CASTE AND INHERITED STATUSWhat progress has the country made toward
improving the lives of the Untouchables, who now
form 16.48 percent (according to the 1991 Indian
Census) of the population? Has the traditional
caste system disintegrated?
The movement from a traditional to a modern
economy—increase in educational facilities; ex-
pansion of white-collar jobs, especially in the state
sector; expansion of the transportation and com-
munication networks; increase in agricultural pro-
duction (known as the Green Revolution)—has
had a significant impact on the institution of caste.
However, political factors have been equally if not
more important in producing changes in the caste
system. One is the democratic electoral system.
The other is the state’s impact on intercaste rela-
tions through its policy of preferences for selected
disadvantaged castes.
The close association between caste and tradi-
tional occupation is breaking down because of the
expansion of modern education and the urban-
industrial sector. In India, an urban middle class
has formed whose members are drawn from vari-
ous caste groups. This has reduced the structural
and cultural differences between castes, as divi-
sions based on income, education, and occupation
become more important than caste cleavages for
social and economic purposes. However, the re-
duction is most prominent among the upper so-
cioeconomic strata—the urban, Western-educat-
ed, professional, and higher-income groups, whose
members share a common lifestyle (Beteille 1969).
For most Indians, especially those who live in
rural areas (73 percent of the Indian population is
still rural), caste factors are an integral part of their
daily lives. In many parts of the country Dalits (the
term means ‘‘oppressed’’ and is now preferred by
the members of the Untouchable community rath-
er than the government-assigned label ‘‘Scheduled
Castes’’) are not allowed inside temples and can-
not use village water wells. Marriages are generally
arranged between persons of the same caste.
With the support of government scholarships
and reservation benefits, a small proportion of
Dalits has managed to gain entry into the middle
class—as school teachers, clerks, bank tellers, typ-
ists, and government officials. Reservation of seats
in the legislature has made the political arena
somewhat more accessible, although most politi-
cians belonging to the Dalit community have little
say in party matters and government policymaking.
The majority of Dalits remain landless agricultural
laborers, powerless, desperately poor, and illiterate.Modern economic forces are changing the
rural landscape. The increase in cash-crop produc-
tion, which has made grain payments in exchange
for services unprofitable; the introduction of mecha-
nized farming which has displaced manual labor;
the preference for manufactured goods to hand-
made ones; and the migration to cities and to
prosperous agricultural areas for work and better
wages have all weakened the traditional patron-
client ties and the security it provided. The Dalits
and other low castes have been particularly affect-
ed as the other sectors of the economy have not
grown fast enough to absorb them.The rural social structure has been transformed
in yet another way. The dominant castes are no
longer from the higher castes but belong to the
middle and lower peasant castes—the profit maxi-
mizing ‘‘bullock capitalists’’ (Rudolph and Rudolph
1987) who were the chief beneficiaries of land
reform and state subsidies to the agricultural sec-
tor (Blair 1980; Brass 1985). They have displaced
the high-caste absentee landlords who have moved
to cities and taken up modern occupations.Modern political institutions have also brought
about changes in the traditional leadership and
power structure of local communities. Relations
between castes are now governed by rules of com-
petitive politics, and leaders are selected for their
political skills and not because they are members
of a particular caste. The role of caste varies at
different levels of political action. At the village
and district levels caste loyalties are effectively
used for political mobilization. But at the state and
national levels, caste factors become less impor-
tant for political parties because one caste rarely
commands a majority at these levels. The rise of a
Dalit political party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, is
evidence that Dalits are finally gaining some politi-
cal power. They are particularly strong in the
northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where they
received 20.61 percent of the votes in the 1996
general elections. However, at the national level
they have fared poorly, capturing only 11 seats
(and 3.64 percent of the votes) in the 1996 general
elections.