thc statccould perhapsbc agriculturallabour. The availablehistorical evi- becauscunlikc in somcothcr states. the Scheduled iJcnccsuggests that a largc numherof menials Castesof Punjabrarely worked as cultivating supplemcntcdthcir incornes liom theirtraditional peasantson theirown holdings.As shownin the i.rccupationby working on land, particularly Table 5. though thc proportionoi Schedulcd dunng thc hrrvesllng scAsonsIBhattacharya, Casteswas the highcstrn Punlabrabove 28 per i995.p. i l-il. However,it wasduring the posr- centof thetotal populationl. onlv 0.4 per cent of indcpendenccperiod that the proccssof prole- all tlreland holdings occupyin_u 0.72 pcrcenr ol tarianisationof'those engaged in traditionalcaste thc total cultivatedarca in thc statewcrc being occupations cxperienceda radicalacceleration. cultivatedby the SchedulcdCastes. This was in 'l-he starkcontra-st to someothcr states where despite intloductionol'ncw f'alnttcchnology, i.e., the proportionatenunrber of ScheduledCastcs thc GreenRcvolution, and the transfornrationol' bcinglcsser in thctotal population. thc numbcr of thc agrariansocial structurehad far reaching thosecultivating land was nruch higher. In Uttar inrplicationslirr the ScheduledCaste conrnruni- Fradesh,for example.the ScheduledCasrcs. Ircsrn the Punjabcountryside. While the new consistingof 21.06per ccnt ol' the rotal popula- iechnologysignil'icantly enhanced the needfbr tion, held as many as 24.,5pcr cenrol the land !abour',it simultaneouslymade some of theolder holdingoccupying 14.31 per cenr of the total trccupationsredundant. The introduction ol' cultivatedland in thestate. Sintilarly in Biharand nrultiplecropping system and mechanizationol' WestBengal, they cultivated 12. I I and10.89 per agriculturalopcrations completely translbrmed centof thetotal land holdings respectively. thcnaturc o1'rural labour markets. The farmersin the nc\\' conrrncrcializedagriculture prel'erred Apart fi'om the shift from traditional iirrnralized contractual relations with their casre occupations,there rvas laboulcrsto thc olderstructures ofpatronage and also a trend antongthc Schedulcdcastes of' thc statcto movc out ol'the cirente lc- 'fhe village. technologicaldevelopnrcnr in agn- The new demandfbr agriculturallabour was cultureand growing commercialoricntaticln ol partiymet bv migrantlabour from easternUttar the larmcrshad led to growthol'closely spaced Pradeshand Bihar and partly by the local markctingand industlial towns almost all overthc SchedulcdCastes who switchedover tiorn thc statc. Such towns providcd new avenucsol callingo{'their castes to agriculturallabour. The ernploymentto the ruralartisans and the Sched- pcrcentageof'agricultural labourers to the total uled Castcworkers lGosal. 1990,Pp. 222-231. rural workcls in Punjab cxperienccda sharp While somehave pcrmanently nrigratcd tcl urban rndrcasealter the Green Revolution. As per the areas.nlany othcrs commuted lbr work to thesc availablestatistics, their numberswent up from newtowns IKaistha. 19t37. Pp. 25-361. Over rhe 8.95pcr ccntin 196I to 2.{.80per ccnt in 1971. lastcentury or so. Punlabhas alsoexpcrienced It agarnwent up to 28.52per cent in I98 I and migrationsto the Western countries. Though therr iurlncrto30.75 percent rn l99l [Abbiand Singh. numbcrsamong the e migrant has not been as high i99i. p. 1301.Apart fiom increasingtheir earn- as that of the land owning Jats.the Schedulcd ings, agriculturallabour also gave thc local Castes too have bcen going abroacl.More SchcdulcdCastcs a little betterstatus. The wagc recently,many of'thcrn havc gonc to the Gulf in ratesl'or agricultural labour have been anrong the scarchof lucrativcjobs IMchta,1990: Mehta and hi-ehcstin thePunjab.') Gill,1984, Pp. 26-381. 396 JOURNAI, OF IND]AN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY JULY.DEC.2OOO

Table 5. Percentagesof the Schedulcd Caste population and Land Holdings of ScheduledCastes in different states of India (l99l)

State/UT o/cof S.C.populalion Land Holdingsof Vcof are'rof S.C. hold- Avcragesize of S.C to total population S.C.sas 7c of total ingsof totalarea Holdings holdings

(l) (2) (+) (5)

Andhra Pradesh t5.93 rJ.8I 8.2t 0.91 Assam 7.40 0.90 0.99 i.08 Bihar 14.56 t2.ll 4.90 0.40 Goa 2.08 0.01 Negligible

Gujarat 7.41 1.08 2.53 2.30 Haryana t9.75 0.34 0.58 1.65 Himachal Pradesh 25.34 r.39 L05 o.14 Jammuand Kashmir Not available 0.63 0.61 0.91

Karnataka 16.38 7.55 1.56 Kerala 9.92 3.89 0.38 0.l0 Madhya Pradesh 14.55 7.87 13.63 t.70 Maharashtra I l.l0 5.66 9.57 t.66 Manipur 2.02 0.02 0.0'1 I.6l

Mcghaiaya 0.51 Nagaland (-Jrrssa 16.20 o.o, i.ot 084 Punjab 28.31 0.40 0.72 \.76 Raiasthan l7.29 5.59 18.70 3.29

Sikkinr _s.93 0.01 0.02 1.00 Tanril Nadu 19.18 6.74 4.0-s 0.59 Tripura t6.36 0.36 0.23 0.63 Uttar Pradesh 2t.05 24.50 t4.31 0.57 West Bengal 23.62 10.89 8.46 0.76

Sources:Statistrcai Abstract, Punjab 1999,Pp.206-7. StatisticalAbstract, Haryana p. 79

As shownin AppendixI, theoccupational shift sample ScheduledCaste populationwas still hastaken placc among almost all the caste groups. employedin agriculture,as many as 21.75per However,it has beenmuch more amongthose cent of them had alrcady moved to non- who hadbccn part of the refbrm movementssuch agricultural occupations. They (respondent as thc Ad Dharmis (the ex-Chamars)and the ScheduledCastes) also viewed this occupational Mazhabis(the Chuhraswho convertedto Sikh- mobility in positiveterms [Judge1997, p. 58]. isrn).A lecentstudy reported that while 8l per Similarly,Abbi andSingh [997] found: centol-Ad Dharmiswere employed in jobs other An almosttotal occupationalchange among thanleather tanning. Similarly only four percent theScheduled Castes. clean artisans and other of theMazhabis were engaged in theirtraditional non-agriculturalcastes, de-linking their live- occupationol scavengingIYadav and Sharma, p. lihood patternfrom agricultureand agricul- lltl" Anothcr study showsthat in someparts of tural labour.Further, the increasingtaking the state,partlcuiarly in the enterprisingDoaba over of agricultural labour and minor regionnrany of the SchedulesCastes were cur- supervisorywork by the migrant Bhaya rentlyin the processof movingaway even from labourers,while the local landlesslabourers agriculturallabour. While 49.25per cent of thc comrnutefor grainloading, construction work, \'ot. n A'(/.,i.{J PRLJUDICI' lvl'l'H()U7' POLl.U-ilON' I 397

railorrng"technrcal. mcchanicai and other has no unrouchability,probably becauseof skrlledutilk ip"9| I. Sikhism.bur I am ashamedro say thar in com- mlttingatrocities on Dalits,wc do notlag bchind' .fhougir rlre ehnngcntay nor Lrcas radical flnciianExpress. 2ffi01. The figures available clscuhcrc in Pun.lairas reportcd by thesestudics with thc CrirneDepartment 01'the Punjab Polrce ll'onrthc Doubarcgicln. thcrc is no doubtthat the ibr the reportedcases of atrocitiesagainsr the traditionalstructurcs o1' dcpcndency antong the SchedulcdCastes in thestate also confirm this. As shownin table6 below the total numberof dominantJats and thc landlcsscastes has con- 'atrocities sidcrablywcakcncd. Howcver. while relationalcasesrcgistered as againstthe Sched- structureshavc seen si_enificant changes. a largc uled Castes'in Puniabhad gone up fiom 14 in nra.iorityol' the ScheduledCaste population 1995to 4l in l99tiand again to 56 in 1999.The continucto livc in povertyand under vuincrable rnostsrgnil.icant fact as revcaled in thetable is Lhat rr)ndltlons. the nurnLrcrof'cases registered under the SC/ST Preventronol Atr()cltlesAct ol'1989had gone up t.,"'.t.*:tt:L,trtl!tti utrclAtntcities Agtuttst Dulits: rnalkcdlyover thc last rwo years.While in 1995 'rVhric spcakins [o a newspaperrcporter, Haf- only one casewas regrstercdunder this act. thc jrnticrSrngh Khalsa,a rnemberol'the National nunrberhad -uonc up to l7 by 1998and furthe r tcr ( rrrrrnrissionlirr- thc Schedulcd Castcs and It) in 1999.l'his was becausethe punishnrent Schedulcd l'ribcs complained thirt atrocitics underthis act is belicvcdto be morethan other- 'Punjab againstdllit.s wcrc on the rise in Punjab. wlsc.

'fable 6. Reportcd Cascsof atrocities against Schcdulcd Castes

\alIr(: ol enr))e I 995 I 996 I9e? l9eti I 999

111 ll i-lr (+l r 5) {b:

Murdcrs 2 .l I 5 Cncv,ltts [ttri1 2 + I 2 t1 Rape 5 7 :l I t6 Arson + Othcrs 3 ; 1 ll l

Othcrs" x I I 3 l5 OlIlf fs'''x I 3 5 t7 19 Totrl t, 25 20 41 56

()tncls* -- crrrncsreported other than thosc rneutionctl above. Othcf\'- -- euscs registered under the Protcctionof Crvil RiglrrsAcl 195-5 '- Othcr-!**' cascrregistered under SC/ST Prcventlon ofAtrocitrcs Act 1989. Source:lnforrnirtron coilecred oersonallv frgnr thc PunranPolice (C-'nrne Branch)

Howevel'. lccording to somepolice ol'['icitls thc rvclfari: ol'thesc -sroups. tl-re main sourceol :s rrcll as ol'ficials in theNational Commission inlolnrationwas thc press.Thc locai acimrnis- 'even ior SC and ST in Chandigarh,the recordsavail- Lrationancl at timcs thc statcgovcrnmcnts ablcin policef ilesin thestate capital was only a tricd to supplcssinlbrnration' llndlan [ixprcss. trp ol thc iccbcrg.The actualnumber of cases 20001. involving conllict betwcena memberof an uppcr/donrinantcastc and a ScheduleclCaste were Howevcr,despite thc increascin the reported nranyrnorc. A largemajority of the caseswcre casesof'atrocities, therc have been no reDorts 'comrnunity ol eithcr neve'r'reportedto the police or were violcncc'aguinst thc nrembcis 'a olthc rcsolvcdtirrough compromise'at thc local SchedulcdCastes in Punjab in therccent pasr. On tluttu (lhc policepost) or at the villagelevel"' the contrary, the increasein the number of lpcrsonailnte rvicws). Evcn I'orthe olTiceof thc crinrinalcases registered and a wrdercoverage of NatronalCornnrission fbr ScheduledCastes and atrocitrescould also bc a rellcctiono1'the growing SchcdulcdTribes which is supposedto nronitor awarenessof dernocraticrights anrong members 398 JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLIT-ICAL ECONOMY JULY-DEC.2(,)OA

of the depressedcastes. The BSP enteredthe Punjabpolitics for rhe first time duringthe 1985elections to rheLegis- Dalit Politicsand Casteldentities: The decadeof lative Assembly.Though it could not win any the 1980swas an extremely vibrant period for the seats,it was able wean someof the Scheduled politicsof identityin India[Jodhka, 2000]. It was Castevotes away from the CongressParty, par- in the 1980sthat the question of castecame back ticuiarly from the Chamar-concentrated Doaba to the centrestage of Indian politics in the form region.indirectly facilitating the victory of the powerful of a identitymovement. Sociologists in Akalis.By mid 1990s,the BSP in Puniabhad been India once again began to write on the subject ableto form a frontof theScheduled-Casres with 1996; 'Backward' [Srinivas, Fuller, 1997].This time, how- someof the communitiesand also ever,the assertionof castewas from below! enteredinto a politicalalliance with the Akalis. In the 1996parliamentary elections, it won 3 of AutonomousDalit movements and dalit oar- the l3 Loksabhaseats and had leadsin asmany tiesalso beganro play a much more influential as l7 Assemblysegments lVerrna, 1999. p. l0i. role in the electoralpolitics, both at the regional However,the pafty did not keepits alliancewith aswell asat the national level, than thev had ever the Akalis during the subsequentelections and donebe fore. Instead of lookingfor socialmobiliry lostmuch of its politicalground. at leasttempo- within the brahmanical frameworkof castchier- rarily.- archy,the ScheduledCastes and other backward communitiesbegan to underscorethe need of The significanceof the successor failureof buildingup horiz.ontalalliances across regions. KanshiRam's party in the stateelections iies in the factthat, as in sonreother parts of India,thc Mobilisationsof the ScheduledCastes of the ScheduledCastes ofPunjab have begun to operare Punjabby differentreform movements during the aspolitical vote banks. Their ability to earlytwentieth century not only impelledthem to do soought to be alsoseen in thebackground of changetheir occupations,they also madethem thedisinte- grationof thetraditional strucrures consciousof their political rights. The active of dependency in the agrarian oppositionby a sectionof the ScheduledCastes social structureof the Puniab (discussedin previous to the Akali demandfor a separatePunjabi Suba the section).However. perhaps clearly reflectedtheir astutepolitical sense.The unlike some other stares,where dalits first autonomous political formation of the havebeen able to forgea strongpolitical identity, ScheduledCastes of Punjabhad emergedin the the ScheduledCastes of Punjabremain divided form of the Ad Dharmi movementthat was later on communitylines. The divisionsare not only merged with Ambedkar's ScheduledCastes among the different casteor sub-castecommu- Federation,subsequently transformed into the nitieswithin the Scheduled Casres but also on the RepublicanParty of India.However, it wasonly basisof their religiousloyalties. Unlike their during the 1980s,with the rise of the Bahuian indifference,or in somecases even opposition, to SamajParty (BSP) under the leadership of Kanshi the Akali demand for a separatePunjabi Suba Ram, that the dalits beganto matteras a distinct during the 1960s,the participationof the Sikh politicallbrmation in thePunjab. dalitsin themilitant movement durine the 1980s and 1990swas quite significant [Juerlensmeyer, A ScheduledCaste (of the Chamar caste) 1988,p. ix-xl. More generally,their involvement college graduate from Punjab. Kanshi Ram with the Sikh religiouspolitics has also been f!guired his initial political apprenticeshipin growlng. Maharashrrawhere he was involved with some untouchableorganizations in Pune during the Cctnclusions:Caste and untouchabilityhave for early1970s. ln 1973he camero Delhiand helped long beenseen as peculiar features of the Indian to launchthe Backwardand Minoritv Commu- society.From colonial ethnographers to laterday nities EmployeesFederation (BAMCEF). The social anthropologistsand sociologists,many BAMCEF waslater extended into a movementof have seen caste to be the most fundamental thedepressed castes of the northIndia under the institutionof India,something that distinguished nameof DS-4 and was subsequentlvtransfbrmed it from the Westerncivilisation. The theoriesof intoa politica'|party, rhe BSP. castetoo havetended to view it as the definins vot. i2 No..l&1 PREJU DICE' WITH O UT' POLLUTION'? 399

t'eatuleol'thc Indiansocial structure. Caste sys- employmentin urban,semi-urban and rural areas tcnr.likc thc villagecommunities. were suppos- that were, to use Beteille'sexpression, 'caste- cdly presentin more or less the same form free' IBeteille,l97 I]. The occupationaldiversi- everywhcrein Indiaand remained unchanged for ficationof the ScheduledCastes of Punjabhas ages. It was only with the establishmentol' beenquite significant, at least in someparts of the colonialrule and the accompanying influences of state. Westernculture that seemedto have initiated changes. However, despitethe absenceof a strong brahmanicaltradi-tion in theregion and the rapid The most influentialtheory in this genrehas socio-economicchanges experienced in thestate beenthat of Louis Dumont who arguedthat caste with the Green Revolutionand urbanisatron. neededto be lookedat asan ideologicalstructure. many among the ScheduledCastes of Punjab The fundamentalfeature of thecaste ideology was continueto experiencedisabilities. Most of these thc opposition between pure and impure. disabilitiesemanate directly from their disad- Accordingto Dumont,material factors, such as vantageousposition in the castehierarchy. This land and powcr,did not determincthe structure is directly reflected in their relative social o{ castcidcology IDumont, 197 l]. Despitemany backwardnessand a lower level of education. critiquesol'Dumont and the availableempirical Sinceonly a f'ewanrong them own or cultivate evidence frorn the field that contradictedhis land, educationis possiblythe only sourceof e^larms.his theorvof castecontinues to dominate social mobility fbr them. Internal diversities rhe as well as populardiscourses on academic amongthe Scheduled Caste communities too are iaste 2000,p. 3]. [Gupta, quite glaring.While communitieslike the Ad Dharmisand Chamars have been quite mobile and The historicalaccount of casterelations and havebeen able to reapthe benefits o{'the welfarc thc contemporarystatus of theScheduled Castes programmeslaunched by thestate, the relatively in Punjab prcsentedabove clearly shows that groups among them have thoughcaste has existed in Punjab,the structure smaller seen much quality ol'castehierarchy in the regionhas beenquite lesserchange in their o[ life over the last diff'erentfirlm some of the other regions of the half a century. sub-contrnent.It certainly does not conform to the mannerin whichDumont has theorised caste. The Despitetheir proportionto thetotal population Brahminshave not only not enjoyedthe kind of of Punjabbeing largest in thecountry. dalits have statusthat Dumont attributesto them, the brah- so far not had significant impact on the state's manrcaiideology too hasbeen quite weak in the politics.Internal differences ofcaste and religion region. More importantlyit was not with the andthe lack of ablepolitical leadership could be British rule that the systemof castehierarchy thepossible reasons for this. bcgan to changein Punjab.The influenceof Islam, Sufism and Sikhism had far reaching However,even though Punjab has had caste prejudice againstthe dalits and many of them impactson theculture and societyin theregion. 'backwardness'. continueto still live in therehas Theeconomic development experienced in the not been much of casteconflict in the state. region during the last five decadeshas also Thoughthere could be many casesof conflicts broughtabout many importantchanges in the involvingindividual dalits and a nremberof an mannerin which casteworks in Punjab.The uppercaste. there have perhapsbeen ncl reports successol'Green Revolution and the comingof of organisedcommunity violence againsr them in new agranantechnology led not only to thedis- the nearpast. Such incidents have often worked integrationof traditionalstructures of patronage as catalystsfor dalit mobilisationsin stateslike and loyalty, but also created avenues of Andhra Pradesh,Bihar or Maharashtra. JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLIT-ICAI,I'CONOMY .IULY.DEC.2OOO

Apprndix I

A Brief Description of the main Schr:dulcdCastes Comnrunities of Punjab l. ,\d Darruis:A ssctronofthe Chamarsin thc Doabaregion ilrostlyhuntcrs but with thcdeplction of {brests,ntany ot of Punjabbcgan to call thenrselvesAd Darnrrsunder the thcrnharr rrrovcdto thetowns whcre they have bccornc inllucnceoithc Ad l)harmmovement during thc 1920s. harvkcrsor rickshawpullers. A rnajorityof therncon- Though thel' claimedto bc a separatereligious cornmu- tinucsto livc in thc rural arcas.cngaged prrrrranll- in rrty. aliel inricpendenccfrom thecolonial rule. they were agricrrlturalllbour. irstcd as a separarecaste of the Hindus rn Punjab. Acccrdingro (he l98l census,therr total populatronin 7.Illz-rgus: Thcv are aiso rnciuded rn the lisi oflhe "dcprcsscd Funlah uts t'.80.132.As Chanrars.their traditronal SchetiuledCastes". They are u rciatrvcivlarger colnrnu- ,)Lcuplllot]was leathertanning. over the years.a largc nrty (1.20.250accordrng to the l98l census)spread pror)( )r'c {)! | Lrfthcrn have rnoved to otheroccupatlons, such acrossthe state.Their Iradrtionaloccupatron used ro frc asagircriture. hoth as cultivators (8.02 per cent) as weli iuggiery and acrobats.They are rnostly rurai basedand rs iaboui'crsi-i9.63 per cent).Some of themare also in havcmostly moved to agrrculturelagrrcultural labourers. lndustryand governrnent .jobs. 65.813per cent ond cultivators: I L47 percent).

2. llalrnrkis:l-ht traditionaloccupatioti of Balnrikisuas tl. llhanjras: They are a snrall _uroupof the "depresseti sclvcnging. They ar-cllso known as Chuhrasbut prefer ScheduledCastcs". ln t981.they wcre only 3.557.Thcy to be calledBalrnikrs. clairning their descentfiorn the wcretraditronally engaged in Inakingbalnboo cunains. icgendaryHindLr saint Balmiki. According to the l98l cannin_qchairs and whilcu'ashing.Sorrre of thernhavc rcnsus,thclr populatlonrn Pun,labwas 5,32,62t1{incl- now shiliedto agncuituraland industrial labour. udrngClrunras and Bhangrs). A largeproportron ol thcni ls currentlycngagcd rn agriculturallabour {53.06 per 9. Chanrars(aiso known asJ atra Chainars. Rchgiirs. ilarnr.lasr: cent] and Ravrdasts): Charnarsalre the secondbiggcst grotrp rr, the iistoi SchetlulcdCastes in tne l'unlabi i 1,2i . I 45 rn .i.Bangalrs*: They areone ofthe "depresscdScheduled Castes I 98I census).Tradrtronally they used to b,ilcathcr tanncrs of Punlaband are includedrn the list of "de-notifled and wiiavcrs.Many tlf thenr havc norv tttovcti to agn- tribcs".Thc colonialrulcrs called thcrn a "crinlnal(nbe" culturallabour 15{.tt-l pcr ccnt) and srnallcultrvtitron [lbbetsr-rnI 9u l j. In Punjabthey ale alsocalled Jogrnath. (8.01pcr ccnt).Sorilc trt tlrcrnhlvc also rnovcdto thc Accordrngto the I 98I censusthey were only I .600.Thcy towns. arc lnostly urban b:rsedand thcir traditionaloccupction uscdto bc collcctionof roots.sceds. tubers and trapprng 10. Chlnais: Only 139 pcople repor-tedthernsclves as oisnrkcs fronr thc forestwhich wereused fbr indigenous beiongrngto thisSroup rn I9li I census. rnedicines.Many of thenr have rnovedto agricultural labour.Rickshaw pulhng and small traders (Kumal und I L l)agis:Likc Chanalsthcy too arc a srnallgroun wilh a Kunrar1996: l5). populatrorrsize ofonly 5.1t l98l ccnsusi. 'l-hey 4. llararas+,l also known asBurar or Berar):According to l9 8 I 12. Darains. weretladilronully ongxgc(t ln rrlii'rstonatlon censustheir populationwas only 4,76I . Their traditional of trnr'rrrb,v nver. They too arc a snralicornnrunltv wlth c'ccupotionused to be rnakrng cornbs out of reeds. a total ol' I 56 reportrngas l)ararnsIn i 9lJI ucnsus. wrnnowing lans and basketsout of grassreeds. Many of (hernrnovcd to other occupations,such as labour in 13.l)ehas (also known as Dhayasor l)hcils):They uscdto bc lgriculturc trnd the manufacturingsectors.'fhey are trlditionallycngaged in nrakingfans und tovs ol'rced. rnostlvurban based. They are alsoone of the "depressed They rvcre4.783 in l9ll I . Most of thcrn havc rnovedto SchcdulcdCastss" and are includedin the list of "de- townsand are enlployed in rnanulacturingcnd proccssrng noti{ied"tribes. industrics. -flrcy 5. llatwals: too are a small group with a populationol 14. Dhanaks:They are a relatrvelybigger group wrth a (in 9,-167iaccordrng to the l98l census).Their traditional populatronof 46,289 l98l).'fheir traditionaloccu- occupallonhas been agr-rcultural labour and mostof them patlonwas swesplngand weaving.A tnalorrt,yol thcnr contrnueto work on land.They are nrostiyrural based. hu,c ruovcdto urbanareas. Those strll livrng rn thr villagcsarc rnostlyernployed as agncultureas labourers 6. Blunls*: Their populationwas 62,624({rccording to the l98l census).1'he1'are also known as Bawarias.Thcy 15.Don-qris (also known as l)angns): Ihey wereonly 2(r5rn are one ol'thc "depressedScheduled Castes" of Punjab l98l Most of thernare concentrated ln thc Curdaspur and are also hsted as a "de-notificd tribe". Thev werc districtof Punjab. t/ol. t2 NO.-t&1 PREJ U DIC E' WITHO U't, POI,LIJT'ION' "'

i6. Dumnas(also known as Doorrrsor Dangris):They are "de-notifiedtribes". Their traditional occupation used to included "depressed in the Iist of ScheduledCastcs". be ropcdancing. Ovcr the lastfiftr years,most ol lherr: Therr populationwas 1.24.929(l9tll census) Iheir havernoved to otheroccuDauons. tradltl()ualoccuplttlon used to bc scavenginganci bamboo work. Most of thcnt have rnovedto agriculturallabour. 25 Ods: They too arc a small group u,ith a nopulatronslzr 0i 'dcprcs\ed Sotne of thenr have aiso rnrgratedto towns. They are only 6.494( | 98 I eensusr. Thcy lre onr'of Ih!, nrostly concentratedin the Hoshiarpurand Curdaspur ScheduledCtstes". They uerc traditrontll),knowntor distnctsof Punjab. thelr experlisein digging land.They apparenrlydid l lor of work dunng the constructionof BhakraDanr. Most of 17.Gagras: They are group a small with a populationsize of them are rural basedand are curently engagedin agri- only4l3(1981census). culturallabour.

I 8.Gandhilas* (also knownas Gandels): They too are a snrall 26 Pasis:Thcy area small community wrth a populationsize groupuithapopularronsizeof 1.869(1981census).Their of only 5,593 and are rnostly conccntratedin the urban traditionaloccupotton uscd to bemaking toys. They havc ccntresof Ropar. Patialsancl Ludhiana districrsof rhe norvn'tovcd tt: agncultural labourand household industry. state. Thcy arc rnciudcdin rhelist of "dc-notifiedtribes". 27 Phcrnas:They were only 75 rn nuntbcrin the l98l census l!t Kabrrpanlhisralso known as Julahas):Their totaipop- ulatronPunlab rn I98l was 56.81J8.Like elsewherern 28 Phecras:Thcy too were a small communlty wrth a pop- indil. thcrr traditionaloccupatlon used to be weavrng. ulatronsize of 179 in I 98| . Therrrraditional occupitron Many of thcrnhave ntovcd to the urbanareas where they usedto be beggrng. arecrnpkryed in nranufactulingand processing industrres per t35.tl2 ccnt). Thosc still in villageswere Inostly 29 Sansis*(also known as Bhedkutand Manesh):They arc a engagedin agriculturallabour. relativelybigger group of rhe "depressedScheduled Castcs"and are one of the leading"de-notified tribcs,,. l0 Khatiks:Thcy are a rclativelysrnall group with u total Theirpopulation in 198I was(r I .986). They clairnRaj pur ( ,'wandenng popul.rtionol ll9ll l98 I census).1'heyare lisrcd trnons anccstryand traditionally they usedto be a the "dcprcsscdSchcduled Castes"and ntostlylivc in the trihc".Most uf thcrrrhure n()$ scltleddown in the rural iownsol jlb. Pun Ludhiana and are engaged rn agrrculturallabour anti other occupatlons. II Kon-Kolr:Tltcy too arc "depresscd Schcdulcd Castc" anti lhe'rtorui popularlonrn l913lw.as only.5.fr52. They used .i0 Sapeirs:Thcy were only I.012 rn 1981.They were io work lradilionall;, rvorkts wcavers.Thcy aremostly tladitronllly known as snakecharmers and snakecatch- rihan irlseti. ers.Many ofthen) are now engagcd in agncuiturallabour anriothe-r occuoatrons. ll lVlazhabis:TIrcy afc thc largestScheduled Castes con)- rnunilyol thc srlrc. Thcy rvcrcI3.66.t1.1J in 198I.Thcy 3l Saretas:Thcl' werc 10,238in 1981.Most of theln are lre thc Sikh eountcrpansol' thc Balnrrkisand wercatso cmployedin agriculturcand household industry. callcd(-ltulrras A largcrnagoritv of thcrnuork as agri- (79.15 cultuntlllhoulcr-s pcr ccnt).Sotne of thernhtve 32 Sikligars:Accordins to the I9tl I censusthcir nunrbcr was itlso tttor'cdl() town\ whcre only .1.321. Thcy ar.can urbtn comrnunity,employed ntosllv In rnrnufactunng atrd processing rndusrries (7 I .6{} l.i l\'lcghs.Thcy *e rc 7t<..105rn 198l. Thel-are also lrsrcti per 'rleprrsscrl cL'r.lU. ;ul(-rnlrrhc SchedulcdCastcs". Tlrcir tradi- iionaioccupirtton Lrsedlo bc wcaving.Ncarly halfol'thcni -13Sirkibands: Traditionally lhey nradenttrs from grassiccris l!\,.,n lnc cltlc\ oi Pun;lh whcre thcy work ln thc usedlirl tlrat.hin!.:rrrols and c{)\enngcaflr Thcr .rrc ;)lanui;.tui'rfrrand proccsslng rndustnes.Those Iiving rn spreadlllover Punjab.rnostly ln the urbancenrri:s. lhc rriraiurclts ilrc nrostiycrrtploycd rn :rgrtculturc. No inforrnatronis availahlcfbr the lollowrnc Sehcdulcd 1.1Nats-: llrcv ucrc only -l(16in l9ttl. rnosllyliving in Clstcs: Mariius (ll\o kno$n a, Mrr.'rha), S.rnhlrs. Firozcpulaud Putialadistricts. Thcy ar.conc ol' the Srnh:rlsud Slnsois.

' Irs(cdrs "rlt,nolrilcdtnb!'s" or VirnuktrJatis S.urces:Srrr{h K.S. l99l: Kur.ar a'd Kurnrrr.r996. yrda'and Sirrrrnr(undltcrl) 402 JOURNALOF INDIANSCHOOL OF POL|TICALECONOMY ]ULY-DEC.2OOO

NOTES Bdteille,A., 2000; Chroniclesol Our 7'ine, penguinBooks, New Delhi. |. HarwanrSingh, a Scheduled ph.D. 'Agricultural Caste studentin a BhattacharyaN., | 9851 Labour and production. universityin Punjabspeaking to P.C.Aggarwal. Centraland South-EastPunjab', in K.N. Raj er al (Ed.) 2. Krishan Lal, a ScheduledCaste Administrative Officer tr,szr.r'snn the ConunercializutiontI lrtdiuttAgricul|ure. from Punjabspeaking to P.C. Aggarwal. Oxford UniversityPress, New Delhi. 3. One can (hink two possiblefactors accounting for such Durnont,L., l97l: Hono Hierurclticus,Vikas publishins a hrgh proportron of the ScheduledCaste population in the House.Delhi. state.First. in most statesof India the dalitswho convenedto 'fhe Fox, R., 1985: Lionstl Punjub; Culture in the Mokinp other religions are nor included in the Scheduled Caste Universityof CaliforniaPrcss. Ber.kcle;.. Population.The only exceprionis Sikhisrn.Thus in rhecase Fuller,C.J., (Ed.) 1997; Cn.sreToriat Oxford University of Punlab.with thc exceptionof aroundtwo per centpop- Press.tpaperblek odrriont. Dclhr. ulatronof Chnstransand Musltns in thestate, the entire daiir Gosal,R.P.S., 1990: lndia's Schcduled Casrc popuiarion: A population is includcd in the ScheduledCastes. The other SpatialPerspective, Unpublished ph.D. thesis,puntab possible facror accounting for the high proportion of SC University.Chrndigarh. populationir) the srateis that in Punjaband Haryana,nobod; Governmcntof Haryana,2000; StatisticalAbstracr: Harvani, rs countedas ScheduledTribe. The ex-tnbal populationwas | 998-99,Li tt t r tn t i t. tul,lSt tt t i.\ | r t, tI O r,qrttt trt. perhapsclLrbbed with the SC population. i.t,t t i, Chan_ digarh. 4. In a villagccalled Ajram of Hoshiarpurdistrict, thc Governlncntof Punjab.1999; Srarrstical Abstract: punjah Scheduledcasre population was nearly6l per cent [Singh, 1999. Etnnotnit utu| Stuti.rIicuIOrjrrrrlsrrllrrt. 1985,p. l97l Sirnilarly,in Daleke,the village from Amrirsar Chandi- garh. districtstudicd by L P. Singhlust the Mazhabis,a local caste Crewal,J.S.. 19891 'Changing lirrnredabout half of rhc total village population. Sikh Sclf-irnagebeforc rndc_ pendence',in P.C. ChatterjecSell-lnaxes 5 The ScheduledCasres in Punjab are relatively less It:jenttttund Nutiunali.rn.Indian Instrtutionof urbanrsed than their counterpan non-scheduled castes AdvancedStudies. Shirnh. Accordlngro thc l99l ccnsus79.45 per cent of the SC Grewal. J.S., 1994',The Sikhsol punlub. populatronlived in rural creasas against29.55 per cent for Cambndec Uni_ the entire population. vcrsily Press.Cambndge (h)dlan l:(lttton oy Fountain Bookst.New Delhi. 6. Grcat Bfitain lndian Statutory Commission,Menro- punjub Gupta.I).. 2OO0,Interru,gnting Custe; Under.tturnlitta runduntSubntttred by tlte GovernnentoJ I t930). Hier. urclrl'uttclDillerence pcnguin 7. It may be relevuntto mentionhere that the village where in Indiun Sotlerr,. Ilooks. Ncw Dclhi. PaulHershrnan did his field work was surelynot i typical Hershrnan.Paul, | 98 village of Punjab.As nrcnrionedabove, rural populationol' I ; Punjubi Kinshi1t utttllll urriupa. Hin_ thc stateis largcly Sikh while his studyvillage had a majority dustanPublishing Corporarion. l)clhi. Ibbetson. populationof Hindu households.His villagehad as manyas D., l98l; Punjob Custe,s;Rur.es. Cules und the Tribes publicarrons. 40 Brahrninhouscholds and almost the cntire Scheduled Caste ttl thePeople oJ Pnjub, Cosmos Ncw houscholdsare reponedas Hinous. Delhi.(firsr published in I9l6). (Ed.) 8. The drscussronin this sectionis mostly basedon Jodhka.S.S., 2000; Conmnnrt\.tutd ldenriries; Con_ Juergensrneyer19118. tentpororyDi.scourses rn Culture untl p,tlittts in lndn, 9. Sotneeconornlsts have gone ro the extentof sayingthat SagePublications, New Delhi (fonhconlns). thanksto the positivccffect of the greenrevolution therc was JoneS.K.W.. 1976:Arrrr Dlurrnut; Hittrltr(',,ntrt0tt.tttcst tt, tJniversity no absolute povelty tn the Punjab anymore [Shergill and l9tlt Century Pwrjub. of Calilbnria press. Singh,1995, Pp. Altt)-31. Berkley, I 0. Personalinterviews carricd out in Chandigarhduring Judge,P.S., I997;'Ernerging Trends in theCasre Struclurc of the lastweek of August 2000. Punjub',The Adntinistruar, Vol. XLII, January_March. Juergensmeyer,M., 1988;Rellglau.r Rebels in tlrc p uniub; The REI.-ERENCES So<'i411yit1,,, rtf Llnfttutfutble.T,Ajanra publications, Delhi. 'Outrnigration Abbi, B.L. and Kesar Singh, 1997; Post-CreenReyolution Kaistha,K.C., 1987: paternsin Development Rurul I'un1ab; Pnlile of Economicund Sot:io-Culturul Transitionof RuralAre:rs'. P(?rrlrtr t,tt Ge,,grrtittti. yol Chnnqe( 1965-95).Chandigarh: Centre for Researchin 9(l and2). Rural an

'Urbanization 'Caste Krishan.G., 1998: sincelndependence', inJ.S. Singh.H., 1977: Rankingin Two SikhVillages', in H. (Ed.) Gre+v'ulattd Indu Rangu Pwlub in Prosperitvund Singh (Ed.) CusteAmong Non-Hindus in Indfu. National Violetrce.lnstitute of PunjabStudies, Chandigarh. PublishingHouse, New Delhi. Kurnar,Vinod and Ashok Kumar, 1996;Upward Mobilirt'o1 'A Singh, I.P., 19751 Sikh Villagc', (Ed.) Dcpressed Sclrcduled Cu.rte.rin ParrTaD(unpublished in M. Singer Truditbnul reporl), Institute for Developmentand Communication, lndfu: Strucnre utd Chunge,Rawat, Jaipur Chandigarh. (lndirnreprint). 'Caste llcl-eod. W.H.. 1996iThe Etttlution ol the SikhConmrunirs': Singh,1.P., 1977: in a Sikh Village',in H. Singh(Ed. r fir,e f.rsrlys,Oxford University Press,Delhi. CusteAnong Non-Hindusin Indiu, National publishrns \,{ehta. (A S.. 1990.Migrortttn: A Spatkil Perspective Ca.se House.New Delhi. Studtol Br.srDrnlt-Punlab). RawatPublications, Jaipur. Singh.K.. 1966iA Histor| oJ'the Sikhs,Vol. II, princeton \lehta.S. and Nl.S. Gill. I 98,1:'lvlrgratronof Schedulcd Casre UniversityPress, Populationin llural Bist l)oab' (Punjab),Populutiott Princeton. Ceog,rupht,\/olutue 6, Nos. I and2. Singh. K.S., 1995',The ScheduledCasres (Peaple of lwliu. Na1'ar.B.R., 1966:lllitutritt'PoLitiLs rn rhePunjub, Princeton NuionuL Series Volunre//,), Oxford University press, UniversityPrcss, Ncw Jcrsey. Delhi. Oberoi.Lf ., 1994l.'llrc Cottstrut'liotrol Religious 'Class Bourtduries: Singh.P., I 985; Analysisof ScheduledCastes in Ajram Culture. lilentitt' uttd Diyersitt' itt tlrc Sikh I'rudition. (A PunjabVillage)', in P.N. Pirnpleyand S.K. Sharnra Oxlbrd UnivcrsityPrcss, Delhi. (Ed.).ltlrg3/e Pinrplcy.P.N. and S.K. Sharnia,1985: 'De,Sanskririsation' .fttr Stutus,B.R. PublishingCorporation. of Untouchablcs:Arya SarnajMor,enrenl in Punjab',in Delhi. P.N.Prrnpiey and S.K. Sharrna, (Ed.) Strug14le lor Stutus, Srrnivas.M.N. (Ed.). 1996:Custe: Its TtventiethCentun. 8.R..Publishrng Corporation. Delhi. Ara/rrr,Pcnguin Books, Ncw Delhi. Purandarc. 'People 'Punjabi C.K.. i995: of Indic': SomePrinra Facre Tandon.P., l9tllt: Cenrury'.(first pubhshedl96l) infcrgnccswith referenceto SCsand STs in P.C.Jogdand in I'urtjulti.Sa,qa (1857-1987), Viking. PenguinBooks. Ed. I)aiitWorncn in India:Issues and Pcrspectrves', Gyln New l)elhi. Publishingllousc, Ncrv Delhi. Vcrnra.P.S., 19991'Dalit Srbers'al.S.. l97lt'llcccding Pollution:Inrercasre Relations Consciousncssand the BSp in in UrbanPunjab'. Sot'iological Bulletin. Vol.22, No.2. Punjab',Unpublished paper. 'Leadership .Sabern,al. S.. 1976:hltitile Men: Linirs ro Sotiul Clnnge in Webster,John C.B., 1999: in RuralDalit Con- IJrhanIniiu, VikasPublishing House, Ncw Delhi. versionMovenent'. in JoscphT. O'Connell (Ed.) Orxu- Shrrnna.S.K., 19u.5:Sot'iul Mot ementsund SociulChange: ni:.trtiotutltntl InstitutiottulAspeds ol lntliun Religiou.s .\ Studt t4 Arvt Stttulurtd Untttuchublesin Punjuh. l).R. Movnrctis, Indian Institutionof AtlvancedStudies. PuhlishingCorporation. I)clhi. 'Povcny Shinrla. Shcrgrll.H.S. and C. Singh.| 995; in Punjab:Trcnds irverCrccn Rcl olutron.Decades', Eu tnont i t und Pt il i tit rti Yrdav. B. and A.M. Sharnra.(undated) Li;onrtrrtu. uplilt tl ilieel.A.Voi. XXX. No. 25, June24, (llevrewof Agn- Sclrcduled Crr.rles,(unpublished report.y.lnsirture for culturc,. Dcvelopmentund Communrcation, Chandigarh.