Rising Kulaks and Backward Classes in Bihar

Home , Bhumihar, Binodanand Jha, Hajjam, Jagannath Mishra, Karpoori Thakur, Samyukta Socialist Party

Economic and Political Weekly 15, 2 (12 January 1980), 64-74.

SPECIALARTICLES

Rising Kulaks and Backward Classes in Bihar Social Change in the Late 1970s Harry W Blair The Janata period in Bihar has been plagued with instability and violence in the state's political life, its universities and its bureauicracy. In the minds of many observers, the disruption and its immediate cause, the Karpoori Thakur ministry's reservation policy, are indicative of a sea-change in the structure of Bihar's political economy: the 'Forwards' or 'twice-born' caste groups that had been dominant in Bihar since independence and before are being replaced by the 'Backward' castes as the dominant stratum in the state. This essay examines the evidence of such a shift in the structure of dominance in Bihar and its im- plication for the political economy of the state. THE current scene in Bihar is a de- posts, those known as being 'Annexure Kayasthas), were still far ahead of the pressing one. College students are II' would be allocated 8 per cent, 3 remaining communities. The Banias, burning buses, sacking government per cent would go to women of any of course, were traditionally traders offices, seizing locomotives and even group, and 3 per cent to those who and small businessmen, while the derailing trains; other groups of stu- were 'economically backward'. other three were largely peasant pro- dents do combat with the disrupters. The history of the annexures is a prietor castes, small-holders in the 5-15 The bureaucracy is paralysed. Stories of tangled one, and the question of how acre range and primarily ryots in the Harijan atrocities get into the press many people they include is even more zamindari land tenure system- then more frequently than usual, and give confusing. The story goes at least as prevailing in Bihar. Just how many the impression that many more such far back as to 1951, when the Bihar people might be included within these outrages are going unreported. Politi- government composed two lists of groups was not at all clear, for the cal life is beset with intense byzantine Backward Classes Comprising Hindu Census has not gathered data on caste intrigpes and manoeuvres to oust (or and Muslim caste groups that were not since 1941 and has not published these to save) the Janata ministry, com- Harijans or Adivasis, but were none- data since the 1931 Census. pletely distracting the ministry's al- theless determined to be economically As with so many things in India, ready severely limited political will and socially backward and in need of though, there are exceptions. In addi- for dealing with the problems of a special governmental assistance, parti- tion to the data on Scheduled Castes state that is at the bottom of almost cularly in the way of educational help. and Tribes that have been gathered in every index of social and economic The two lists came to be known as all the reoent censuses, the Census of development in India. There have been 'Annexure I' and 'Annexure II', which 1951 also took down some infonMa- reports of "more than 2,000 political could be thought of as 'more back- tion on membership in certain of the murders" in recent months.' ward' and 'less backward' (but still backward castes. The Backward Classes in need of help) groups. Annexure I Commission (BCC), set up at the DEFINING THE BACKWARDS (the 'more backward') included some Central level and chaired by Kaka At the eye of the storm has been 78 Hindu and Muslim castes, some Kalelkar, made use of these data in the one object that Karpoori Thakur well-known (e g, Dhanuk, Hajjam, composing its own lists of backward in his chief ministership showed him- Kahar and Mallah), others consider- classes for the various states in its self determined to pursue - his ably less so (eg, Gulguha, Jadupatia). report published in 1955. For Bihar reservation policy. Thakur's successor The second ('less backward') Annexure some 127 castes (again both Hindu as chief minister, Ram Sunder Das, included 30 castes altogether; many of and Muslim) are listec,, with a tbtal has also promised (if more than some- them were communities that in terms population of 15.3 million or 38.1 per what half-heartedly) to implement the of social and economic backwardness cent of the state's total population in policy, so it continues to remain at were difficult to distinguish from 1951.4 The 1955 enumeration was not the centre of the stage in the politics those in Annexure I, such as Barhis, a complete one, however, for such im- of Bihar.2 Promised in 1977 and Kandus and Kumhars (as well as some portant castes as Koiri, Mallah and finally promulgated in the autumn of Muslim castes like Momins and Tatwa were included in the listing as 1978, the reservation policy asserted Rayeens), but the list consisted pri- Backward, but had not been counted that in addition to the quotas on gov- marily of the more advanced com- in the 1951 Census. Overall, figures ernment employment already reserved munities in the Vaishya and Shudra were available for only 54 of the 127 for Harijans and Adivasis (24 per cent varnas, that is the Banias, Koiris, castes denominated as Backward in if taken together), henceforth 26 per Kurmis and Yadavs.3 These groups, the BCC report, and so its 15.3 million cent of new government positions while not as powerful (certainly in total was considerably short of the would be reserved for the 'Backward 1951, anyway) in social, political or total number that fell within the Classes'. More precisely, those Back- economic matters as the first four Backward category as determined in wards known as being 'Annexure I' 'twice-born' tbaste groups in the state either the 1951 Government of Bihar would be allotted 12 per cent of the (the Brajmas, Bhumihars, Rajputs and list or the 1955 BCC report.

64 ECONO.MICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY January 12, 1980

TABLE 1 MAJOR CASTE AND ETHNIC GROUPS OF BIHAR to their political persuasion, Biharis tend to think of all Muslims as being Category Caste/Group Per Cent of Total "backward" or "not backward". Third, Population it is relatively easy to keep track of A* B* Muslims as a single group in the analysis that follows, but it would be quite add portions of them to Forwards, or Brahman difficult to 4.7 4.6 as 'tWvice-born' Bhumihar 2.9 2.8 the Forward and Backward groups Raiput 4.2 4.1 the analysis moves along. Kayastha 1.2 1.2 Subtracting Muslims, then, we are Total Forwards 13.0 12.7 left with 0.6 per cent Banias and 18.7 UpperBackwards Bania 0.6 0.6 per cent 'Upper Shudras' (that is~ the Yadav 11.0 10.7 three advanced but still officially Kurmi 3.6 3.5 Backward Shudra comlmunities) or a Koiri 4 .1 4.0 total of 19.3 per cent that we may call (Total Upper Backwards) (19.3) (18.8) 'Upper Backwards'. Among the re- Lower Backwards Barhi r 1.0 maining Shudra caste groups are the Dhanuk 1 1.8 ten that had more than one per cent Hajjam 1.4 of total population in 1931, accounting Kahar 1 .7 Kandu 16.0 1.6 15.6 for 16.0 per cent, ana a further- 16.0 Kumhar i 1.3 per cent in the smaller Shudra groups, Lohar 1 1.3 or a total of 32.0 per cent that can be Mallah I 1.5 conveniently labelled 'Lower Back- Tatwa 1 1.6 a total Teli l 2.8 wards'. Altogether, there is Other Shudras 16.0 15.6 Backward community of 51.3 per cent (Total Lower Backwards) (32.0) (31.2) of the state's population, of which cent) are Total Backwards 51.3 50.0 about one-third (19.3 per Upper Backwards and about two-thirds Muslims 12.5 12.2 are Lower Backwards. Bengalis - 2.4 This taxonomy does not exactly ac- Scheduled Castes 14.4 13.8 Scheduled Tribes 9.1 8.9 cord with those of the various com- missions mentioned above, in that it Grand Total 100.0 100.0 excludes a portion of the Muslims and includes a few minor Hindu castes * Column A does not include Bengali speakers as a separate group, while column B not on any of the lists, but it has does include them, with the enlarged total (100 .0 per cent of population +2.5 per two major advantages: it does in- cent Bengali speakers) revised to 100 per cent. clude the groups that people in Bihar Source of data: For specific Hindu castes, 1931 Census; for allothers, 1961 Census. Earlier data have been revised to reflect boundary changes since 1931. think of as being 'backward', and it is relatively easy to work with in identi- To compound the confusion, the cess of elimination, as is done in fying who the Backwards are. chairman of the BCC repudiated the column A of Table 1. Here the figures One more modification is necessary whole idea of backward castes,5 and for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and before we can proceed. In Bihar about in any event in 1964 the Patna High Muslims are taken from the 1961 2.5 per cent of the total population Court declared the 1951 list to be Census and for the traditional four have returned themselves as Bengali unconstitutional, as it was composed Hindu varnas from the 1931 Census. speakers in the Census. Some of these on the basis of caste rather than edu- All Hindu castes with one per cent or are Muslims, some are Hindus of the cational and social backwardness.6 more of total population are listed, various north Indian caste groups such Eventually, the Government of leaving a residual of 16 per cent, who as the Brahmans or Kayasthas, while Bihar responded to this legal rejection presumably fall into the large number others are Hindus of strictly Bengali by appointing in December 1971 a new of Shudra castes. If we say that all castes like the Gandhabaniks, Napits commission on the matter, headed by the Forwards, Harijans and Adivasis or Sadgops. In other words, many of Mungeri Lal. This new body submitted are not Backwards, we are left with the Bengali speakers overlap with the its final report in February 1976, settl- Banias, Shudras and Muslims. A part categories we already have. But in ing on a new list of 128 castes. of the Muslim community has been Bihar they are thought of as Bengalis Essentially the 128 were the same ones included in all the listings of back- rather than Bengali Kayasthas, Sadgops as in earlier versions, augmented by ward classes, but we will exclude or whatever. For instance, a Bengali some Christian groups.7 The Mungeri them here for three reasons. First, the Brahman MLA is generally thought of Lal Commission was not empowered to Census, while it does count Muslims, as a Bengali MLA, not a Brahman take any census of castes, however, does not distinguish between Muslim MLA, so it makes good sense to think and so the question of how many peo- castes, so it is impossible to say which of the Bengalis here as a separate ple are included in the new definition Muslims are Backward and which are category. To do so means some is as elusive as with the old ones. not. Second, Muslims are generally redundancy, for the Bengalis have Perhaps the best way to arrive at a thought of in Bihar simply as Muslims, already been counted in other groups, reasonable estimate of the number of rather than as belonging to caste but since they behave and are treated Backwards in Bihar is through a pro- groups within their religion. According as members of a separate group,- we

65 January 12, 1980 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

TABLE2 : SELECTEDCASTES AS PERCENTAGEOF TOTALPOPULATION IN BIHAR,1901-1971 around.1' The widespread violence that has Caste 1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 bedevilled and disrupted the state over the job reservation issue clearly could Upper Backwards not have arisen solely from the less Bania 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.a na na than 2,000 posts that were at stake. Yadav 11.3 11.3 11.3 11.0 10.8 na na is actually implemented, Lower Backwards If the policy Dhanuk 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 na na only a few Backwards can directly Hajiam 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5 na na benefit from the quotas, and they will Kahar 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.6 na na be from the richer families that can Kumhar 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.4 na na afford the education required for the Teli 2.8 2.8 3.1 2.8 2.8 na na Harijans higher posts, or those lucky families Chamar 3.7 3.8 4.0 4.0 na 4.1 4.2 that have the connections to get the Dusadh 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.1 na 3.7 3.7 loWer posts. The positions will no Musahar 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.3 na 2.2 2.1 doubt be important on an individual basis both to those who get them and Note: Figures for Harijans were not available for individual castes for 1951, and those who would otherwise have got data for all castes weie not published for 1941. Figures have been adjusted where appropriate for boundary changes over the period. them but were denied them because of the reservation policy. But this will Source: For all years except 1951, figures were derived from the Censusof India; for 1951, figureswere derived from the Reportof the BackwardClasses Commission, scarcely amount to a transformation of vol 2, pages 16-22. Castes lisced here are all the major Hindu castes for which the social structure in favour of the data weie given in the Report,except that the three major Harijancommunities Backwards. -of Bihar are added for comparison. The whole struggle is not really over the 2,000 jobs, however; rather, must consider them as such as well. backward groups (general!y interpret- the reservation policy is a symbolic In column B of Table 1, then, Bengalis ed to mean poor members of the issue that has gripped the imagination makes the total are added in, which Forward castes), with a ceiling of Rs of virtually everyone in Bihar who 102.5 per cent, and then all the group 8,000 on annual family income for the has seven the slightest degree of politi- percentages are recalculated so that applicant. For the 20 per cent portion, cal awareness. Through the reserva- the total again adds to 100.0 per cent. three-fifths (12 per cent) were to go tion issue, Karpoori Thakur asserted yow accurate is such a listing, to the Annexure I Backwards who, as that the Backwards had displaced the based as it is primarily on data from we have seen, constitute about two- Forwards as the dominant force in 1931? It is, of course, hard to say, in thirds of the Backwards overall and Bihar politics, that the old days of view of the absence of later data for two-fifths (8 per cent) were to go to dominance in public affairs from most of the caste groups, but for the Annexure II or Upper Backwards, village to Vidhan Sabha by the 'twice- those groups on which there are later who make up about one-third of the born' were gone forever, and that his figures, there is a remarkable con- total Backwzardpopulation. A proviso government would be one based on sistency over time. A comparison of in the regulation stipulated that if the the support of the Backwards. The the 1951 data published by the BCC -reservation for Annexure I Backwards Forwards interpreted things this way and the 1961 and 1971 census data on could not be filled by members of as well, fearing that their days of Scheduled -Castes with the figures for those caste groups within three years, dominance might indeed have departed, 1931 and even earlier censuses for then they could be filled with and responded with a volatile mixture some of the major caste groups is candidates from Annexure 11.11 Thus of fear and rage. presented in Table 2. Here we find the reservation decision would appear At the student level, the Forwards t-hat despite urbanisation over the to represent a substantial victory for showed their distress and anger in bus years, perhaps some upward caste the Backward classes, especially for burnings, train derailings and vanda- mobility,8 and possibly a tendency-for the more advanced Backwards of lism upon government buildings. -At wealthier (and higher caste) families Annexure I. After being grossly the polit!cal level, the Samastipur bye- to be larger than poorer and lower underrepresented at all echelons of the election for the Lok Sabha, held in caste families,9 these caste groups have state bureaucracy for the entire period late November 1978, proved a test for retained essentially the same propor- since indvpendence and the period of the Thakur government and its Back- tion of total population over quite a British rule as well, the Backwards ward support base. The campaign long time period. In sum, the list in finally gained a modicum of their fair generated an almost complete polarisa- Table 1 should be a reasonably ac- share of the posts. tion of rural society in the constitu- curate portrayal of the various com- But how much of a victory was it? ency between a united Forward group munities in Bihar today.- An estimate of all the governmental that had put away its many intercaste posts created in Bihar per year came differences of the past and a solid RESERVATIONSAS SYMBOL out to a mere 9,000.12 20 per cent Backward bloc. The Forwards sup- Somewhere in the vicinity of half of that comes to only 1,800 positions, ported 'the Bhumihar Congress (I) the population of Bihar, then, has been and this figure includes all jobs. from candidate, Tarkeshwari Sinha, and the designated as officially Backward, and the state Class I services to the minor Backwards united behind a Koiri is eligible for 20 per cent of the new functionaries of Class IV. Consider- college teacher handpicked by the Chief positions open in the state bureau- ing that by 1977-78 there were about Minister. As it turned out, there cracy, with an additional 3 per cent 210,000 college students in Bihar,13 a were more Backwards than Forwards reserved for women of any caste and good number of whom were Back- in Samastipur, just as in the state as 3 per cent reserved for economically wards, this was not many jobs to go a whole,15 and the Janata candidate

66 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY January 12, 1980

TABLE3 CASTECOMPOSITIONS OF GENERAL SEATS IN IIIHARVIDHAN SABHA, 1961-1977 Mishra. both of whom are Brahmans; (Figures inPercentage) perhaps the voters in some sense held Brahmans generally responsible for General the 'excesses' committed under the 1977 Group 1962 1967 1969 1975 Population Emergency leadership of Brahman Brahman 17.2 13.2 12.3 18.3 7.6 6.0 Prime Minister and Chief Minister. Bhumihar 12.6 14.8 14.8 14.7 14.8 3.6 As the Forwards declined in 21.7 5.3 Rajput 23.8 22.2 23.5 19.8 strength, the Backwards grew, but Kayastha 5.4 4.9 3.3 2.0 4.4 1.6 just as the Forwards' loss was really Forwards 59.0 55.1 53.9 54.8 48.6 16.5 the drop of just one caste group, so 6.2 4.6 3.2 0.8 Ban1a 3.3 5.3 the the was Yadav 11.7 15.2 18.5 11.7 20.5 13.8 advance of Back-wards Kurmi 7.1 5.3 3.3 5.6 4.8 4.5 actually the progress of only one- Koiri 6.7 5.8 4.1 5.6 6.4 5.2 community, the Yadavs, who by 1977 Upper (28.8) (31.6) (32.1) (27.5) (34.9) (24.3) had become the second largest group Lower (1.7) ( 2 .9) ( 2.5) ( 2.0) ( 3.6) (40.3) in the Assembly, next only to the Total Raiputs. For the other Upper Back- Backwards 30.5 34.5 34.6 29.5 38.5 64.6 wards, representation has been 10.0 15.8 Muslims 8.8 7.4 7.8 13-.2 essentially stationary over the period Bengalis 1.7 2.9 3.7 2.5 2.8 3.1 (Banias and Koiris) or even declin- Grand Total 100.0 99.9 100.0 100.0 99.9 100.0 ing, as with the Kurmis, who bask- N 242a 243b 242C 197d 249 ed under Congress patronage back in .702 Gini co-efficient .778 .756 .767 .734 the days of Binodanand Jha's chief Notes: Scheduled Castes and Tribes are not included, as they are representt d prc- ministership in the early 1960s, but portional to population through the reserved seats. who have faced leaner times since. aExcludes 3 MLAs for whom caste was not available and 1 Adivasi eletted The category labelled other Shudras from a general seat. each bExcludes 1 Adivasi elected from a general seat. has consisted of a different mix CExclude2 MLAs for whom caste was not available. time, with never more than two from dPoSition as of June 1975, after the resignations in connection with the any caste group. They are primarily JP Movement in Bihar. the Annexure I Backwards, such as Source: Interviews with MLAs in various years. Dhanuks, Hajjams, Kahars, Kewats, Mallahs and Noniyas. won the election amid a torrent of Legislative Assembly over the 1962- Among the Backwards, the Upper charges and countercharges of ballot 77 period. Here we find the Backwards have been consistently voter intimidation and booth familiar story of upper caste domina- stuffing, overrepresented. Even back in 1962, tion in the early years, when well capture. the four Upper Backward castes had Thakur survived one chal- over half of the MLAs from non-re- Karpoori 28.8 per cent of the general MLA 1979, served seats belonged to the four lenge to his ministry in January seats, as against only 24.3 per cent of beat down a no- 'twice-born' castes. The pattern main- when he was able to the non-Scheduled population. By Assembly. tained itself through the 1967 and confidence motion in the 1977, their percentage of seats had 1969 elections, and even down to the But finally in April the combination grown to 34.9. The Lower Backwards, period of the Emergency, when fully of a Forward-Harijan alliance in the on the other hand, are 40 per-cent of 54.8 per c,nt of the MLAs from Assenibly and the national-level Jana non-Scheduled population, but have seats were Forwards, as Sangh/BLD conflict within the Janata general never had more than 3.6 per cent of against their 16.5 per cent of the non- party brought down the Thakur gov- the general seats. Backward partici- Scheduled population.'6 ernment. It was succeeded by a pation in state politics, then, has been ministry headed by a Harijan, Ram The 1977 election meant a notice- a very uneven business, confined for Sunder Das, but dominated by the able decline in the Forwards' re- all practical purposes to the Upper same combination of Forwards and presentation, to 48.6 per cent, though Backward community.17 Jana Sanghis that had defeated the a look at the figures for the individual The gini coefficient is an overall Thakur government. Thus the shift caste groups shows that all that de- measure of inequality/ generally used from Forward to Backward control at cline was borne by the Brahmans, to measure the degree of equality in the ministerial level under Karpoori who dropped from 18.3 per cent of the distribution of income or land, Thakur was in the end a short-lived the general seats in 1975 to only 7.6 but it can also be used to measure the one, but the underlying trends in the per cent in 1977, or in numerical relationship between distribution of state overall, it will be argued in this terms from 36 MLAs to 19. The castes in the population (analogous essay, is in favour of the Backwards. other three castes among the For- statistically to classes of landowners) wards even gained a bit; in fact their and MLA seats in the Assembly (ana- CASTE IN THE STATE ASSEMBLY collective share (for Bhumihars plus logous to the amount of land held by In a state where caste and politics Raiputs plus Kayasthas) went up the different classes of landowners). have been mixed in such a strong and from 36.5 to 40.9 per cent. Why As in the conventional use of the gini often explosive combination for so should it have been only the coefficient, its value here varies bet- long, the Vidhan Sabha is a natural Brahmans that were purged by the ween zero (perfect equality,' or each place to look for evidence of a voters? Perhaps they suffered from group represented in proportion to its change from Forward to Backward their caste connection with Indira share of the population) and unity primacy. Table 3 gives a caste break- Gandhi and the Emergenoy period (perfect inequality). Over the 15 years down of the general seats in the Bihar Chief Minister of Bihar. Jagannath covered in Table 3, the gini coefficient

67 January 12, 1980 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

TAgLE 4 : CASTE COMPOSITIONOF PARTIES AND COALITIONSIN POWER IN BIHAR VIDHAN duled Tribes that increased their SABHA, 1962-1977 participation as members of ruling par- (Figures in Percentage) ties and coalitions. In 1962 the Thar- khand movement was still running State Group 1962 1967 1969 1975 1977 PopulatiOn strong in Bihar, and its members would have no part of Congress rule, the 1960s wore on, the Brahman 14.1 8.6 11.8 16.0 2.8 4.6 but as Jhar- Bhumihar 13.6 11.1 10.5 9.3 12.0 2.8 khand fragmented, and Adivasis be- Rajput 14.1 24.1 19.1 14.4 19.4 4.1 came as divided between different Kayastha 6.0 3.1 2.6 1.5 5.1 1.2 parties and factions as any other Forwards 47.8 46.9 44.0 41.2 39.3 12.7 groups. In the process they became Bania 2.7 3.1 3.3 4.1 2.8 0.6 better represented in the make-up of Yadav 8.2 14.8 15.1 9.3 14.3 10.7 the ruling coalitions of 1967 and Kurmi 6.5 1.2 3.3 4.6 2.3 3.5 governing parties of Koiri 6.5 6.8 3.9 4.1 4.1 4.0 1969 and in the the 1970s. (Upper Backwards) (23.9) (25.9) (25.6) (22.1) (23.5) (18.8) In an overall sense, representative- (Lower Backwards) ( 0.5) ( 3.1) (1.3) (1.5) ( 2.3) (31.2) ness as measured by the gini co- Total Backwards 24.4 29.0 26.9 23.6 25.8 50.0 efficient improved over the 1962-77 Muslims 8.2 4.9 8.6 10.3 6.5 12.2 period, with a drop from over .700 to Bengalis 1.1 3.1 .0 0.5 2.3 2.4 around .600, but it is interesting to Scheduled Castes 17.4 11.7 12.5 15.5 18.0 13.8 note that Jagannath Mishra's party in Scheduled Tribes 1.1 4.3 7.9 8.8 8.3 8.9 power, widely viewed as an upper Grand Totala 100.0 99.9 99.9 99.9 100.2 100.0 caste enterprise, was slightly more representative (gini coefficient = .599) N 184 162 152br 194 217 than Karpoori Thakur's Janata party Gini co-efficient .760 .674 .635 .599 .618 (= .618) with its much more avowedly Notes: MTotalsmay not add to 100.0 because of rounding. lower caste rhetoric. bThis coalition included the support of several independents to give it a majorityin the Vidhan Sabha; these independents are not included here. CASTE AT MIMSTRY LEVEL As Table 3. Source: for Evidence of a massive change from Forwards to Backwards is not to be has gone from .778 to .792 - Congress coalition alliances of the down found, then, in the composition of toward equal represen- late 1960s and then recovered to some progress party and coalition rule in Bihar. The sure, but hardly a tation, to be become the major contingent in the next logical place to look is the revolution. The Backwards, or more Congress party headed by Brahman ministry level, for here is where the precisely the Upper Backwards, have Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra real power is thought to lie in a made some progress in state politics during the Emergency. Perhaps parliamentary system - with the over the last decade and a half, but because of their intimate connections cabinet ministers, who both produce they have not brought about any w:th the Congress, the Brahmans the legislation and direct the bureau- sweeping change in the politics of re- were not a major element in the cracy that implements it, not with the presentation. Janata party in 1977. In fact the backbenchers, who in theory have to proportion of Brabmans in the toe meekly the line laid down by the CASTE IN RULING PARTIES Janata was even less than their per- ministry. The successive waves of A better gauge of the respective centage of the population as a whole, defections of the 1960s and early strength of different caste groups at the first time that any- of the For- 1970s have eroded much of this tradi- state level than total membership in wards suffered such an embarrassment. tional party discipline, certainly, but the Vidhan Sabha would perhaps be But as the Brahmans were down, even so the ministry is still where the composition of the ruling party, other castes among the Forwards the power is. Table 5 gives a caste for after all, it is the governing party came up, with the Raiputs, Bhumihars breakdown for full ministers in all the that makes policy in the parliamentary and Kayasthas all improving their re- ministries since 1962 that lasted system, not the legislative body as a presentation under the Janata signi- 10 months or more (thereby leaving whole. Table 4 presents a breakdown ficantly. out seven ministries during 1968-69 of the major ruling parties and coali- Somewhat surprisingly, the Back- and 1970-72 that lasted anywhere tions since 1962. Here we again see wards, though the centrepiece of the between 4 days and 7 months) and in no evidence of a steady fall in the posi- Janata strategy Bihar, were also the Ram Sunder Das ministry tion of the Forwards, from 47.8 per better represented in the Janata Legis- that replaced Karpoori Thakur's gov- cent of Binodanand Jha's Congress lature Party than in any of its pre- ernment in the spring of 1979. They Backward party in 1962 to 39.2 per cent of the decessors. Indeed, the total range in size from K B Sahay's trim 1977 1977 Janata Legislature party.'8 group was virtually the same in 10-man ministry to Karpoori Thakur's Again also, it is the Brahmans who as it had been in 1962, with the four much larger ministry of 24 members. have lost most heavily. They were Upper Backward communities com- Here there is some indication of Backward mem- (along with the Raiputs) the principal prising almost all the real change. Down through Jagannath element i'n the Congress headed by bership of the Assembly throughout Mishra's Emergency-period cabinet, Pandit Jha, himself also a Brahman. the entire period. the Forwards invariably had -the major Brahmans were somewhat less well Rather than the Backwards replac- role, in the early years with twice represented in the United Front and ing the Brahmans, it was the Sche- (B N Jha and K B Sahay cabinets) or

68 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY January 12, 1980

TABLE 5: CASTE COMPOSITION OF MAJOR CABINET MINISTRIES, 1962-1979 (Full Ministers Only: Figures are in Percentagesa)

Category B N K B M Pd D Pd Kedar Abdul Jagannath Karpoori RamSun- State Jha Sahay Sinha Rai Pandey Gafoor Mishra Thakur der Das Population 1962. 1963 1967 1970 1972 1973 1975 1977 1979 Forwards 58 40 67 33 38 38 40 29 50 13 Upper Backwards 8 20 20 20 23 23 20 38 20 19 Lower Backwards 0 0 7 0 0 5 0 4 0 31 Muslims and Bengalis 8 20 7 13 15 10 13 13 15 15 Scheduled Castes and Tribes 25 20 0 33 23 24 27 17 15 22 Total 99 100 101 99 99 101 100 101 100 100 N 12 10 15 15 13 21b 15 24 20 Glni co-efficient .701 .540 .745 .505 .516 .473 .532 .467 .614 No of months in office 32 41 11 10 15 21 25 22 3c

Notes: aPercentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding. bExcludesone minister of undetermined caste. cUntil the wave of resignations in July 1979. Solur-ce: As for Table 3. three times (Mahamaya Prasad Sinha with matters of caste, but in the con- of the Janata government in New cabinet) the representation of the next text of Bihar's caste-ridden political Delhi as well. As things eventually highest group. In the four Congress tradition and the current Forward- unfolded, that in large part was pre- ministries of the 1970s, Forward pre- Backward confrontational politics over cisely what did happen, with the Jana ponderance was not so overwhelming, the reservation issue, such a happy Sangh's muscle-flexing in Bihar a major but was nonetheless very definitely line of reasoning can be dismissed out factor in the BLD campaign against present. Only with the Janata ministry of hand. them in New Delhi and in the collapse did the Backwards form something ap- Instead, it must be that the Forwards of the Jana Sangh-backed government proaching a majority. Of course, by in the Janata party went along with of Morarji Desai at the Centre in July 'Backwards' we in fact mean Upper the division of ministerships for rea- 1979. Backwards, for they had 38 per cent sons that overrode their own imme- of the posts, while the Lower Back- diate caste considerations, strong POLMICAL ECONOMy IN RURAL BIHAR wards have only 4 per cent, or one though these latter remained. There But an even more important reason minister (though he was a very are at least two reasons why this might for the Forward MLAs to support a potent one, the Chief Minister him- have been so. The first is that various ministry dominated by Backwards was self). As elsewhere, then, the advance constituent elements of the Janata what was going on in their own con- of the Backwards meant the advance were feeling strong pressure from the stitueficies, that is to say in the of the Upper Backwards. With Ram national level to stay in the Janata fold countryside in this 90 per cent rural Sunder Das, the older pattern re- in Patna. This was particularly true state. It is at this point that we must asserted itself; exactly half the minis- of the Jana Sangh group of the Bihar enter the thicket of political economy ters were Forwards, and the Back- Janata (its largest constituent, with and confront the juxtaposition of caste wards were reduced to the level that something like 65 out of its total 217 and class in the Bihar mofussil. At the they had been relegated to in earlier MLAs), whose members privately were entrance to the thicket, though, it is times. most critical of the Thakur govern- necessary to pause for a moment to During the 22 months that the ment's pro-Backward policy. Many of look at the geography of caste. Taking Karpoori Thakur ministry was in the Jana Sangh MLAs would have the 1911 Census as a guide again, we power, the Forwards, with about 40 liked to revolt against the Thakur find that there are a few areas of per cent of the Janata MLAs (Table 4) ministry, and in fact eventually they Bihar where the Forwards are in a had only 39 per cent of the minister- were the major factor in bringing it plurality; they form over 30 per cent ships, while the Upper Backwards down, but up through early 1979 at of total population in parts of Bhojpur (about 24 per cent of Janata MLAs) least, the national Jana Sangh leader- and Saran districts and over 25 per had fully 38 per cent of these posts. ship saw itself as having everything to cent in pockets of Aurangabad, Patna, On the other hand, the Ram Sunder gain if it became the main pillar of Rohtas and Siwan districts.'9 For the Das ministry, whatever its other support for the Desai government most part, however, they collectively faults, much better reflected the while Charan Singh's BLD group dis- amount to between 5 and 15 per cent mnake-upof its party than did Kar- sipated itself in its various intrigues. of the population. Instead it is the poori's government, as a comparison The party at the national level, in Backwards that are the plurality group of Tables 4 and 5 will -show. How short, was anxious that its Bihar MLAs in most of the state, and in particular is it that the Karpoori ministry was not destroy the Janata government in the three Upper Shudra communities. so overrepresented with Backwards? Patna by pulling out their support, for Yadavs alone account for over 25 per One explanation could be that the a Janata collapse in Bihar might very cent of population in areas of Bhagal- Janata MLAs were not that concerned well have shaken loose the foundations pur, Gaya, Hazaribagh, Patna, Saharsa,

69 Januarv 12, 1980 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

Saran and Vaishali districts, and taken duce with the bataidar paying all the over it. By taking over and milking together with the Kurmis and Koiris costs of the inputs), through money- community development, co-operatives, amount to over 30 per cent in larger lending at high interest rates, through panchayati raj, minor irrigation and parts ot Giridih, Nalanda and Rohtas paying low wages (generally below the all the other programmes, they assured districts in addition to those just legal minimum wage) if he 'cultivated' that very little development ever oc- named.20 directly, and through the 'enforcers' curred and that their own control In short, the Upper Backwards simply that he maintained as retainers to col- endured. outnumber the Forwards in most lect rent and interest payments.23 This situation fits in very well with places. In the past this numerical In addition, the landowner has had the needs of the politicians managing inferiority did not hurt the Forwards, the police at his beck and call in those things at the state level from the 1950s for they were the major landowning relatively rare instances when the onward, for their principal objective castes under the British zamindari lower orders, usually Harijan maz- was also to stay in power and enjoy system; they were the zamindars and doors, demanded better conditions and its fruits, not to develop the state. the intermediaries in the structure of it looked as though his own enforcers Their major worries were two: insur- subinfeudation that built up over the might not be able to control things.24 rection in the countryside and dis- years of British rule. The actual farm- The object of all these machineries of placement by other elites in the cor- ers or rywts were largely the Hindu control, it should be noted, has not ridors of power at Patna. With the agricultural castes of Upper Back- been primarily profit-maximisation or main power groups at the state level wards, and under them were the maz- even pre-capitalist accumulation, but and in the countryside both wanting doors or landless labourers, mainly rather maintenance of position, for the above all to maintain their control, Harijans, who were often in a relation- larger farmers are motivated more and both being composed primarily of ship of debt bondage or kamyoti to than anything else by fear of losing the same caste groups, it is not sur- their patrons. There was not an control, of being sucked under by the prising that a tacit arrangement deve- exact identity between caste and class huge undermass in the countryside. loped between them, whereby each here, for there were some Shudra For them risk is not measured in terms assisted the other.27 financial gain and loss, or zamindars and a good many twice-born of possible The big farmers kept order in the Shudra mnaz- cost considerations, so rvots to say nothing of opportunity mofussil through their sharecropping, for the most part caste and much as in terms of possible loss of doors, but money-lending, patron-client relation- very well indeed.21 economic and political control class fit together social, ships and enforcers. They also mobilis- zamindari abolition of the over the rural areas.25 After the ed their retainers, followers and the picture became a bit more mav be taken as a 1950s, Monev-lending dependents in electoral support of the blurred, as large numbers of zamindars case in point here. If the outrageous dominant groups in Patna. This did 'resumed' cultivation of their lands and rates of interest that one hears men- not mean invariable support for the. became ryots, but the basic division tioned so often - 50 per cent per Congress, for in the elections of 1967 remained. Now the Forwards became season, 150 or 200 per cent per year, and 1969 large portionls of the rural the larger cultivators, often with hold- etc - were the real rates of in- elite deserted the Congress, but they ings greatly in excess of the land ceil- terest, then within a short space of time did so in favour of other 'responsible' ings imposed by the Congress govern- the money-lenders (who are mostly the parties, such as the Jana Kranti Dal, ment, holdings which they were able to big farmers) would in short order own Tantrik Congress Dal, Congress retain through a combination of benami everything in the countryside, lock, Lok Kranti Dal, etc, which transfers, badly maintained land stock and barrel. But they do not, (0), Bharatiya with dissident and dis- records and corruption.2n The Upper and the reason is that they never realise were filled Other rural Backwards became the small culti- these nominal intrest rates, nor do graced Congressmen. for conservative parties vators, and the Harijans stayed where they intend to. Their purpose is not to elites went pr the various they were as landless labourers. own everything but to keep everyone like the Jana Sangh of in thrall as much as possible. Thus parties improvised by the Raja Even where the Forwards became Ramgarh, or even the 'left' parties be called small the basic point of lending monev is to what would have to like such as the Praja Socialist Party, landholding keep the borrower in one's debt, not farmers on the basis of Samyukta Socialist Party or Commu- size, they have tended to behave like to make a profit.26 governmental rural nist Party of India, which espoused big farmers, for in one of those inte- The failure of in Bihar is another radical rhetoric but, with an occasional resting instances where cultural norms development efforts that at the exception like the land grab move- reinforce class differences, there is a example. It is well known in ment' of the early 1970s, gave little taboo against upper caste local level programmes mounted traditional serious indication of putting it into handling the plough or Patna (or in New Delhi) have been men actually action.28 The rural elites definitely did physically working in the fields. An taken over by local elites and pervert- Part not give any support to insurrectionary caste landholder, whether large ed by them to their own ends. upper movements like the Naxalites of the or small, either let out his land on of this perversion has been because of CPI (M-L), who surfaced in several tenancy or share, or he 'cultivated' it the money involved, of course, for big immune areas of the state in the late 1960s directly by hiring landless workers and farmers in Bihar are no more of and early 19709 Nor did any serious supervising them in the field, generally than any other group to the lure support go to the Communist Party directing them in their tasks from a easilv gained loot. But more of the India with its designs of comfortable vantage point under a perversion has been because of what of (Marxist) of the economy within the shade tree or an umbrella. He main- might be called a political economy restructuring framework; the CPI (M) tained control over his status and fear: big farmer elites have been democratic 4 in 1967, 3 in 1969 wealth through the harsh terms of his afraid that if the rural economy did won only seats rents (usually a 50-50 split of the pro- expand, they would lose their control and none in 1972. 70 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY January 12, 1980

For their part of this de facto bar- Backwards, and even the Congress and demanded that governmental pro- gain, the successive ministries in started to take them seriously as an mises on minimum wage, bonded Patna did three things. First, despite important constituency. Naturally the labour and the like be implemented.33 the salvos of rhetorical bombast fired Upper Backwards, being more advanc- Thus far the government has used the off on numerous occasions on land ed economically and better organised, police power to back the landowners reform, minimum wage, bonded labour were the first to respond to such op- against these upstarts, and the story of and so on, they precluded any real portunity and to gain important leader- Harijan uplift in the rural areas ha? change in the land structure after the ship posts. By the mid-1960s, for been in large measure a story of Hari- zamindari reforms of the 1950s. Thus example, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav jan atrocities.34 But for the immediate big farmers were guaranteed security had become known throughout the political future, landless labotirers have of tenure. Second, as has been noted state as the 'chief lieutenant' of Chief been aroused and will continue to above, they insured that the state Minister K B Sahay. Still, there was make demands on their landlords, police would be available to protect a good deal of time lag between poli- large and small. landlords in the event that the latter's tical awakening and the acquisition of The Harijans have also become own enforcement machinery should be real political power. In the late 1960s active in state level politics. In the unable to handle matters. The fact and early 1970s, there were several various manoeuvres connected with that serious threats to the landowners Backward Chief Ministers, but they the fall of the Desai ministry at the from below happened only sporadically tended to be compromise candidates Centre in July 1979, a good number and in isolated instances assured that between various factions of Forwards of Harijan MLAs lined up with the a relatively small constabulary could and behaved as such, rather than' as Jana Sangh and against Karpoori Tha- handle matters, so the cost of police champions of the Backwards during kur in the Bihar Assembly, just as the protection was not a great burden.2n their invariably short chief minister- national Harijan leader Jagjivan Ram Thirdly, there was the patronage sys- ships.31 It was not until the late 1970s was courting Jana Sangh support in tem of rural development that has also that the Upper Backwards became his bid against Thakur's patron at the been considered previously, whereby truly powerful politically, for it was national level, Charan Singh.35 The the government in Patna funnelled only then that a Karpoori Thakur was difference between the two levels of money to local elites in the form of able to unite them behind a com- activity was that while Charan Singh development programmes. mon policy, that of the reservation won (at least temporarily) in New This arrangement worked reasonably issue. Delhi, Karpoori lost in his efforts to well down through the Emergency, The dominance of the Backwards is tdpple his successor Chief Minister Das but in the post-Emergency period it bound to be somewhat shaky, certainly in Patna. The Harijans, then, consti- came under attack, for the forces that at first, as we have already seen. The tute a threat to the dominance of the created it also put into motion other Forwards are unreconciled to the Backwards, at least in so far as they developments that eventually promised situation, to say the least, and though can ally with the Forwards. The rural to overturn it. they did support Karpoori Thakur in Backwards thus face resentment from his first crisis of January 1979,32in the above and possible rebellion from below in IMPORTANCE OF SUFFRAGE April crisis they combined with the consolidating their control. The Backwards also have an agenda The key here is the universal adult Jana Sangh element of the Janata of class interests that is broader than franchise that was instituted in the party (actually quite a number were merely opposing other ' class/ caste Indian Constitution of 1950. At first, members of both the Forward castes groups. As middle and small farmers, voting in the rural areas simply fitted and the Jana Sangh) to unseat him. or cultivators who actually work their into the prevailing patron-client sys- The Forwards will be around as a holdings themselves and as a new tem, with the voting being just one strong factor for the indefinite future. group in power, they are not only in- more thing that the patron mani- The rising Backwards are also facing terested in stability and control but his benefit. But then as pulated for a challenge from below, for the same also are much more concerned with other parties began to contest the expansihnary tendencies within the maximising profits than the old 'twice- at Congress for supremacy, first state Indian electoral system that got them born' maliks. They are Charan Singh's and then at national level, there came involved in politics have also energised natural constituency, very much inter- to be more competition for votes. The those at the battom level, the Hari- ested in such things as higher grain various factions within the Congress jans, who are in general the landless prices, abolition of agricultural taxes, and then other parties began to reach agricultural labourers of Bihar. A few and state programmes subsidising out further for electoral support. Harijans have been led by Naxalite agricultural inputs and infrastructure. Actually, this spread had begun even cadires to demand better working As chief minister, Karpoori Thakur before the universal franchise. In the conditions, but far more have been was well aware of these interests, and early years after the formation of awakened through the populist rhetoric was not at all shy in articulating Bihar and Orissa as a province separate of the Emergency Congress and Janata them.36 Indeed, he has been a cham- from Bengal in 1912, Kayasthas and regimes on land reform, minimum pion of the rural middle class interests Muslims from the great landholding wages, bonded labour, debt redemp- as well as of the rural middle caste zamindari families were the major tion, and so on. The preponderance interest. actors; then participation spread to of evidence is that these programmes Bhumihars and Raiputs in the 1930s were not meant to be taken seriously CONCLUSIONS and 1940s, and finally to the Brah- but in a number of cases (and probably mans in the post-Independence far more than the few that have been In the near and middle term we period.30 Then parties like the SSP reported) landless labourers have orga- may expect several developments. began to appeal specifically to the nised themselves at the village level First, the transfer of power to the

71 January 12, 1980 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL NVEEKLY

Upper Backwards may be expected to advancing fortunes of the Backwards prices (that is, subsidies) on credit continue at the local level along poli- who employ them as day labourers. and physical inputs. The Upper will tical lines. In the summer of 1978 Fourth, the condition of landless Backwards in the countryside and the Thakur government conducted labourers will probably deteriorate, as continue to maintain stability state panchayat elections throughout the the agricultural structure of the state will support the Janata party at new state, with the object of getting its slowly moves from semi-feudalism to level, while prospering as the supporters into power at the village capitalism. The patron/client system dominant stratum at village level. from level.37 No thorough analysis of that attached agricultural labourers to though worried about opposition these elections has yet emerged, but their masters and that Grierson des- Forwards unreconciled to their loss of at impressionistic indications in the dis- paired of in the 1890s still very muich power and from Harijans restive tricts and in Patna are that there was exists today, but it is the system of the bottom. a large scale displacement of the old the upper castes.39 As the Upper There is little doubt that Bihar is in officeholders, both Forwards and Backwards take over more of the process of undergoing its third major Backwards, by new men who are agricultural economy of the state and social, economic and political change Karpoori Thakur supporters. Second, gradually take over more of the in this century. Sachhidanand Sinha, in there will likely be a noticeable trans- land from the less efficient Forwards, who led the struggle culminating Bengal fer of economic power in the country- they will spread their own system, the separation of Bihar from the side to the Backwards, as the For- which is to maximise use of labour in 1912, could be said to be Krishna wards prove unable to cope with the within the family and hire in outside creator of Modern Bihar. Sri aggressiveness, industry and profit labourers for cash only as needed. Sinha, who shepherded the province orientation of the Backwards.38 To The landless labourers will cast off into independence and through its say that Bihar will turn into a Punjab from their serf-like bonded or attach- first decade and a half thereafter, could would surely be too much, but now ed status to become 'free' labour, be described as the creator of a For- there is at least some chance that giving up a position of degradation ward Raj in Bihar. And Karpoori Bihar's incredibly rich natural poten- with some security for one of degrada- Thakur may well turn out to have tial in agriculture will be exploited. tion wihout any security at all. In been the creator of a Backward Raj. the near term future the increasing Third, at the state level there will economic activity of the Backward Notes doubtless be a continuing struggle farmers may provide some increase in [The author would like to thank Hau- between Backwards and Forwards in employment, but in the middle and D D Guru. James Hagen, Walter the Legislative Assembly and perhaps ser, Mary Katzenstein, Pradhan H Pra- long run a good part of that added and Janardan even a series of alternating govern- sad, Ganga Nath Thakur demand for labour will be met from Thakur for their advice, help and cri- ments in the short term. But with within the family and by mechanisa- ticism: also the A N Sinha Institute of the next elections there will surely be tion, as the Backwards consolidate Social Studies in Patna, the Fuilbright a pronounced shift towards the Back- programme in India and the Centre for and build upon their position. As Corn-ell Univer- wards in terms of MLAs returned to International Affairs at their welfare goes down, the militancy sitv for their assistance. Naturallv, office, a shift that should be sufficient of the landless labourers may well none of these individuals or institutions in to make them the dominant voice go up in terms of confrontation with are responsible for errors and misjudg- the state's politics. The 1977 election the Upper Backwards, buit the mate- ments in the essay.] was, in Bihar as elsewhere in North 1 The Bajitpur tragedy in Begusarai rial reality of their plight can only 15, 1978, India, essentially a referendum ln the District, on November worsen over time. offers a good example of press Emergency, and caste, although by no Overall, there is emerging into view coverage. See The Times of India. means absent, probably played a (1978a); also EPW, (1978b). Con- outlines of a new political eco- smaller role than in any recent elec- the cerning political murders, see- The nomy in Bihar that will be quite On the tion in Bihar. The next election will Statesman Weekly, (1979c). similar to the old one in many res- situation in Bihar generally, see be different, turning into a referendum pects. As before there will be a tacit Inidia Today (1978). on Karpoori Thakur's Backward Times (197%b.) arrangement between the dominant 2 See Hindustan policy and very difinitely fought along 3 These lists were used by the Gov- class in the countryside and the caste group lines between Forwards ernment of Bihar for various pur- governing elites in Patna. The Thakur in the 1950s and 1960s. For and Upper Backwards. The Samastipur poses government already began its own examples of their use (and copies bye-election served as a preview of themselves), see Govern- patronage programme to insure the of the lists what will happen; the Upper Back- ment of Bihar (1966: 136-63. allegiance of its rural sup- wards will use their numbers, aggres- continued 404-6, 477-93, 509-12). Galanter base: under future ministries the provisions by siveness and economic and political port (1978: n40) reports Integrated Rural Development Pro- the Government of Bihar for Back- power at the local level to overwhelm 1947. gramme, Food for Work Programme, ^-*ard Classes as far back as the Forwards, and there will be a 4 Government of India (1955: Programme, etc, will all great many more Backwards returned Antyodaya Volume 2, 16-22, Volume 3, 14-5). state funds into the hands of also as MLAs. To look at it another wav, channel 5 Ibid, (Volume 1, i-xxxiii); dominant strata, though Galanter (1978: 1817). the Forward-Harijan alliance that the locally their ostensible purpose will be much 6 AIR (1965). w orked to keep Karpoori and the 7 For a summarv of the Mungeri Lal Backwards at bay on the Legislative more egalitarian. report, see Mishra (1978). The Assembly floor in July 1979 will not In its relations with New Delhi a saga of defining the Backwards where Backward-dominated state government continues today, with the appoint- work out in the Constituencies, Backward Classes in Bihar will pursue a middle farmer ment of a new Harijans have no more reason to sup- Commission at the Central level. port the declining fortunes of their orientation, continuing to demand headed by B P Mandal, himself a Forward patrons than to support the higher prices for foodstuffs and lower Backward from Bihar; this new

72 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY January 12, 1980

BCC is to report by the end of all representation is assured to many times. See for example Iha Decemn,ber1979. See Indian Na- Harijans and Adivasis in the As- (1972) and Singh (1975). tion (1978b) and Hindustan Times sembly proportional to their num- 31 Daroga Prasad Raj a Yadav, was (1979a). bers in the whole population of the longest in office of these Back- 8 The party successful efforts of the the state, representation in the ward Chief Ministers (cf Table 5). Bhumihars to transform themselves ruling party is not. In other The other Backwards were all in into Brahmans during the early part words, their inclusion in Table 3 power for less than 8 months. of this century is well do#cumented would always be equal to their 32 In early January 1979, the Assem- (see Blair, 1979b). It is possible percentage of the state's popula- bly rejected a no-confidence mo- that other castes of lower ritual tion, so there is no point in includ- tion in the Thakur government by rank have also transformed them- ing them, but this is not the case 215-76 votes. Obviously, the For- selves upwards in recent decades, in Table 4. ward MLAs in the Janata party though the census no longer re- 19 For more on the geographical dis- must have supported the Chief cords their sucoesses and failures, tribution of caste, see Blair (1979b). Miniser for the most part, despite and for the numerically significant 20 Ibid. As mentioned in note 15, the many Forward machinations caste groups, there would appear Banias were not included in the against him both within and with- to be more to be gained from poli- 1911 data, for they were too few out the Janata Legislature party. tical mobilisation than from social in overall numbers (cf Table 1). 33 See, for instance, Arun Sinha's climbing. 21 For examples of this complemen- series of articles (Sinha, 1977b, 9 On this relationship, see Blair tarity (and sometimes contradic- 1977c, 1977d, 1977e, 1977f, 1978a, 1979a: 76-78); also Nicholas tion) of caste and class, see Dhar 1978b, 1978d). (1961). (1976), Dhar and Mukherjee (1978), 34 For example, the Harijan atrocities 10 It would perhaps be better to use Sinha (1977a, 1977g, 1978c) and at Belchi (Bhushan, 1977; Sinha, the 1971 Census data for the re- EPW (1978b). 1977b; Narayan, 1979), Bishrampur ligious, linguistic and Scheduled 22 For an exhaustive treatment of (Sinha, 19,78b), Pupri (Narayan, categories in Table 1, rather than this whole process, see Jannuzi 1978) and Bajitpur (The Times of the 1961 figures, but even as of (1974). India, 1978a, 1978b; EPW 1978b; 1978 all the relevant Bihar census 23 For examples of conflicts involving India Today, 1978: Sinha, 1978f). volumes for 1971 had not been these matters, see EPW (1973) At the beginning of 1979 it was published, so it was not possilble to Correspondent (1973), Das (1975) reported that 81 Harijans had do so. The consistency of caste and Sinha (1976a and 1976b). been killed in incidents of caste strength at state level over time is 24 On police co-operation with land- violence during the Janata govern- also true at district and thana level lords, see Sinha (1975), las (1975). ment's term of office (Searchlight, (Blair, 1979b.) 25 For support of these points, see 1979). In March 1979 the Bihar 11 Indian Nation (1978a). also -Prasad ((1979). government announced it would 12 That is, 2,500 in state government 26 Roth (1979) gives a case study set up an "armed Harijan volun- departments, 4,000 in state under- from Bihar with evidence illustrat-, teer force" in ten "atrocity-prone takings and 2,500 in local bodies ing this point. districts" of the state (The (Mishra, 1978: 29-30). 27 For an extension of this analysis Times of India, 1979), but it re- 13 Government of Bihar (1978: 314). to the national level, see Blair mains to be seen how effective the 14 There are no data available on col- (1979c). measure will be, or whether it lege enrolment 'by caste, but thirty 28 Even the CPI was largely a Bhumi- will even be seriously implement- to forty per cent would not be an har party in the 1950s and 1960s. ed at all. unreasonable estimate of the Back- See Navneeth (1968); also Heiden- 35 Hindustan Times (1979d). wards' share. reich (1971). 36 For instance, The Statesman Week- 15 In the three revenue thanas that ly (1979a); also Searchlight (1979b). make up the Samastipur Lok Sabha 29 The police establishment in Bihar 37 See Sinha (197&e) and EPW constituency, there were accord- has grown sinoe independence, even (1978a). ing to the 1911 Census (the most taking into account population 38 According to Prasad (1979), the recent to include sub-district growth. In 1951 there were about process of land transfer from level data) 16.8 per cent Forwards 18,000 policemen in the state, a Forwards to Upper Backwards is and 26.2 per cent from the Upper number which increased to some already under way. Shudras caste groups (Banias were 33,000 at the beginning of 1)61 39 See Grierson (1893), also Stevenson- not reported at thana level in and 44,000 in 1971. In relative Moore (1893), For current evid- 1911). Of the 10 Lower Shudra terms there were about 4.8 police- ence of the practice, see Lal (1977). groups listed in Table 1, thana men per 10,000 population in 1951, 7.1 in 1961 and in 1971 level data were available for 9 for 7.8 References 1911, showing them to have a (Bayley, 1969: 61-4; Government collective 23.1 per cent of the of Bihar, 1975). As of 1961, Bihar All India Reporter [1965]: Nanda Ki- population. In other words 49.4 had the lowest ratio of police to shore Sharma v State of Bihar, (26.1 + 23.1) per cent of the population of any of the Indian Patna 372. population consisted of 12 Back- states (Bayley, 1969: 65-7). In re- Bayley, David H [1969]: "The Police ward castes. cent years the number of police and Political Development in In- 16 Data are for has surely increased, and has been dia", Princeton University Press, given 1975 rather than further augmented through infu- 1972 (the year of the election) in Princeton. order sions of Central Reserve Police in Bhushan, Shashi [1977]: 'The Belchhi to give a better comparison the state as the need between the Janata era and the arose. Still, it Killings', EPW, June 18. is dwarfed by comparison with the Blair, Harrv W [1979a]: "Voting, Emergency Congress domination -position in the United that immediately preceded it. The States, Caste, Community, Society: Explo- total n where there were 21.2 police per rations in Aggregate Data Analysis of 197 for 1975 reflects the 10,000 population in 37.8 resignations of a large number of 1960, in India and Ban-gladesh", Young in 1970 and 49.3 in 1975. Even in Asia, Delhi. MLAs in response to the demands comparison with of the JP MovernAntof 1974-75. other Indian [1979b]: 'Caste and the British states, the polioe establishment is Census in Bihar: Using Old Data 17 Of course one finds exceptions, a thin. In the spring of 1979 it was to Study Contemporary Political most notajble one being the first estimated that in Bihar there were Behaviour', in N Gerald Barrier Janata Chief Minister himself, Kar- 1,104 people for each policeman, (ed), "The Census of British poori Thakur, who is a Hajjam, or as against 943 in Uttar Pradesh, India", Manohar, Delhi, forthcom- Nai, 'by caste background. 806 in Madhya Pradesh and 724 ing. 18 Note that in Table 4 the Scheduled in West Bengal. See Hindustan 'Mrs T [1979c]: Gandhi's Emergency, Castes and Tribes are included, 'imes (1979c).. the Indian Elections of 1977, unlike-Table 3, !because while.over- 30 This story has been recounted Pluralism and Marxism: Problems 73 January 12, 1930 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

with Paradigms', Modern Asian the People", mimeo, Institute of Studies (forthcoming). Development Studies, University of Das, Arvind Narayan [19751: 'Murder Mysore. The Waste and the Want to Landlords' Order', EPW, June Narayan, Hemendra [1978]: 'The Pupri Thoughts on the Future 14. Killings', EPW, September 16. Dhar, Hiranmay [1976]: 'Bhojpur Vig- [1979]: 'Belchhi Now', Ibid, Feb- Romesh Thapar Rs. 40.00 nettes', EPW, October 2. rurary 3-10. a Dhar, Hiranmay, and Kalyan Muk- The author approaches the herjee [1978]: 'Growing Peasant Navneeth [1968]: 'Congress Debacle in crisis of today and the future Revolt', EPW, January 14. Bihar: Voting Pattern in 1967', from various converging points EPW, Special Number, Economic and Political WeLekly(EPW), July. food, housing, transport, (1973): 'To Fight for Yourself is Prasad, Pradhan H [1979]: 'Caste and health, living styles and value Naxalite!', June 16. Class in Bihar' EPW, Annual Num- systems. He warns India against [1978aJ: 'Towards Village Auto- ber, February. the loss of its gains in planning cracy', July 22. Searchlight [1979a]: '81 Harijans killed and development, and the world, [1978b]: 'Familiar Things Made in Janata Regime', January 4. that it cannot remain divided New', December 9. into areas of unthinking waste [1979b]: 'Agricultural Income Tax and cruel want. Galanter, Marc [1978]: 'Who Are the Abolished', February 14. Other Backward Classes? An Intro- The Statesman Weekly [1979]: 'Five duction to a Constitutional Puzzle', States Demand Farmer's Budget', Economic Co-operation in the EPW, October 2a3. February 10. Indian Sub-Continent [1979b] 'Violence in Bihar Causing Government of Bihar [1966]: The Bihar A Customs Union Approach Welfare Manumal: Campendiuni of Concern', February 10. Important Circulars and Letters Roth, Hans-Dieter [1979]: 'Moneylen- T. K. layaraman Rs. 28.00 Relating to the Programme for the ders'- Management of Loan Agree- Welfare of Backward Classes, ments: Report on a Case Study in The author makes specific re- Secretariat Press, Patna. Dhanbad', EPW, July 14. commendations to the decision- [19751: Census- of Bihar Governw Singh, Mahendra P [1975]: "Cohesion makers in the governments of the ment Employees (As of March 31, in a Dominant Party: The Pradesh Indian sub-continent, outlining a 1971), Secretariat Press. Patna. Congress and Party Politics in policy in regard to free trade and [19781: Draft Annual Plan. 1978- S the 79. Secretariat Press, Patna. Bihar", Chand, New Delhi. formation of a customs Sinha Arun [1975]: 'Kill Them and Call union, as the first step towards a Government of India [19551: Report of Them common market. the Backward Classes Commission. Naxalites', EPW, June 7. [1976a] 'A Labourer Goes to Court, 3 vols, Government of India Press. Ibid, September 11. Modern Indian Thought Simla. [1976b] 'Minimum Wages Remain V. S. Naravane Grierson, George A [18931: "Notes on on Paper', Ibid, December 25. the District of Gava", Bengal Sec- [1977a] 'Organising Peasants in Na- Cloth: Rs. 45.00 retariat Press, Calcutta. landa', Ibid, March 19. Cardcover: Rs. 25.00 Heidenreich, Herbert [1971]: 'Caste, [1977Tb]'Belchhi Revisited', Ibid, Class and Voting Power: A Study) August 6. of Changing Political Organisations [1977c] 'Not Out of Bondage', The author brings together all in North Monghvr', in Robert and Ibid. September 10. those philosophers who have con- Mary Jane Beech (eds) "Bengal: [1977d] 'Landlord on Rampage in tributed significantly to the Change Continuity", Asian making of the contemporary and Champaran', Ibid September 24. Indian mind: Ram Mohan Roy, Studies Center, Michigan State [1977e] 'From Priesthood to Land- Debendranath and Rabindranath University, East Lansing. lordism'. Ibid, Octdber 29. Tagore, Keshab Chandra Sen, Hindustan Times [1979a]: 'Panel to Set rl977f] 'Police to Landlords' Aid', Gandhi, Aurobindo, Ramakrishna, Criteria for Being Backward', Ibid. Decenmber3. Vivekananda, Coomaraswamy, March 3. [1977g] 'Class War, Not "Atrocities Radhakrishnan and Iqbal. His r1979b]: 'Bihar CM Consolidating Against Harijans"', Ibid, D"cem- account, both scholarly and Position', May 5. ber 10. - lively, focuses attention on their [1979c] 'Bihar Can't Stay Free From [1978a] 'Class War in Bhojpur - ideas as well as their personali- Police Unrest', Mav 25. II',. Ibid, January 21. ties. [1979d] 'Congress-I Props Up Bihar [1978b] 'The Bishrampur Carnage', Government', July 31. Ibid. April 1. [197&] 'Advancing Class Inter'ests Buddhism -and Marxism India Today [1978]: 'Rape of a Village', in 'Ripe for Revolution', Detember the Name of Caste', Ibid, April A Study in Humanism 16-31. 22. N. V. Banerjee Rs. 40.00 Indian Nation [1978a]: 'Cabinet Olkays [1978d] 'An "Encounter" in Bhoj- Job Quota for Backwards with pur', Ibid, May 20. This original and stimulating Slight Change', November 9. [1978e] 'Politics of Panchayat Elec- study seeks to present Buddhism tions', Ibid June 17. as the earliest form of humanist [1978b] 'Centre Sets Up Panel to De- [1978f] 'Bhajitpur: Landlord's Vio- thought, and contrasts it with fine Backwardness', November 16. lence', Ibid, December 16. modern humanism as represented Jannuzi, F Tomasson [1974]: "Agrarian Stevenson-Moore, C J. [1898]: Report lby marxism. It then reconstructs Crisis in India: The Case of Bi- humanism as a doctrine that can on the Material Condition of Small take of har", University of Texas Press, Agriculturists and Labourers in the place religion. Austin, Gaya, Bengal Secretariat Press, Cal- Jha, Shashishekar [1972]: "Political cutta. Elite in Bihar", Vora, Bombay. Lal, A K [19771: "Politics of Poverty: The Times of India [1978a]: 'Harijan -~a0 ORIENT A Village of 162 Families Ransacked: LONGMAN Study of Bonded Labour", Chet- fHorrendous Atrocities by Land- na, New Delhi. lord', November 27. Mishra, D P [1978]: "Anatomy of Anti- [1978b]: 'Harijans Fear Renewed Bombay Calcutta Madras Reservation Agitation in Bihar and Attack', Noveiber 30. New Delhi Bangalore Uttar Pradesh: A Survey of CLr- [1979s 'Bihar to Soon Have Armed Hyderabad Patna rent Issues Agitating the Minds of Harijan Force', March 22.