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Aju
Mukhopadhyay
Play with Caste
On 10 April 2008 a
five bench constitution bench of the Supreme Court, the highest
judicial authority of India, has upheld the Central Educational
Institution (Reservation and Admission) Act 2006, providing for
27 per cent quota for OBC (Other Backward Classes), excluding
the creamy layer among them, meaning those who are not backward,
economically or otherwise. There is a strong lobby in favour of
giving the benefits to the entire OBC group irrespective of the
level of development, meaning that the less deserving candidates
be given the opportunities to thrive at the cost of more
meritorious students. By this it has upheld the 93rd
constitution amendment, empowering the Central Government to
make provisions for the admission of S.C/S.T and O.B.C.s to the
educational institutions, after withholding the law and its
enactment for more than a year. Central educational institutions
are like the IIT s and IIM s.
Education being a
state subject the court has not touched the provincial
institutions and those run by the private bodies. The judgment
includes a provision to review the position after five years and
if then some community is found sufficiently forward, there need
not be any quota for them. From the judgment and opinions
expressed by the individual judges it becomes very clear that
they do not want the quota system to continue perpetually.
OBC s have already
obtained the right for reservation in Central Government jobs up
to 27 per cent besides the quotas granted to Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes. Though the reservations are up to 50 per
cent as permitted by the court for the Centre, in states like
Tamil Nadu it is 69 per cent, which the Supreme Court has
reserved the right to reconsider.
This caste wise
demand for reservations are continuing from the beginning of
Free India but the demands and agitations continue from time to
time and almost at all times it is considered on political
basis.
Morarji Desai, the
Prime Minister, in view of the restiveness of the OBC component
in the Janata party decided to constitute the Mandal Commission
headed by B.P. Mandal which submitted its report in 1980. It was
shelved. In 1990 V.P. Singh, another Prime Minister, opened it.
While Desai had a troubled time, Singh’s ministry fell on this
score. After the revival of it in 2006 by the present Government
there was massive agitations against such quotas, specially by
the medicos which was suppressed by threat of retrenchment and
other pressures. Even the court held it illegal.
As all these quotas
and reservations are on the basis of age old Indian caste system
let us then try to understand the once famous but now infamous
caste system. For this we refer to Sri Aurobindo, once a
revolutionary politician but later a yogi and social thinker
besides poet and scholar. He was one of the greatest thinkers
and philosophers of the twentieth century, an interpreter of the
Vedas and other Indian scriptures.
‘Caste was
originally an arrangement for the distribution of functions in
society, just as much as class in Europe, but the principle on
which the distribution was based in India was peculiar to this
country.’ (Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry; SABCL. V.1 p.536)
While the European
civilization is generally material, Indian civilization is
spiritual and moral. Caste division had a spiritual and moral
basis. The division of castes in India was conceived as a
distribution of duties, he said and continued, ‘A man’s caste
depended on his dharma . . . and his dharma depended on his
swabhava, his temperament and inborn nature.’(ibid)
Sri Aurobindo
explained the four broad divisions of human nature and as such
the significance of caste with reference to ancient Hindu
scriptures: ‘The works of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and
Sudras, says the Gita, are divided according to the qualities (Gunas)
born of their own inner nature, spiritual temperament, essential
character (Swabhava). . . .
‘The Gita’s words
refer to the ancient system of caturvarna, as it existed or was
supposed to exist in its ideal purity, - . . . .’ (ibid. V.13.
pp.492 & 494)
‘This appears in the
Purushasukta of the Veda where the four orders are described as
having sprung from the body of the creative Deity, from his
head, arms, thighs and feet. To us this is merely a poetical
image and its sense is that the Brahmins were the men of
knowledge, the Kshatriyas the men of power, the Vasishyas the
producers and support of society, the Shudras its
servants.’(ibid. V.15. p.5)
He wrote that there
was a gradation of social respect which placed the function of
the Brahmin at the summit and the function of the Shudra at the
base, but this inequality was accidental and external.
Essentially there was no inequality between the devout Brahmin
and the devout Shudra, all being the essential parts of the
divine. The caste originally meant a position less by birth than
by capacity. Born low, one may rise by individual capacities. He
cited the examples of two very low castes, Choka Mela, the
Maratha Pariah who became the Guru of the Brahmins and the
Chandala, who taught Shankaracharya. ‘For the Brahman was
revealed in the body of the Pariah and in the Chandala there was
the utter presence of Shiva the Almighty.’ (ibid. V.1.p.537)
His considered view
was that caste was not only an institution but a supreme
necessity without which Hindu civilization could not have
developed its distinctive character or worked out its unique
mission. About the many popular interpretations of the Vedas and
the motive and purpose of caste system he reminded that ‘We read
always our own mentality into that of these ancient forefathers
and it is therefore that we can find in them nothing but
imaginative barbarians.’(ibid. V.15. p.5)
The four castes were
subdivided into innumerable sub-castes in the course of time and
were represented through guilds but that too fell through. ‘The
castes as such were not directly represented in the general
assembly of the kingdom but they had their place in the
administration of local affairs.’ he said. (ibid. V.14.p.356)
‘India from ancient
times had received the gospel of Vedanta which sought to
establish the divine unity of man in spirit; but in order to
secure an ordered society in which she could develop her
spiritual insight and perfect her civilization, she had invented
the system of caste which by corruptions and departures from
caste ideals came to be an obstacle to the fulfillment in
society of the Vedantic ideal. . . . the feudal spirit had taken
possession of India and the feudal spirit is wedded to
inequality and the pride of caste.’ (ibid. V.1 p.758)
Sri Aurobindo
considered the degradation of the caste system as due to the
change in the outlook of men, due to the change of historical
factors shaping societies. ‘The castes, multiplying themselves
without any true necessity or true relation to the spiritual or
economic need of the country, became mere sacrosanct
conventional divisions, a power for isolation and not, as they
originally were, factors of a harmonious functioning of the
total life-synthesis. . . .
‘The evils that
attended the system did not all manifest themselves with any
power before the Mahomedan invasion, but they must have been
already there in their beginning and they increased rapidly
under the conditions created by the Pathan and Moghul
empires.’(ibid. V.14. p.370)
‘At the beginning,
the most sacred, religious and social function, that of the
Rishi and sacrificer, seems to have been open to men of all
classes and occupations. Theocracy, caste and absolute kingship
grew in force pari passu like the Church and the monarchical
power in mediaeval Europe under the compulsion of the new
circumstances created by the growth of large social and
political aggregates.’(ibid.V.15 p.339)
‘The rigid hierarchy
of castes with the pretensions and arrogance of the caste spirit
was a later development ….’(ibid)
So we come to know,
as judged from different angles, that Indian caste system was
created by spiritual India. It deteriorated under the self
interested religionists in later ages, the age of ritualistic,
religious India which drifted further from the idealistic India.
Now when the left minded and narrow regional elite politicians,
the so called democrats vouch for secularism, the religion based
ritualistic caste system should have been given a formal go by.
But unfortunately it is they who play the foulest game in
inciting groups of castes against each other. If the Brahmins
hated lower castes, if the higher castes invented the
untouchables out of caste-pride, if the upper castes tortured
the lower ones, certainly they were very deplorable situations
but most such actions were social and religious in nature, not
economic.
Sanskrit is one of
the richest languages of the world, the unifying factor in
India. Most of the major Indian languages are its progeny. South
Indian languages too are heavily indebted to it. Blames against
Sanskritisation, Aryan invasion and driving out of the
Dravidians are all fictional, false ideas brought into play by
the separatists. Recent researches nullify their evil designs.
Culturally India was one in spite of the presence of many racial
elements in it. Indian constitution guarantees equality in all
spheres, equal opportunity being the foremost of them in the
eyes of the law and society.
In this economic age
if certain people are given preferences in admission to the
educational institutions, in securing coveted jobs through the
quota system to the extent of 69 per cent and more, others are
naturally deprived of the chances to that extent. It should be
remembered that deprived ones are the brains of India, usually
the middle class who always fought for the country, they who are
the real scholars and creators of art and literature. Even if
they slip slightly into the minority, it is not easy to suppress
them by brutal force.
The anomalies
created by these reservation policies have been discussed
threadbare by some modern writers, based on currently available
facts and figures. A few pieces from their work and thought
would be very relevant.
Pradipta Chaudhury,
a professor of economics of international standing, wrote on
17.4.2007 in The New Indian Express that the ritual hierarchy is
very flexible. Castes rising in economic status achieved higher
ritual rank after a time lag. He found that economic status and
literary rate are not clearly correlated to ritual status and
the degree of correspondence between them changes in different
areas. He observed that the demand for reservation for OBCs
arose in South India as a result of vehement anti Brahmin
agitation. But never the ritually most repressed people agitated
against the Brahmins. The movements were organised by the castes
ranking just below the Brahmins by early20th century. Some low
castes in the north so much improved economically that they now
control the states politically. To show the true reality of anti
Brahmin agitation in the south, I quote from a letter published
in the same paper on the same date.
‘It is a canard that
Brahmins suppressed other communities. It was the rich
non-Brahmin castes which oppressed other communities with their
political domination. In the south, particularly in Tamil Nadu,
the Dravidian parties projected the Brahmin community out of
jealousy and hatred as a scare-crow, fooling other non-Brahmin
communities which fell pray to their designs.’
Pradipta Chaudhury
wondered, ‘For this purpose about 95 per cent of the population
was clubbed together as backward and treated as homogenous
group!’
Another columnist,
Swapan Dasgupta, wrote there on 8.4.07- ‘ those familiar with
the divisive mobilizations that took place around caste
enumeration during the census of 1911, 1921 and 1931 will
readily appreciate why injecting caste into this exercise is an
experience India must not repeat.’ His hope is that control over
politics does not give automatic control over society.
Now Brahmins are
most repressed in Tamil Nadu. Most of the people do not use
their titles which are caste or family names. Professor Chris
Fuller of the department of Anthropology, The London School of
Economics felt intrigued about it and researched on the impact
of globalization on the Tamil Brahmin community and found that
there continues an exodus of Tamil Brahmins from the state. He
finds that they occupy the top positions in IT industry in the
private sector where the higher caste’s entry is not restricted.
Of them who remain, occupy top positions in services. Fact is,
all the great names from Tamil Nadu in the last century and
before were Brahmins.
Conversion is an old
story in India. The foreigners who conquered and ruled India for
more than 1000 years, wanted the people to join the conqueror’s
religion to get their favours too for administration and in
swelling their numbers, religiously. It was achieved usually by
force and by allurement. The low castes among the Hindus usually
felt neglected due to various religious superstitions and
oppressions. It is they who were easily converted. About the
religion and its impact on the people let us look into a recent
report of conversion.
On 14 April 2008
some 800 Dalit (suppressed) Christians who suffered
discriminations in the hands of upper caste Christians in their
parishes, both Roman Catholics and Protestants, it is reported,
were reconverted to Hinduism en mass after five generations of
their conversion. They were given back their old communal caste
symbols. This happened in Tirunelvelli District of Tamil Nadu.
Even Christians for five generations maintained their castes.
Each one remember his caste even without using any title. In
India caste seems to be an inseparable part of religious life.
Politicians under different pleas, even declaring themselves as
seculars, use the age old caste to degrade people, setting one
against the other and gain politically. Whatever their castes,
they enjoy all the facilities in the society.
In some parts of
North India people of once Dalit castes amassed wealth and are
now important politicians who partly or fully rule those parts
of the country. When the rabbles rule the corruption becomes
rampant, culture falls to a very low point. Mention may be made
of some such parts of which Bihar is an example. Like Neerja
Chowdhury in the New Indian Express on 14 April 2008, many utter
‘The less said about the party in Bihar, the better.’
Sometimes
politicians become ludicrous in pushing their agenda through the
legislature and judiciary. The Chairman of the Oversight
Committee for the Implementation of the 27 per cent OBC quota
said in an interview, as in the Hindu of 17 June 2006, that they
wanted an inclusive society, ‘Not to exclude anybody, but to
include everybody. Let everyone get a chance.’
Generous words! But
how does it happen in very sophisticated higher education field
where very few seats exist of which the majority has to be
filled up by quotas? Merit is denied, quality is denied and
obtuseness is pushed through by the backing of numbers. Quality
alone suffers. Will the country be benefited when such students
mature to rule the roost? Ills of democracy indeed!
When the opportunity for higher education as in IIT s and IIMs
is limited in India compared to Western countries and countries
like Japan or China, such opportunities should be increased to
make them wider, by bringing them within the affordable means of
the aspiring students, by not restricting them by quotas.
Most of the systems
of quota and subsidy have proved to be counter productive in
Free India. If equal opportunity for growth is sanctioned under
article 16 of the Indian constitution, it cannot be restricted
under any plea. The champions of social justice who consider
caste system as abominable should not play caste to achieve
their ends. They are reintroducing the caste in the reverse
order to further divide the society.
It is very clear
that large numbers of people could not stand in merit, brain and
other qualities, before the successful ones. As it happens,
those in the upper rung oppressed the other socially backwards
though not economically and the backward people naturally had
their grievances. Now that has turned into a vendetta, directing
the society on the wrong path. The caste has become a virus.
That people,
individuals and groups, are not the same by birth, exempting the
exceptions, is a fact experienced by the humanity. In admittance
of this truth scientists talk of human cloning and maintaining
the blood-lines. Heredity has not been deciphered entirely.
Though equal
opportunities must be given to qualify, merit must be given due
honour for the growth and progress of the country and society.
What was once
beneficial under the Vedantic spiritual culture has
deteriorated. Caste has become an instrument of narrow religion
and politics. Under a broad spiritual firmament we can eschew
its degraded form; treating all humans equally, abolishing the
regressive reservation and quota systems gradually. For that the
titles with the names need not be abolished under any
superstition. For identifying any human being we have to use
some name which is sometimes done with the village name or any
other nomenclature.
© Aju Mukhopadhyay, 2008
20, Padmini Thottam, Kurichikuppam,
Pondicherry-605012
Email- ajum24@yahoo.co.in
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