tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/dalits-39973/articlesDalits – The Conversation2024-03-25T21:15:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246032024-03-25T21:15:49Z2024-03-25T21:15:49ZHow caste discrimination impacts communities in Canada<p>Many perceive caste to be a phenomenon that only exists in India. Yet, it is a part of Canadian society, and an issue that many in South Asian diasporas are contending with. </p>
<p>The late British Columbia-based poet and activist <a href="https://youtu.be/nDn-JBR0YMI">Mohan Lal Karimpuri</a> described caste as a system of high and low, a form of “social, economic, political, religious inequality” that takes away the power of the many and puts it in the hands of the few. It is the hierarchical ranking of people in accordance with an ascriptive identity, associated with family, lineage and hereditary occupation. </p>
<p>Those who are Dalit, like Karimpuri, are among the most marginalized by dominant castes, and historically systematically excluded in social, economic and cultural terms. Dalits are most vulnerable in India where violence and exclusion remain pervasive. In 2022, Amnesty International stated that “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/south-asia/india/report-india/">hate crimes including violence against Dalits and Adivasis [Indigenous Peoples] were committed with impunity</a>.” </p>
<p>But caste does not only exist in South Asia. In recent years, it has been formally recognized as a potential grounds for discrimination in the United States and Canada in diverse contexts in places like <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/22/1158687243/seattle-becomes-the-first-u-s-city-to-ban-caste-discrimination">Seattle, Wash.</a> and <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/burnaby-council-votes-unanimously-to-include-caste-as-a-protected-category">Burnaby, B.C.</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2180604995628">Toronto District School Board</a>, the <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc%E2%80%99s-policy-position-caste-based-discrimination#:%7E:text=The%20OHRC%20takes%20the%20position,other%20grounds%2C%20under%20Ontario's%20Code">Ontario Human Rights Commission</a>, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/13/caste-union-contract-activism/">Harvard University</a> and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-asia-education-california-discrimination-82963d9c6acdc6862173ab2959fd2a97">University of California, Davis</a> have recognized casteism as a form of discrimination. </p>
<p>In 2023, California lawmakers passed a bill that would explicitly ban caste discrimination in the state. However, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/us/california-caste-discrimination-bill-veto/index.html">it was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom</a> who said it was “unnecessary,” arguing that caste discrimination was already banned under existing laws.</p>
<p>To truly understand what caste means and its impact, the stories of those who experience caste discrimination must be heard. All too often, the experiences of those marginalized within the caste system are treated as an addendum or aside to dominant caste narratives, and casteist perspectives persist in the public domain and remain unquestioned. </p>
<h2>Lack of visibility</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Caste in Canada project interview with Rashpal Bharwaj.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In 2020, we initiated the <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/">Caste in Canada project</a> in partnership with Dalit civil society leaders in B.C. The project documented the lives of Canadians of Dalit ancestry through in-depth oral history interviews. We interviewed 19 people from an array of backgrounds impacted by caste. Fourteen of these interviews are now available on the project website.</p>
<p>One recurrent theme in the interviews was the issue of visibility. University student Vipasna Nangal, for example, expressed concern about how many Dalits mask their caste identity in Canada as a way of avoiding stigma. </p>
<p>As she notes, “<a href="https://youtu.be/0agL2hwZyCQ">in order to resist something you have to acknowledge it… and so you can’t have resistance without having visibility</a>.” Caste, therefore, is something that needs to be talked about and not hidden. The limitations of masking caste identity are eloquently addressed in the interview with journalist Meera Estrada. She poignantly describes the pain involved in pretending not to be Dalit and her own personal journey towards <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VNzahJ90Uw">publicly acknowledging her identity</a>. </p>
<p>Participants in the project voiced this as a common concern: that only by making the stories of Dalits more visible and accessible can we create domains for the recognition, and then obliteration, of caste and casteism, and the possibility of moving past caste divisions, for all. </p>
<h2>Challenging the social acceptability of casteism</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Caste in Canada project interview with Vipasna Nangal.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Another important theme was the need to challenge the social acceptability of casteist discourse. Several participants emphasized the pervasiveness of casteist discourses in popular contexts, such as in music, where dominant caste perspectives are celebrated. </p>
<p>Participant Rashpal Singh Bhardwaj, founder of the Ambedkar International Social Reform Organization (AISRO), <a href="https://youtu.be/jd6ZnFMoaLw">described the organization’s work with local radio stations</a> to discourage playing music that celebrates dominant caste identities on the radio. </p>
<p>Caste discrimination is a part of the life experiences of many in Canada, both as a result of experiences in India, but also here in Canada. Participants <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/gurpreet-singh/">Gurpreet Singh</a> and <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/kamaljit/">Kamaljit</a> described how people of South Asian heritage in Canada try to discover each other’s caste backgrounds — and the exclusion this entails.</p>
<p>It is, in short, a part of Canadian society, working on multiple levels and complicating our understanding of diversity in the Canadian context. </p>
<h2>Tackling caste</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Caste in Canada project interview with Mohan Lal Karimpuri.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Given that caste is a continuing problem both in India and abroad, it is no surprise that Dalit Canadians have organized extensively to address discrimination. In B.C. there are several organizations, such as our project partner, the <a href="https://www.chetna.ca/">Chetna (“Awareness”) Association of Canada</a>, represented in our interviews by its executive director, <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/jai-birdi/">Jai Birdi</a> — who played a key role in the project, and speaks in his interview about how to respond to caste discrimination with <a href="https://youtu.be/0tmGGiok3_8">power and resilience</a> — and <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/surjit-manjit-bains/">Manjit and Surjit Bains</a>, Ambedkarite Buddhist activists.</p>
<p>Other important organizations include AISRO and its members <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/rashpal-bhardwaj/">Rashpal Singh Bhardwaj</a>, <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/jogender-banger/">Jogender Banger</a>, and <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/kamlesh-ahir/">Kamlesh Ahir</a> whom we interviewed for the project. There is also the <a href="https://www.aicscanada.ca/">Ambedkarite International Co-ordination Society</a>, represented in the project by <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/annemurphy/research/caste-in-canada/param-kainth/">Param Kainth</a>, who also speaks eloquently about the importance of the teachings of the Buddha for Dalits. </p>
<p>As the titles of these organizations make clear, they are inspired by India’s towering leader and architect of the Indian constitution, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bhimrao-Ramji-Ambedkar">B.R. Ambedkar</a>, who campaigned for the rights of South Asia’s diverse Dalit communities. His life and activism provide the model for millions of Dalits around the world as they seek to remake the world without caste. With the Caste in Canada project, we work with our Dalit colleagues to do the same in Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Murphy and Suraj Yengde received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, with additional support from an anonymous donor to the Department of History at the University of British Columbia, in support of the "Caste in Canada" project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>.</span></em></p>Casteism is commonly seen as a form of discrimination limited to South Asia. However, diaspora communities in Canada are also grappling with issues of caste.Anne Murphy, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of British ColumbiaSuraj Yengde, Postdoc, Harvard Kennedy School | Associate, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1730012022-01-06T17:21:53Z2022-01-06T17:21:53ZMultiracism: why we need to pay attention to the world’s many racisms<p>Racism is being called out across the world – and not just in the usual places. The word “racism” has been taken up by <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/world-left-yazidis-to-suffer-says-nobel-winner-nadia-murad-5fr7h2lfl/">Yazidis in Syria</a>, <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/people-will-rise-up-uyghur-exile-foresees-end-of-chinas-ruthless-rule/">Uyghurs in China</a>, and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/16/black-lives-matter-papua-indonesia/">Papuans in Indonesia</a> and used to describe their experience of discrimination. </p>
<p>Expressed very simply, racism is prejudice and discrimination by a more powerful in-group against a minority group or individual based on their ethnic background. Yet in both public and academic debate in the west, racism is routinely represented as uniquely western, European and white. It’s a chain of association that reflects the history and power of western racism. </p>
<p>Racism in the west is an enduring and shameful problem. But in a multi-polar world, where the relationship between power and prejudice is shifting, a more universal approach is needed, too. Racism has a diverse history with multiple roots – and needs to be called out <em>wherever</em> it is encountered.</p>
<p>The past 20 years have witnessed numerous acts of mass racist violence. The recent conviction of an Islamic State fighter in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/yazidi-genocide-landmark-guilty-verdict-for-is-jihadi-could-transform-how-atrocities-are-brought-to-justice-173043">German court for genocide</a> was welcomed by Yazidi rights advocate and Nobel peace prize winner Nadia Murad, who <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/world-left-yazidis-to-suffer-says-nobel-winner-nadia-murad-5fr7h2lfl">tells us</a> that her community has been “subjected to ethnic cleansing, racism and identity change in plain sight of the international community”. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/yazidi-genocide-landmark-guilty-verdict-for-is-jihadi-could-transform-how-atrocities-are-brought-to-justice-173043">Yazidi genocide: landmark guilty verdict for IS jihadi could transform how atrocities are brought to justice</a>
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<p>Reports of one million Muslims <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-un-idUSKBN1KV1SU">held in “re-education camps”</a> in Xinjiang province in China appear credible. And in 2019, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24187&LangID=E">UN human rights experts</a>, detailed “the deeply entrenched discrimination and racism that indigenous Papuans face” in West Papua from the Indonesian police and army, pointing to “numerous cases of alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.</p>
<p>There are many such cases. We might add the bloody pogroms targeting <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26918077?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Muslims in India</a> and <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/hazaras-afghan-state/">Hazaras in Afghanistan</a> and the widespread maltreatment of black Africans in North Africa. In 2017, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/11/13/libya-migrant-slave-auction-lon-orig-md-ejk.cnn">CNN aired footage</a> of black African migrants auctioned as slave labour for as little as US$400 (£300) in a clandestine market outside Tripoli.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">CNN report on migrants being sold as slaves in Libya.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The facts are there: the racism is stark and ongoing. Yet these examples rarely feature in journals in the academic field of ethnic and racial studies. It is a typical oversight that serves the interests of those who wish to bury discussion of the topic and deny the existence of racism in their country.</p>
<h2>Growing debate</h2>
<p>A new generation of activists and many scholars across Asia and Africa don’t want to forget or be silent. In part, their choice to use the term “racism” comes from the knowledge that this is a word the international community listens to. But mostly it stems from the fact that racism is an accurate description of the hatred they have witnessed. It’s a hatred that leads to ethnic and racial minorities facing attack, eviction, impoverishment and – sometimes – enslavement and genocide.</p>
<p>In my book <a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=multiracism-rethinking-racism-in-global-context--9781509537310">Multiracism</a> I draw on these new voices to understand the diversity of racism and make the case that the modern world cannot continue to view racism in the traditional, rather monolithic, way.</p>
<p>Thus, for example, in <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-05357-4">Discourses of Race and Rising China</a>, Yinghong Cheng depicts racism in China as “an independent variation rather than an imitation or reflection of western racism”. In <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=8250">Ethnic Nationalism in Korea</a> Gi-Wook Shin writes that “nationalism based on common blood and shared ancestry” has been “a key feature of Korean modernity”.</p>
<p>Critical studies from many different sources are opening up the question of who gets to define racism. The Indian activist for the rights of the Dalit or “Untouchable” caste, <a href="https://www.rawatbooks.com/sc-st/caste-race-and-discrimination-discourses-in-international-context">Teesta Setalvad</a>, asks: “is it not time that we fill and feed such terminology with our own histories and thereby deepen their meanings?” She goes onto explain: </p>
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<p>Within political science and sociology circles, racism has come to typify and describe systems of inequality and discrimination. The condition of the 160 million Dalits more than fulfils the description of the conditions used to describe racism.</p>
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<p>A caste is something that one is born into and, for many, it defines pretty much all aspects of their lives. The social exclusion of Dalits in India has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/28/india.mainsection">depicted as a form of apartheid</a>. The Indian government has no sympathy for this kind of conceptual expansion and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/08/17/india.caste/">points out</a> that Dalits are defined by caste – not ethnicity or race. But “racism” is not a fixed signifier – it is being adopted but also adapted. It is being put to work in fast-changing societies in new ways that help people organise and resist discrimination.</p>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p>In many countries, writing about racism can result in harassment, imprisonment or worse. Disappearances of activists and scholars critical of discrimination are common, while other researchers are forced into exile. The Eritrean social critic <a href="https://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/978-3-643-90332-7">Abdulkader Mohammad</a>, writing in exile, explains that “speaking about ethnicity and ethnic conflicts has been a risky issue and a taboo” in his country.</p>
<p>The topic of racism is held by numerous governments to be a direct political challenge and an unpatriotic affront. Even in democratic countries such as India, Turkey and Malaysia, research is increasingly difficult and risky. <a href="https://merip.org/2018/12/turkeys-purge-of-critical-academia/">Anti-racist scholarship can be dangerous</a> but it is happening anyway and, despite the risks, academics and activists are asking the world to listen and learn.</p>
<p>If we do, we will hear a profound challenge to the idea that the history of racism can be framed solely or simply in terms of western action and non-western reaction. Chouki El Hamel in his groundbreaking <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/african-history/black-morocco-history-slavery-race-and-islam?format=PB&isbn=9781107651777">Black Morocco</a> shows that North African patterns of racism do not simply mirror Euro-American racism.</p>
<p>El Hamel’s intervention, along with others, takes issue with the defensiveness and evasion that has marked debate in the past, in which the severity or importance of anti-black racism in North Africa was downplayed or simply ignored. The telling title of a report published in 2020 by the Arab Reform Initiative on anti-black racism in Morocco is <a href="https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/ending-denial-anti-black-racism-in-morocco/">Ending Denial</a>.</p>
<p>There is a nascent debate on racism in Morocco. It is a debate that demands to be acknowledged and taken seriously, along with those many other voices from beyond the west that are today studying, challenging, and reimagining racism. Yet a final point must be made. For this is a topic where silence and denial can be more telling than public controversy. The fact that racism is now being talked about in some circles in Morocco does not mean that Morocco is “where the problem is”. </p>
<p>Far from it – it is where the silence endures, where it is impossible to speak out, that racism is likely to be taking its heaviest toll.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173001/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alastair Bonnett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The west has long defined racism as a function of colonial domination and discrimination. But in a changing world this definition must be challenged.Alastair Bonnett, Professor of Geography, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1575192021-04-06T12:49:07Z2021-04-06T12:49:07ZCaste in India: ‘blind recruitment’ for the civil service won’t fix the system<p>“What is your full name?” This question – when asked of an Indian – is often intended to determine the respondent’s caste. In a society where rigid hierarchies <a href="https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/section_4.html">run deep</a>, the answer to an innocuous question can hold the key to many doors – especially when it comes to employment. </p>
<p>Naming conventions in India are marked by explicit connotations of caste lineage and at times, even the intricate details of subcategories within a caste group too. Today, names are typically shorter, with a first name and a surname which connotes the caste group to which the person belongs.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/caste-surnames-religious-symbols-should-not-be-revealed-in-civil-services-interview-report/605613/">draft report</a> commissioned by the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment recommends that last names revealing the caste, religious, or cultural backgrounds of candidates should be kept hidden during recruitment processes. </p>
<p>Prepared by the <a href="https://www.dicci.org/">Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry</a> (DICCI) – an organisation dedicated to fighting caste oppression by fostering entrepreneurship and provision of capital among <em>dalits</em> (who sit at the bottom of the caste ranking) – the report recommends this strategy for both written exams and personal interviews across all levels of recruitment in the public sector. </p>
<p>This needs to be seen in the larger context of the everyday caste-ism that is pervasive in India. The caste system is believed to have been codified in the revered Hindu code book, the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616">Manusmiriti</a>. Revolving around the notions of purity and pollution, the Hindu society is divided into four groups, the priestly class, the warrior class, the merchant class and the servile class. The <em>Dalits</em>, formerly “untouchables”, are placed outside the system.</p>
<p>Across centuries, the system has evolved into a complex matrix, with tens of thousands of sub-divisions. However, the defining element of the system – the legitimisation of differential treatment to people based on birth – is still intact. Iconic Indian jurist, politician and social reformer <a href="https://qrius.com/ambedkar-radical-mahatma/">Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar</a> noted that the caste hierarchy is marked by ascending order of reverence and descending order of contempt. Today, the caste system plays a crucial role in determining a person’s access to opportunities, skills and resources. </p>
<p>Leaving aside its logistical challenges, how far can the strategy of anonymous recruitment go to address centuries of exclusion? The draft report <a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/caste-surnames-religious-symbols-should-not-be-revealed-in-civil-services-interview-report/605613/">argues that</a>:</p>
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<p>In the absence of such direct information, social background of candidates is guessed to a great extent from the names like the Nayer, lyer, Iyengar, Naidu, Menon, Bandhopadhyaya, Chathurvedi, Gupta, Patel, Panda, etc.</p>
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<p>Interestingly, these common Indian surnames indicate not only the caste position of their bearers, but also their regional identity. For instance a person with the surname “Rajput” in northern India, where the said caste is numerically and socially dominant, would signify more social power compared to a person with the same surname in the south.</p>
<p>The surname “Bandhopadhyaya” – often spelled in its anglicised version as “Banerjee” or variations thereof – is an “upper-caste” Bengali Brahmin surname. This fact is common knowledge – and few Indians would fail to identify it as such. But not all Bengali surnames are as easily deciphered. For instance the last name “Sarkar” or its variations are often referred to as a title rather than a surname, because it has been <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_16.html">bestowed</a> on individuals under the Mughal regime. Today this last name is used by individuals across caste and religious categories. </p>
<p>Rejecting caste-based naming practices and adopting generic or symbolic last names has been a longstanding strategy within the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455328X20922439">anti-caste movement</a> across the country.</p>
<h2>What’s in a name?</h2>
<p>Across India, last names describing caste-based occupations have commonly been used as slurs to humiliate Dalit or Bahujan individuals, thereby reinforcing caste-based hierarchy and ostracisation. Since the mass political mobilisation of these groups in the 1940s in the south by the Dravidian Movement and the 1980s and 1990s in the north by the Lohiaites, many have discarded their caste surnames and now use a second first name instead. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/bhim-army-chief-chandrashekhar-azad-profile-time-emerging-leaders-list-534605.html">Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan</a>, leader of the Bhim Army and Azad Samaj Party, has been featured in the Time list of 100 emerging leaders. </p>
<p>Born into a Dalit community, he has adopted the two names Azad (meaning free) and Ravan. Ravan is a mythical figure presented as a villain in conventional North Indian renditions of the Hindu epic Ramayan, which celebrates the victory of Ram, an “upper-caste” king. This choice of names displays a potent mix of assertion and subversion.</p>
<p>Appeals to discard caste-based last names have been extended to and accepted by dominant caste individuals as well. This is of course a double-edged sword. Discarding the caste name alone does not undo social power accumulated over centuries and may in fact serve to mask it. </p>
<h2>Caste in the civil service</h2>
<p>Affirmative action policies have been in place in public-sector recruitment since the early 20th century. This has involved a stipulated representation of marginalised caste groups such as the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). All of these groups are deemed to have historically been denied social, economic and educational progress.</p>
<p>But data shows that the allotted quotas have never been filled. <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/reservation-in-india-privatisation-push-nirmals-sitharaman-backward-castes-6494931/">For instance</a>, in the Class A, or high-ranked posts, as of 2015, 13.3% were SCs – fewer than the quota of 15% that had been required since the affirmative action reforms in 1950s. Meanwhile, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/reservation-in-india-privatisation-push-nirmals-sitharaman-backward-castes-6494931/">as of 2013</a>, 8.37% were OBCs as against the stipulated quota of 27% since the 1990s, when the quotas were implemented.</p>
<p>The quota system only provides for entry-level representation. In practice, “lower-caste” groups achieve close to zero representation in senior civil service roles. For instance, as of March 2011, there were <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=71078">no SC secretaries</a> and only four ST secretaries out of 149 in the whole civil service. In 2019, the <a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/of-89-secretaries-in-modi-govt-there-are-just-3-sts-1-dalit-and-no-obcs/271543/">number remained</a> dismal with one SC, three STs and zero OBCs in the 89 secretary-level posts. </p>
<h2>Social engineering</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.newsclick.in/UPSC-EWS-Quota-Denies-SCs-STs-OBCs-Their-Due">Recent modifications</a> to the implementation of <a href="https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/Constitution%20(124th%20Amendment)%20Bill,%202019_0.pdf">some quotas</a> have shifted the focus from representation of marginalised groups to merely addressing economic weakness. The new criterion prioritises a temporary condition which is assessed using annual income and wealth rather than a more entrenched social reality, which is social and educational deprivation. Policies that have foregrounded individual rights over community representation <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/upsc-can-avoid-merit-list-row-separate-exams-for-services-training-based-selection/583052/">further aggravate the picture</a> by shrinking the number of “lower castes” entering the bureaucracy.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, the vitriolic opposition to affirmative action by many “upper-caste” groups has tilted public discourse against the struggles for caste justice. Against this dire backdrop, how far can the proposed recruitment reforms go? </p>
<p>While “blind” recruiting can surely work against existing caste prejudice, such a measure is insufficient when it comes to reforming the structural dimension of caste power. Names alone are not the repositories of caste privilege. Skin tone, accent, fluency in English, familiarity with pop-culture references, and food habits are some of the prominent proxies through which caste is commonly gauged in an unspoken fashion.</p>
<p>With significant structural barriers to education and equal opportunity, everything from the school or college one attended to the candidates’ internship experience and hobbies can be read as proxies for caste status. The set of candidates who can afford to participate in the civil service recruitment process constitutes a small, rarefied pool. Within this the proposed measures can extend the possibility of equal opportunity. But in the bigger picture, it will remain a drop in the ocean.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recent report has recommended ‘blind’ recruitment for India’s civil service to prevent caste discrimination. But this is unlikely to solve the problem of entrenched privilege.Srilata Sircar, Lecturer in Indian and Global Affairs, King's College LondonVignesh Rajahmani, PhD researcher in the India Institute, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1395502020-06-02T12:14:28Z2020-06-02T12:14:28ZIndia’s coronavirus pandemic shines a light on the curse of caste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338891/original/file-20200601-95065-bh5mpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C7%2C4824%2C3030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrant workers leaving New Delhi to go back to their villages amid the coronavirus lockdown</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-India/641feef1e52e400ea28bebee4004fa49/55/0">AP Photo/Manish Swarup</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long before the outbreak of COVID-19, a more pernicious form of <a href="https://feminisminindia.com/2020/04/30/covid-19-casteist-pandemic/">social distancing was widespread</a> across India: the Hindu caste system. In one form or another, this system – which has existed in the region for over a millennium – has long ensured social segregation <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/caste-society-and-politics-in-india-from-the-eighteenth-century-to-the-modern-age/097D56E007498073B691A17EC3441FEB">based on one’s place</a> in the hierarchy.</p>
<p>Outside of the four main groups that make up the caste system – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras – stand the Dalits, the so-called “untouchables” that number <a href="https://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/">some 200 million</a>. Members of that group, shunned for centuries as the lowest in society, are now at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic – seemingly more at risk of infection due to their social status, and increasingly discriminated against for the perceived threat of contagion they pose.</p>
<h2>Downtrodden and discriminated against</h2>
<p>India’s caste system can be <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/globalcaste/caste0801-03.htm">traced back over 2,000 years</a>, but under British colonial rule, the system was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928654?seq=1">reinforced and the categories became more rigid</a>.</p>
<p>After India gained its independence from Britain, in 1947, its <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india/constitution-india-full-text">new constitution</a> formally banned the practice of untouchability based on caste. But 70 years on, the system still permeates everyday life. It is especially evident in the realm of marriage. Hardly a day passes in India without a news report highlighting <a href="https://womensenews.org/2011/10/inter-caste-marriage-tears-indian-family-apart/">troubles associated with an inter-caste marriage</a>.</p>
<p>Given the tenacity and pervasiveness of the caste system, it is hardly surprising that some of the worst sufferers of the COVID-19 pandemic are India’s “untouchables,” the Dalits. As a group they remain among the most downtrodden in India, with a disproportionate number of Dalits <a href="https://www.kalpazpublications.com/index.php?p=sr&Uc=9788178350332&l=0">confined to mostly menial and low-paying jobs</a> like construction work, or as janitors or tanners. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">scholar of contemporary Indian politics</a> who has written extensively about ethnic and sectarian conflict in the country, I have taken a keen interest in how the pandemic has hit India along caste lines.</p>
<p>Dalits have proved to be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/india/india-coronavirus-social-distancing-intl-hnk/index.html">especially vulnerable to the disease</a> for a range of reasons, chief among them poverty. The vast majority of Dalits are poor despite a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46806089">vast affirmative action</a> program that India put in place <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26336">shortly after independence</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, even under the best of circumstances they have <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2018/06/indias-dalit-women-lack-access-to-healthcare-and-die-young/">limited access to health care</a> and any <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/city/the-marginalised-deprived-adequate-benefits-1384165">other form of social protection</a>. During the pandemic their plight has only worsened.</p>
<p>Dalits are in large part casual laborers, often working in disparate parts of India far away from their homes. As a result, many found themselves <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623">stranded away from their families</a> when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 23 – giving <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52081396">only four hours’ warning</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrant workers arriving from Mumbai waiting to board a local passenger train to Danapur station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-arrived-from-mumbai-walk-to-board-a-local-news-photo/1216637234?adppopup=true">Photo by Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Indian press has carried <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623/">heartbreaking accounts</a> of their struggles to return home. One photo, of a <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-just-wanted-to-see-his-dying-son-story-behind-photograph-of-crying-man-that-shook-india/352899">migrant worker crying by the roadside</a> in Delhi as he tries to visit his dying son during the lockdown, has become a lasting image of the crisis.</p>
<p>Being a migrant worker in India, regardless of caste background, is a tough existence. Working <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/the-pandemic-exposes-indias-two-worlds/609838/">conditions are harsh</a>, the work often hazardous and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/6/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination/">pay mostly a pittance</a>. Most migrants live in slum-like conditions, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/02/12/hidden-apartheid/caste-discrimination-against-indias-untouchables">at the mercy of callous landlords</a>. Even so, many send a large proportion of their earnings home to their families.</p>
<p>As a result, migrant workers rarely, if ever, have any meaningful savings that could enable them to tide over unexpected financial woes like the total economic shutdown of the coronavirus pandemic. This has meant scarce resources to pay for <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/31/822642382/coronavirus-lockdown-sends-migrant-workers-on-a-long-and-risky-trip-home">transportation home</a>. Even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/coronavirus-destitute-migrant-workers-india-forced-pay-train-fares-home">money to recharge phones is hard to come by</a>, cutting off communication between migrant workers and loved ones during the crisis.</p>
<h2>Shunned by community</h2>
<p>Dalit migrant workers face an additional burden during the pandemic: social ostracism by higher caste members, even those in the same occupation as themselves. </p>
<p>The shunning of Dalits has not abated during this crisis. If anything, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/asia/india-coronavirus-lower-castes-hnk-intl/index.html">it has worsened</a>, with some high-ranking members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party openly blaming the Dalits for spreading the coronavirus. </p>
<p>On May 25, the chief minister of populous Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, who is also a Hindu priest, suggested that migrant workers returning to his state were carriers of COVID-19, adding that the bulk of them were Dalits.</p>
<p>Opposition leaders were swift to condemn Adityanath’s remarks, but Modi and his national government have maintained a <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/yogi-adityanaths-remark-on-covid-19-infected-migrants-anti-dalit-congress-2235393">deafening silence</a> on the subject.</p>
<p>As a result of such rhetoric, Dalit migrants trekking home – often on foot – can expect <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-migrant-workers-and-their-long-march-to-uncertainty/article31251952.ece">little by way of comfort or assistance</a> from others because of their caste status and fears that they may be infected with the coronavirus.</p>
<p>I fear that in the immediate future, Dalits can expect little relief. To date they have received only <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1927520/narendra-modi-and-the-tragedy-of-indias-poor">minimal assistance from the government</a>.</p>
<p>Five years ago, when Modi first swept into power, many Dalits believed his promises to uplift the country’s poor and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36921348">duly voted for him</a>. However, after the divisive leadership of his first term in office and their experience in the lockdown, many Dalits are now <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-india-elections-caste-dalits-20190517-story.html">disillusioned with him and his Bharatiya Janata Party</a>.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has underscored that India’s caste system is still very much in existence. In the eyes of many Indians, Dalits remain “untouchable” in a way that extends beyond current hygiene practices.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
</span></em></p>Dalits have long been ostracized as the ‘untouchables’ in Indian society. Discrimination and the impact of the coronavirus have only reinforced their status.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/842162017-10-06T14:40:54Z2017-10-06T14:40:54ZThe caste politics curse that India just can’t shake off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188799/original/file-20171004-28664-pj9fm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maratha Kranti Morcha, a rallye for Marathi castes demanding respect of their rights in Mumbai last year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Kranti_Morcha#/media/File:Maratha-Kranti-Morcha.jpg">Mhidanesh/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>India is still not able to do away with its caste politics as demonstrated by <a href="https://thewire.in/184271/gujarat-dalits-attack-watching-garba-sporting-moustache/">recent attacks</a> on members of lower caste in south-western state of Gujarat during a festival.</p>
<p>Yet Narendra Modi’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a dramatic effort to woo such lower castes. Three of these are especially important: <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/government-to-find-out-if-scs-obcs-receive-benefits/articleshow/60316113.cms">reviewing social justice schemes</a>, <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/revisiting-the-obc-quota-scheme/468809.html">revisiting job reservations</a>, and the <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/caste-and-class/article19555387.ece">sub-categorisation of lower castes</a>. </p>
<p>These measures will eventually deepen India’s caste politics and strengthen the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/caste-social-differentiation">caste system</a> – the world’s oldest surviving social hierarchy. </p>
<p>In India, society is divided among higher castes, lower castes (known as Other Backward Castes or OBCs, among the socially and “educationally backward” sections of Indian society), Scheduled Castes (known as Dalits, formerly “Untouchables”), and Scheduled Tribes (known as Adivasis). </p>
<p>Today, the BJP is strategically working to win the heart and the vote of millions of lower castes, who make up <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/OBc-count-52-or-41/articleshow/263918.cms?referral=PM">41% of the Indian population</a>. However, the BJP’s outreach initiatives are not born out of a concern for social justice; they are part of an electoral agenda. </p>
<h2>Changing the BJP’s image</h2>
<p>The BJP’s defeat in the 2009 general election proved a turning point for its engagement with lower castes. While still playing the Hindu nationalism card with dominant upper castes, the BJP is now deploying multiple strategies to win over lower castes too. </p>
<p>For example, Amit Shah, now the party’s president, first highlighted Modi’s own lower-caste background in the 2014 election in Uttar Pradesh. Later on, as prime minister, Modi was projected as the champion of <a href="http://www.rediff.com/news/column/ls-election-sheela-says-is-narendra-modi-really-an-obc/20140510.htm">lower caste groups</a>. The party’s support for a Dalit presidential candidate was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-president/modis-party-backs-low-caste-leader-for-president-of-india-idUSKBN19A13L">internationally hyped</a>. Similarly, a recent <a href="https://thewire.in/48854/modis-cabinet-expansion-decoded/">cabinet reshuffle</a> brought in more lower-caste leaders to appropriate the “numerical demographic” of OBCs for political gain.</p>
<p>The BJP is also making lower caste-friendly gestures in assembly elections campaigns in <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bjp-plans-rally-two-yatras-in-gujarat-to-attract-obcs/articleshow/60520004.cms">Gujarat</a> and <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/FXeAY2FhQfn0Z5DpsArG3N/BJP-trying-new-caste-equations-ahead-of-Karnataka-elections.html">Karnataka</a>. It highlights its commitment to <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/FshuANlM65TidXucWIo3RJ/Lok-Sabha-approves-bill-to-accord-constitutional-status-to-N.html">provide constitutional status</a> to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), a statutory body that works for the welfare of lower castes.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the BJP is also pushing the idea of revisiting the existing system of reservation, which allocates 27% of governmental jobs and seats in educational institutions to lower castes. This the party proposes to do by <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/govt-approves-panel-to-examine-sub-categorisation-of-obc-in-central-list-too-arun-jaitley-4810047/">setting up a committee</a> to sub-categorise these groups into “backward”, “extremely backward” and “most backward” classes.</p>
<h2>Lower caste identity through history</h2>
<p>These are big developments. For decades, most political parties – including the Jana Sangh, which morphed into the <a href="http://www.bjp.org/about-the-party/history">BJP in 1980</a> – played their politics in the usual framework, excluding the lower-caste categories from the power structure of the state.</p>
<p>The notion of “affirmative action through reservation” only appeared in the mid-1970s when socialist parties led by politicians <a href="http://www.epw.in/journal/2010/40/politics-and-ideas-rammanohar-lohia-special-issues-specials/remembering-lohia.html">Ram Manohar Lohia</a> and <a href="http://chaudharycharansingh.org/sites/default/files/2015-23-December%20Chaudhary%20Charan%20Singh%20-%20A%20Brief%20Biography_Harsh%20Singh%20Lohit.pdf">Chaudhary Charan Singh</a> started using it to mobilise and consolidate the lower castes as a separate political identity. </p>
<p>The identity of lower castes only began to coalesce in 1955, when the first <a href="http://www.ispepune.org.in/PDF%20ISSUE/1991/JISPE2/report-backward-classes-comission.pdf">Backward Classes Commission under Kaka Kalelkar</a> recommended various reservation quotas in technical, professional and government institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188800/original/file-20171004-6713-5nryiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lower castes in India have been associated with menial work and high rates of poverty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharadaprasad/19672920365/">Sharada Prasad CS/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then in 1990, lower-caste mobilisation was galvanised when the Second Backward Classes Commission – popularly known as the <a href="http://www.ncbc.nic.in/Writereaddata/Mandal%20Commission%20Report%20of%20the%201st%20Part%20English635228715105764974.pdf">Mandal Commission</a> – recommended that 27% of positions in educational institutions and public employment be reserved for OBCs. </p>
<p>This was violently opposed by non-political bodies, including conservative <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/student-groups-spearheading-anti-reservation-stir-a-disorganised-bunch/1/315774.html">student organisations</a>. Many of these were close to the <a href="http://rss.org/">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a> (RSS), an ultra-nationalist ideological group that supports the BJP. In 2006, these student wings fiercely opposed the Congress-led government’s decision to <a href="http://test.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/quota-for-obcs-in-elite-educational-institutes-dominates-2006/440002">implement 27% lower caste job reservations</a> in premier higher educational institutions.</p>
<h2>Towards a universal Hindu identity</h2>
<p>But now, India’s right-wing organisations have <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/back-to-the-bahujan-model/article17788513.ece">made peace with lower-caste aspirations</a>. This has proved electorally rewarding, with the BJP successfully winning a greater share of the OBC vote. A third of the OBCs <a href="http://www.csds.in/sites/default/files/Interpreting%20the%20electoral%20verdict%20of%202014%20Lok%20Sabha.pdf">shifted to the BJP in the 2014 election</a>, and in subsequent <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/YfaZFWuenE9U4ScnusVAWK/Why-the-rhetoric-of-caste-vs-development-in-UP-polls-rings.html">state elections</a>. </p>
<p>Strategically, the BJP has focused on dismantling the caste-based parties’ monopoly over lower-caste votes. The tactic of painting other parties as <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39227822">corrupt bastions of single-caste politics</a> worked wonders, as did an effort to compress the existing <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2016/dec/08/central-obc-list-to-include-15-new-castes-1547010.html">2,479 lower castes</a> into a smaller unit of individualised caste identity to diminish their collective heft.</p>
<p>The BJP also supported the aspirations of lower castes’ leaders through either finance or <a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/bjp-firms-up-up-alliance-with-an-eye-on-the-obc-dalit-vote/article9500210.ece">political alliance</a>, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/We-gave-first-OBC-PM-most-OBC-CMs-BJP/articleshow/48026470.cms">accommodating OBC leaders</a> in the party or ministerial portfolios at local, state and national level. </p>
<p>At the same time, the party is building a network of lower castes cadres in both rural and urban areas, as well as among young people and women. To penetrate the lower castes’ social base, the BJP formed an <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/bjp-forms-obc-morcha-to-fight-for-rights-of-backward-classes/905876">OBC Morcha or “special wing”</a> in July 2015. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188802/original/file-20171004-1134-1opomb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Religious ceremonies are organised to include lower castes back into the folds of Hinduism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/asianu/6219355802/in/photolist-atzPNs-vxdow-7pTBWN-PuP3B-atxaqD-au5Qd6-YRnawY-8388Ns-h1kyDp-q8rtyD-3AT5ta-5tUAkm-Bo7io-h1jE2w-azsEkt-5uk12i-Wdvb5-5uk12K-vg9ty-3AVQRy-atxay2-7pPGFT-h8cCtA-au5Q2B-h1jytQ-h1jBZA-h8cGt7-h1jzBR-h8dLRn-sqBHq-vALjj-dUTRkM-dUTT8t-h1jxsa-atxamk-7wMhSZ-z21cLQ-vALi6-vgah4-rehT6-HBGZi-3AQ85n-3AXjxC-5uk12P-3ARFTK-4bwKyk-atxagX-MDww4-3AUnGS-z1ZXtb">Asim Chaudury/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the one hand, right-wing Hindu organisations are engaged in the radical Hinduisation of lower castes and Dalits through programmes such as <a href="http://www.epw.in/mr/journal/2015/11/commentary/hindutvas-psychological-warfare.html">“Ghar Wapsi” or “Home Coming”</a>, rituals of conversion to Hinduism, and running <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/04/bjp-dominate-caste-politics-170412085718269.html">religious, spiritual and service programmes</a> in lower caste areas. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the BJP’s core clientele of higher castes are satisfied thanks to the works of its right-wing support organisations. They continue spreading messages they want to hear, such as tactically portraying Muslims as a common enemy.</p>
<p>With many of its much-acclaimed policies <a href="https://thewire.in/142453/modi-three-years-the-cracks-are-showing/">failing to deliver</a>, the BJP knows it has to sustain the charisma of Narendra Modi long enough to fight the 2019 legislative elections. </p>
<p>The party’s central challenge is to retain its support base while simultaneously supplementing it enough to ensure electoral victories. To do this, it must mobilise the emerging middle-class OBC vote – and it’s clearly prepared to do almost whatever it takes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Afroz Alam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India is not able to do away with its caste politics. It has been apparent in the dramatic turn of Narendra Modi’s regime to woo lower castes through multiple policy measures.Afroz Alam, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Maulana Azad National Urdu UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/792742017-06-22T06:02:01Z2017-06-22T06:02:01Z‘Cow economics’ are killing India’s working class<p>When Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Indian parliament for the first time in June 2014, his inaugural speech focused on <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/inclusion-is-key-theme-of-narendra-modis-first-lok-sabha-speech">integrating and protecting India’s Muslims</a>. </p>
<p>“Even the third generation of Muslim brothers, whom I have seen since my young days, are continuing with their cycle-repairing job,” he said, referring to one of the many menial jobs to which Indian Muslims are often relegated. “Why does such misfortune continue?” </p>
<p>But instead of “bring[ing] about change in their lives,” as Modi promised, his government has made life harder for India’s Muslims by cracking down on the leather and beef industries.</p>
<h2>Impact on Muslim and Dalit livelihoods</h2>
<p>Muslims and Dalits (the marginalised group once known as “untouchables” in the Hindu caste system) are among <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rich-poor-divide-in-india-widening-as-economy-grows-report/story-5iyHD5PbJa4kqCw8qBrNsO.html">the poorest in India, and they have very little access to property</a>. <a href="https://navsarjantrust.org/who-are-dalits/">By tradition </a> and due to a lack of other opportunities, many <a href="http://labourbureau.nic.in/Leather%20Report%20Final.pdf">work in the leather sector</a>, which employs <a href="http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/ups-anti-abattoir-campaign-could-cripple-prime-revenue-and-job-generating-industries-33121">2.5 million people</a> nationwide. </p>
<p>Over the past three years, this trade has increasingly made Muslims and Dalits the targets of so-called <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/27/india-cow-protection-spurs-vigilante-violence">cow vigilantism</a> – attacks perpetrated by Hindus on cow traders in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-cow-as-hindu-nationalism-surges-in-india-cows-are-protected-but-minorities-not-so-much-76632?sr=1">name of religion</a>. And legislation adopted in May, <a href="http://www.egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2017/176216.pdf">which amends the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty on Animals Act</a>, is set to victimise these populations economically. </p>
<p>Among other changes, the new rules mandate that cows, camels and buffalo may be sold to farmers only for <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/centre-bans-cow-slaughter-across-india-cows-can-be-sold-only-to-farmers/story-8sFXJxiNmZ8eD6NXDgbvnL.html">agricultural purposes</a>, not for slaughter. </p>
<p>In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/slaughterhouse-closure-in-up-puts-key-revenue-and-job-generating-industries-at-serious-risk/articleshow/57890020.cms">one out of every 1000 work in cow-related industries</a>, including slaughterhouses and the leather industry. The town of Kanpur recently saw several slaughterhouses close down, putting out of work over “400,000 employees linked to leather industries”, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-politics-religion-idUSL8N1J60QD">according to a Reuters report</a>. </p>
<p>The supply of local hides has declined precipitously, leading to a decrease in Indian sales of leather and leather products. From April 2016 to March 2017, total leather exports dropped 3.23% from the previous year, to <a href="http://leatherindia.org/industry-at-a-glance/">US$5.67 billion</a> from US$5.9 billion. </p>
<p>India also does enormous trade in meat. In 2015, the main market for its buffalo meat was <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/where-indian-buffalo-meat-exports-go-4609512/">Vietnam</a>, which buys up US$1.97 million worth of it, followed by Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. </p>
<p>Last financial year, <a href="http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/ups-anti-abattoir-campaign-could-cripple-prime-revenue-and-job-generating-industries-33121">annual production</a> was estimated at 6.3 million tonnes and exports totalled US$3.32 billion, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-exports-rs-22074-crore-worth-meat-in-april-january-of-fy17/articleshow/58108891.cms">according to a report in the Economic Times</a>. That’s down from US$4.15 billion the year before. In Uttar Pradesh alone, attacks on cow related-businesses have <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/uttar-pradesh-meat-exports-take-rs-4000-crore-hit/articleshow/58104272.cms">already triggered losses of US$601 million</a> on the state’s export business.</p>
<h2>Coercive measures</h2>
<p>States have also introduced several coercive measures aimed at people in the cow businesses. Uttar Pradesh, <a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-cow-as-hindu-nationalism-surges-in-india-cows-are-protected-but-minorities-not-so-much-76632?sr=3">whose chief minister is a right-wing Hindu fundamentalist</a>, leads the measures. </p>
<p>Illegal slaughterhouses have been at the core of the debate in recent months following a government crackdown <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/mar/22/uttar-pradesh-slaughter-houses-on-chopping-block-1584453.html">in March 2017</a>, as non-compliant facilities struggle to adapt to <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/up-lays-down-strict-guidelines-for-meat-business/articleshow/57964695.cms">complex regulations</a>, including locating shops at specific distances from religious places, getting appropriate documents from several administrations or particular freezers.</p>
<p>On June 6 2017, the state issued <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/cattle-smuggling-slaughter-to-be-punishable-under-nsa-gangsters-act-4691359">a new directive</a> to punish cow slaughter and illegal transport of dairy animals under the National Security Act and Gangsters Act, effectively criminalising traders. </p>
<p>This has encouraged harassment of Muslims and Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. Even in the Muslim-majority village of Madora, <a href="https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/05/india-muslim-village-fine-girls-using-mobile-phones-cow-killers/">residents are encouraged</a> to denounce those who engage in slaughtering cows by the promise of a INR50,000 (US$1000) reward.</p>
<p>On the west coast state of Gujarat, cow slaughter is now a <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/gujarat-assembly-passed-new-bill-for-strict-law-to-prevent-cow-slaughter/articleshow/57939069.cm">non-bailable offence</a>, punishable with life imprisonment, meaning that people who kill a cow <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/politics/ban-on-cow-slaughter-in-gujarat-an-attack-on-personal-freedom-is-religion-creeping-into-our-republic-3364090.html">will serve the same time as a murderer</a>.</p>
<p>Central Jharkhand and other states ruled by Modi’s BJP party have begun applying similar laws. The national government is also currently considering a petition <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/eop2KivNOrKR54oREi4E9N/Government-plans-Aadhaarlike-unique-identification-number-f.html">to give cows an Indian identity card</a> similar to those issued to its citizens. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174197/original/file-20170616-545-g3domh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The legal status of cow slaughter in India in 2012. Today, all yellow regions have turned red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Status_of_cow_slaughter_in_India.png">Barthateslisa/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>In the name of the cow</h2>
<p>These new rules have reinforced the impunity of criminal groups that <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/meat-shops-burnt-vandalised-in-hathras/article17574402.ece">burn down Muslim and Dalit businesses</a>, terrorise cow traders and brutally beat or kill people. Rebranding themselves as <a href="https://scroll.in/article/835647/the-vigilante-activists-meet-the-new-poster-boys-of-cow-protection-politics">animal activists</a>, cow vigilantes exploit the sanctity of this animal in Hinduism to commit violence, with the tacit endorsement of state and national governments. </p>
<p>The violence has impacted both legal and illegal traders (bulls and buffalo are not included in new regulations), generating panic among flayers, contractors, truck drivers, traders, daily wage earners, who are now abandoning their posts out of fear. The majority are Dalit or Muslim.</p>
<p>Hindu slaughterhouse owners, on the other hand, have been largely <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/job-loss-fear-looms-over-up-s-biggest-slaughterhouse-where-hindus-outnumber-muslims/story-wodpKHLYmScJsJdsZZnjy">spared</a> by the wrath of cow vigilantes and onerous regulations. Of the country’s 11 largest meat-exporting companies, <a href="https://sabrangindia.in/article/who-making-millions-india-out-beef-export-muslims-think-again">eight are Hindu-run</a>. </p>
<h2>Flourishing and paradoxical beef trade</h2>
<p>None of this will help already-tense Hindu-Muslim relations in India, nor does it seem to bode well for Modi’s “Make in India” initiative to boost the country’s economic production.</p>
<p>According to the campaign website, <a href="http://www.makeinindia.com/sector/leather">the government</a> hopes to increase leather exports to US$9 billion by 2020, from its present level of US$5.85 billion, and bring the domestic market to US$18 billion, doubling its current value. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2f1G6kKiLag?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Make in India’ may make some citizens very rich, but others, not so much.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To do so, the government says it will focus on maintaining India’s comparative advantages in production and labour costs and ensure the availability of skilled manpower for new or existing production units. But that may be hard when Muslim and Dalit workers are being systematically singled out and harassed.</p>
<p>Can Modi’s government really afford a crackdown on cow economics?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Afroz Alam receives funding from MANUU, Hyderabad and CSDS, New Delhi </span></em></p>A crackdown on the beef and leather trades has put hundreds of thousands of Indian Muslims and Dalits out of work, vexing already-tense religious relations and hurting India’s economy.Afroz Alam, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Maulana Azad National Urdu UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.