Has caste system hindered democracy and adult franchise in India. Discuss. (UPSC CSE Mains 2018 - Sociology, Paper 2)
- The roots of democracy are to be searched in the social relationship, in the terms of associated life between people who form a society. said Dr. Ambedkar.
- Indian society is caste ridden. Religion is just a belief and it can change anytime in the life, but caste is a constant factor which don''t change even when religion changes. It doesn‘t change when occupation changes or social status changes. That is Caste remains constant. It is like a omega value simply a mere constant don''t change in any situation.
- Caste becomes important in politics because politics is highly competitive. Its purpose is to gain power for certain ends. It, therefore, exploits all kinds of loyalties in the society to gain and consolidate certain political positions; organization and articulation of support are important in the above process of politics in our country. Caste is one such organization with which the people are associated.
- Casteism leads to violence and polarisation on caste lines. Casteism creates tension, suspicion, fear and an atmosphere of violence by building militancy on caste lines. Hence, it is very harmful to democracy and the country as well.
- According to Rajni Kothari, politicisation of caste in India played a very important role in developing party politics. He proved how politicisation of caste is a double process. Caste needs politics as much as politics need caste. When caste groupings makes politics their sphere of activities. Caste groups then also gets a chance to assert their identity and to strive for position. MN Srinivas also used the concept of dominant caste. A dominant caste is a caste which dominates numerically , due to its numeric preponderance it enjoys political power. Politicians find caste a handy and convenient instrument for use during elections. Politics in Indian states had also been viewed in terms of competition among major caste groups for political power. Caste is also said to fractionalize national politics.
- The relation between class and caste is complex and ‘cross cutting ‘ (Myron Weiner), overlapping identities so the struggle for status and the quest for equality continued. So caste became a far more potent form of social identity than class so social order remained inegalitarian. Also Mandal framework led ‘egregious consequences’ (Marc Galanter) because it identified Other Backward Classes in terms of caste . It created a heterogeneous vast diverse category of OBC’s. Thus caste became the basis of a scheme of permanent protection.
- ‘Curious Cognitive hiatus’ as stated by Rajni Kothari, which explained the dichotomy between tradition and modernity ,also the symbolism of caste for social and economic positions of different groups. Thus caste as a traditional social structure has changed its functions and roles, maintaining itself in the process. Thus like caste has been changing and influencing politics, politics has also been influencing and changing the caste system. Sanskritisation as status urge turned as a ‘mirage’ (Kothari) , status became ambivalent, unsettled also Westernisation and secularisation led for economic well being, liberal education gave rise to rationality and also political power for more institutions drew caste into politics. Thus caste identities took to new form of articulation thus changing the very ethics of the social system and diminished the very importance of ascriptive and ritualistic basis on the other hand the process of ‘ethnicization’( Christophe Jaffrelot) and positive discrimination of caste has been the result of transformation of caste into interest groups.
- Social democracy mean means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. It means an associated living among people without any discrimination. But caste system enforces discrimination and discrimination causes suffering, often very deep forms of inner suffering. People who are thus made to suffer withdraw. As result, they also refuse to co-operate. In such circumstances, if tolerance is to have any meaning, it must be sufficiently genuine and strong enough to restore co-operation. Thus discrimination and toleration both reflect the quality of compassion, mercy and justice.
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