Box 5.6 Dominant Caste Seeks Backward Status
It was a headline story on August 26, 2016: “Riots Break Out in India Over a Domi-
nant Caste’s Attempt to Gain ‘Backward’ Status.” A young man of the Patidar caste,
one of the most prosperous and powerful castes in the state of Gujarat, has become
leader of a movement to downgrade the status of his caste. Down is not the usual
direction of social aspirations.
Any list of famous Patels (i.e., Patidars) will include high achievers all over the
world. In the US, Patels are said to own 25 percent of the motel industry. They are big
players in the international diamond trade. In Gujarat, they are 20 percent of the pop-
ulation, and in rural areas they are the dominant caste, controlling most of the land.
Their new, downward aspirations only make sense in relation to India’s effort to bring
fairness and equal opportunity to communities long depressed by the caste system.
Historically, the caste system grouped its higher and lower jatis according to the
varna system: Brahmans (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers),
Vaishyas (merchants), Shudras (artisans and cultivators). Large numbers of castes
were outside this system and thus considered even lower: once called Untouchables,
then Harijans (a term invented by Gandhi), and now Dalits (“oppressed”). In addition,
there were tribal groups, even farther outside this system.
In an effort to convert this dominance hierarchy into a social support and uplift pro-
gram, the Government of India created a parallel hierarchy to offer opportunities for
those previously oppressed. Along with this new hierarchy came privileges available
only to those in underprivileged categories. This new system’s categories are: “For-
ward” castes (those already favored and successful, for whom there were now no
special privileges, groups such as Brahmans, Rajputs, Patidars, and Sikhs), “Back-
ward” castes (many Shudra communities), which came to be known as OBCs (“Other
Backward Classes”), the “Scheduled Castes” (SCs) (Dalits), and “Scheduled Tribes”
(STs) (tribal groups such as the Gonds, Santhals, and Nagas). The government main-
tains lists of approved castes in each category and modifies them from time to time,
and the lists vary state by state.
The privileges reserved for OBCs, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes are
significant, including reserved seats (i.e., quotas) in legislative bodies, reserved seats
in universities, and reserved positions in state and national government jobs. For
instance, in Gujarat OBCs get 27 percent, Scheduled Castes get 7 percent, and
Scheduled Tribes get 15 percent. Altogether, nearly 50 percent of such opportunities
are reserved for non-Forward groups. This means that all Forward groups can com-
pete for only the 50 percent of nonreserved university and government opportunities.
And the problem is that far more of the Forward groups have the education and skills
to compete than do the SC/ST and OBC groups, because lack of primary and sec-
ondary education and family wealth still hold them back. Across India, it is often the
case that jobs and university positions go unfilled because they are “reserved,” and
there are not enough qualified persons to take those jobs.
Finally we come back to our young Patidar, Hardik Patel, who is 22 years old, has a
BA in commerce, and is a member of a middle-class family that owns a small busi-
ness in Gujarat. He argues that hardworking, ambitious young people in his own com-
munity are unfairly kept out of the 50 percent of reserved seats that anyway often go
unfilled and are faced with intense competition in the other 50 percent. And this move-
ment, which has parallels in other parts of India, points out that many of the “Forward”