.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 <l 6 Fcrorepul l().Ii9 l l.rJl 9 riurdkot li.6? .15.05 i0 IJiratrrrdr :?.()I l9..lt( 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