Caste Dynamics: Tracing transformations from colonial roots to Independent India

The present form of caste as a social institution has been shaped by both the colonial period as well as the rapid changes that have come about in independent India. During the colonial period, the caste system underwent huge transformations.

Some argue that what we recognize as the caste system today is more a result of colonial influence than a continuation of ancient Indian traditions.

Colonial Censuses and Caste Dynamics: Shaping Identities in British India: 

• Colonial Insight: British Understanding of Indian Castes: Initially, Britishers comprehended the intricacies of the caste system to effectively govern the country. 
  • Some of this took the form of extensive surveys and reports documenting the “customs and manners” of tribes and castes across the nation. 
• Caste Enumeration: Tracing India’s Social Landscape through Census: The most important of such surveys was the census. 
  • First begun in the 1860s, the census became a regular ten-yearly exercise conducted from 1881 onwards.
  • Herbert Risley’s 1901 Census: The 1901 Census under the direction of Herbert Risley collected information on the social hierarchy of caste – i.e., the social order of precedence, as to the position of each caste in rank order.

• Caste Census: Reshaping Social Dynamics in Colonial India: Scholars feel that this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself.
  • Before this, caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid; once they began to be counted and recorded, caste began to take on a new life.
• Colonial Legislation: Recognizing and Redefining Marginalized Castes: The colonial administration also took an active interest in the well-being of marginalized castes.

• • Legal Recognition and Lists: It was within this context that the Government of India Act of 1935 was enacted, providing legal recognition to lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes.
  • Recognition of Scheduled Castes and  Untouchables: Among these Scheduled Castes were the castes situated at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, which endured severe discrimination, including the castes commonly known as ‘untouchables.’
  • Colonial Catalysts: The caste system underwent a lot of changes during the colonial period, a time when the entire world experienced rapid transformation driven by the spread of capitalism and modernity.

Caste Dynamics in India’s Nationalist Movement: From Mobilization to Gandhi’s Upliftment Efforts

• Caste as Catalyst: Shaping the Nationalist Movement: Caste considerations played a major role in the mass mobilisation of the nationalist movement.
• Empowering the Depressed Classes: Caste Reforms in 19th Century India: Efforts to organize the “depressed classes,” had commenced late in the 19th century.
  • Upper-caste progressive reformers, as well as members of lower castes like Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar in western India, Ayyankali, Sri Narayana Guru, Iyothee Thass, and Periyar (E.V. Ramaswamy Naickar) in the South, were instrumental in this initiative.
• Untouchability Protests and Political Agendas  in 1920s India: Beginning in the 1920s, both Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar initiated protests against untouchability and anti-untouchability programs became a significant component of the Congress party’s agenda.
• Path to a Casteless India: Nationalist Movement Perspectives and Gandhi’s Upliftment Endeavors: By the time independence was on the horizon, there was a broad consensus within the nationalist movement to eliminate caste distinctions.
  • Nationalist Movement Perspective: The prevailing perspective in the nationalist movement considered caste as a social evil and a colonial tactic to divide Indians.
  • Gandhi’s Upliftment Efforts: Notably, Mahatma Gandhi worked towards the upliftment of the lower castes and advocated for the abolition of untouchability and other caste-based restrictions.

Transforming Caste Dynamics: Challenges and Strategies Post-Independence

State’s Role in Caste Dynamics: Balancing Equality and Reservation After Independence:

• Post-Independence Dilemma: Constitutional Commitments and Reform Challenges: Post-Independence the state was committed to the abolition of caste and explicitly wrote this into the Constitution. 
  • On the other hand, it was both unable and unwilling to push through radical reforms.
• State Strategy and the Ambiguous Path to Caste Abolition: The state assumed that if it operated in a caste-blind manner, this would automatically lead to the undermining of caste-based privileges and the eventual abolition of the institution. 
• Example: Appointments in government jobs were devoid of caste status, providing equal opportunities to all. 
  • The only exception to this was in the form of reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Urbanization and Caste Dynamics: Evolution of Caste in the face of economic change and Urban resilience:

•  Impact of Development and Industrial Growth: The development activity of the state and the growth of private industry also affected caste indirectly through the speeding up and intensification of economic change.
  • Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules.
• Urbanization and Caste Transformation: Urbanization and communal living in cities challenged the segregated social norms of caste. 
  • Educated individuals embracing ideas of individualism and meritocracy began to shed extreme caste practices.
• Caste Endurance in Urban Transformation:: However, caste’s resilience was evident as industrial job recruitment, whether in Mumbai’s textile mills, Kolkata’s jute mills etc., continued to follow caste and kinship-based patterns. 
  • Caste Influence in Industrial Recruitment: The middlemen responsible for labor recruitment frequently favored their own caste and region, resulting in specific castes dominating particular departments. 
    • Prejudice against untouchables persisted, though it was less extreme than in rural areas.

• Caste’s Enduring Influence in Cultural and Domestic Realms: Caste’s influence has found its stronghold in the cultural and domestic domains. 
  • The practice of endogamy, where individuals marry within their own caste, has remained largely unaffected by modernization and change. 
  • Even in contemporary times, a significant majority of marriages occur within caste boundaries.