prejudice` without`pollution`? scheduled castes in contemporary punjab

.PREJUDICE'WITHOUT'POLLUTION'?
SCHEDULEDCASTESIN CONTEMPORARYPUNJAB
SurinderS. Jodhka
The ltistoricaLevidenceon casterektiotrs and the empirical literatureavailableon the status
of dalits in the region clearly show that though cctstehas existedin Punjab, the structureof caste
hierarchy itr the region has been quite differentfrom other parts of the sub-continent.It certainly
dctesnot crtnJortttto the nnnner itt which castehas beenpopularly theorised,viz., the vann systenl
TIteBrcLhntins
havenot only not enjoyedthekind of statusthat thevarnatheoryattributes
oJhierctrc14'.
Braltninical
to thent;tlte
ideologvtoo has bean quiteweakin the region.
Tlte et'otutnticdevektpntentexperiettcedin the regionduring thepost-idependence
period has
also brought about nrunychangesin the nrunnerin which casteworks in the Punjab toda\,.The nevv
crgrarianteclutologvled to the disintigratiottof the traditional structuresof patronageand loyal4,.
TheprocessofdevelopnrcntduringtheLastfivedecadeshascrecttedavenuesofemploymentinurban,
seni-urban and rurcti areas that are "caste-free"in nature. The occupationaldiversificcttionof the
SchedulerlCttstesof Punjub has beenquite significant,at leastin someparts of the state.Hoviever"
a large nruloritt of tlrcnrstilLlives in conditiortsof dcprivation.
"Whensorneonesays"l am a Jat",his chestexpands.But whenwe say"Chamar",we contract
t o n o t h i n g "I A g g a r w a l ,1 9 8 3 P
, p .2 - 4 ] . r
"That they (the Brahmins)could be the leadersof society,in a positionof privilege,I only
discoveredwhen I went to live outsidethe Punjab.With us theBrahminswerean unprivilegedclass
a n de x e r c i s e ldi t t l eo r n o i n f l u e n c eo n t h e c o m m u n i t y "[ T a n d o n 1, 9 8 8 p
, . 73].
"l think you shoulddo your studyin Rajasthan.
Discriminationis very strongthere.In Haryana
and Punlabit is rluch less.I can tell you becauseI havebeenin theseareas.The changeis greatest
r n P u n ; a h l"A g g u r w a l1. 9 8 3p. . 9 0 1 . Among all the statcsof India,the Punjabhas category.They are madeup of diversecommuthe highestproportionof the ScheduledCaste nitieswith theirownindividualidentitiesandwith
'l'he
population.
ScheduledCastesaccountedfbr differentlevelsof culturaldisabilitiesand social
2 8 . 3p e r c e n to f t h c t o t a lp o p u l a t i o on f t h e P u n j a b development.
Strategies
for socialmobility and
i n 1 9 9l , m u c h h i g h e rt h a nt h e a l l - I n d i aa v e r a g e parlicipation in political and social reform
ot' 16.32pcr cent.rIn sonredistrictsof the state,
movementshave also been quite varied among
they make up to 38 per cent of the population.
them. More recently there have been attempts,
Given the thct that the ScheduiedCastein the
thoughnot as successfulas in someotherpartsof
Punjab are lcss urbanizedthan their counterpart
non-Scheduied
Castepopulation,therewould be India,to forgea commonpolitical identity among
manyvillagcsin the statewheretheyconstitutea the Scheduledand the Backward Classesof the
majorityof thc populationISingh,1975,p.216].' state.While theseefforts bring them togetherfor
a commonpolitical programme,at the socialand
As elsewhere,the ScheduledCastesin the cultural levels they maintain their distinct idencontemporaryPunjab are not a homogeneoustities.
SurinderS. Jodhka is Professorof Sociology,Departmentof Sociology,PunjabUniversity,Chandigarh.
The author is gratcful to ProfessorAndre Beteilleand ProfessorNilakanthaRath for their commentson an earlier draft
of this paper, Pramod Kumar who gave hirn accessto all the rnaterialhe had on the subject,to SnehaSudhaKomath who
readand cornmentedon the frnal draft. However,the author is responsiblefor errorsand omissions.if any.
382
IOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL Of POLII'ICAL I:CONOMY
]ULY-DF,C.
2O0O
'I'able
l . D i s t r i c t - w i s ed i s t r i b u t i o n o f S c h e d u l c dC a s t e P o p u l a t i o ni n P u n j a b l 9 t l l a n d l 9 9 l
\:
\ - L r r r rr r i t l r e , i i s t n u t
Nc,
n tr9lil
S . C .P o p u l a t r o%
S . f l . P o p u l a t r o n% l 9 9
i_ti
6
7
6
9
i0
(iurcirspur
Anrrrtsar
Kapurthala
Ja la n d h a r
Hoshrarpul
lJ.6e
26.20
16.98
36.2't
30.81
2,t.11
28.01
29.41
lu.l5
33 . 8 5
Rupnagrr
I-udirrarrr
Fcrorepul
riurdkot
IJiratrrrdr
lrl.38
l5.rrJ
l().Ii9
li.6?
: ? . ( I)
14.35
ll
)t
<l
l l . r Jl
.15.05
l9..lt(
)lllgrut
r'l!l ltla
Nag rtr Shahrr*
i.; M ukalsar*
l 5 NI()gr'
16.7{
ll..i i
r?8.98
.36.4.i
30.92
I t ) Nl ansa*
1 , 1 l : a t e h g a r hS a h i b *
I ) u r jta b
2E.91
29.89
18..1I
l-
16.87
* T h e s ed r s t r i c t sc a l n ei n t o e x i s t e n c e
aftcr
I 9 l JI .
S l u r c c :u s c e l c u l a t e db y C h o p r ai l 9 9 T , P p . 3 l - 3 2 1 l i o r n S t a r i s r i c aAl b s t r r c ro f P u n j a b1 9 9 5
'fhrough
a broadsurveyof the availablesecH o w e v c r ,d e s p i t ct h i s w i d e i y h c l d c o m m o n ondarysourcematerral,I shall try to explorein senseaboutthc pan-lndiannarurcoi caste,therc
i cm o u n ro f v a r i a t r o ni n t h e
; h l \ p a n c rt h e c h a n g i n gs r a t u so f t h c S c h e d u l e de x i s t sa c o n s i d c r a b a
manncr
in
which
thc
social
relationsamongdif'C.rsteconrmunitiesin the contemporary
Punjab.
groups
l'ercnt
have
becn
structured
in different
{-Jsinga historical perspective,I shall try to
regions.
As
is
widcly
known,
there
irre
diff'erent
idcntify specil'icities
of the regionand focuson
sctsol-castegroupsin dif'f'erent
regionsol'India
the divcrsc strategiesadopted by dil'fcrent
'the
and
preoccupation
with purity andpollution
depressed
castegroupsto arneliorate
theirstatus.
was not equally marked in every part of the
Punjabhasalsowitnessedmanyreligiousrefbrm
country' IBeteille,2000, p. 172]. The specil'ic
movementsagainstuntouchahilityby thc "non- historical tra.jcctorl',the pattcrns of politicounlouchablcs".
I shalltry to lookat theirsuccesscsecononricchangcscxperienced
during the posrand failurcsas wcll.
independence
period and the compositiorrol
drff"erent
ethniccommunrtres
deterrnine
theactual
Thr.Frontewor*.The institutronof casteand the c a s t er e l a t l o n isn a g l v e nr e g i c . n .
practiee ol'untouchabilityarc widely believedto
tl Puttjttb:Dcspitebeing
be the core delining i'eatures
of thc "traditional" TlteHistoricttlCottte.rt
socialstructurcof India. Castehasbeenviewed fathersmall in size (occupyinga little lessthan
two per centol'the total geographical
spaceand
as an institutionthatdistinguished
thetraditional
havinga little morc thanthe two per cent of thc
India tiom thc West. It is believedto havebeen
total population of India) the contemporary
around for ages. It existed everywherein the
Pun-tab
enjoysan importantplacein the cultural
sub-continent
andeveryonepracticedit ! While in
andpoiiticallitb of Inciia.Beloreanywhereeisc.
Hinduisrn.thc castesvstemand untouchability it was rn the Punjabthat thc "grcenrevoir.lrion
nadan idcologicalsanction,the othercommuni- becamca success.
Agnculturallyit contrnuesru
tics also practicedit, even when not legitimised be the most advancedstateof the countrv.Hlsby theirreligiousphilosophies.
torically also Punjab has becn an extrcniely
\'()t,.t2 NO.3&1
,PREJ
UDICE' WITHOUT' POLLUTION'
?
-illj
importantregionof thesub-continent.
Bengaland Punjab crossedover to the Indian side and the
Punjab were the only two provinces that were Muslims living on the Indian side left for Pakipartitionedin 194i, at the time of independencestan.Thus,in thepost-partition
IndianPunjabthe
fiom colonial rule. Apart from its active Hindus came
to constiturethe majority status.
involvementin the lreedom movement,Punjab
However,the Sikhs too gainedin demographic
has also wrtnessedsome of the most powerful
terms.Apart fiom their proportiongoing up from
identity movements during the last century.
aroundI 2 percentto around35 per cent,theyalso
Sociologically,the significanceof Punjabalso
to concentrate
came
in somespecificdistrictsof
liesin thc lact thatit is onethefew statesof India
the
Punjab
where
divided
they constitutedmore
wherethe Hindus,who constitutemore than 80
p e r c e n t o f I n d i a ' sp o p u l a t i o na, r e a m i n o r i t y . than half of the population.When the linguistic
D e s p i t eb e i n gn o n - H i n d u st ,h e ' l o w c a s t e S
' i k h s surveyswere carried out to reorganizethe proof therstatehavethedistinctionof beingincluded vincialboundaries.
thePunjabwasdeclaredto be
in rhe lrst ol'the ScheduledCastes.a statusthat a bilingualstatewith theSikhdominateddistricts
wasnot grantedto theircounterparts
in the other being reportedas Punjabispeakingareasand the
nrinoritycommunities,i.e.,Muslims and ChrisHindu dominateddistricts as Hindi speaking
tians. Even the Buddhistsand Jains were not
areas.The Sikh leadership
(mostlyuppercaste)
consideredfor sucha status.It wasonly recently
saw in the new demographicscenariothe possithat the neo-Buddhistconverrsbeganto be registcredas ScheduledCastes.According to the bility ol' a Sikh majority province.After a long
l 9 6 l C e n s u so f I n d i a , o f t h e e n t i r eS c h e d u l e ddrawn struggle,the Punjabwas reorganizedin
Castepopulationof India. 98.56 per cent were 1966by takingout theHindi speakingareasfrom
returnedas Hindus and the remaining1.44 per it (thesoutherndistrictswereput togetherinto the
c e n la s S i k h s[ a sr e p o r t e di n S i n g h .1 9 9 5 p
. . l 0 ] . new stateof Harvanaandthehill districtsbecame
Among the Sikhs,the ScheduledCastesconsri- part of HimachalPradesh).
r u t e d 2 9 . 2p e rc e n t[ P u r a n d a r e1,9 9 5 p
, . a5).
Though the demand for a separarePunjabi
Suba was articulatedin linguistic rerms, the
mobilizationswere mostly carriedout on communal lines,both by the Sikh Akalis as well as
theHinduleadership
thatwasopposedto theidea
of 'reorganisation'.
Interestinglythe Scheduled
CasteSikhsalsodid not showanyenthusiasm
for
the division of Punjab.They fearedthat the formationof a Sikh majorityprovincewouldfurther
consolidatethe power of thc alreadydominant
landowningJat Sikhs which would make their
positionevenmorevulnerablein theruralsociety
o f P u n j a b[ N a y a r ,1 9 6 6 ,P p . 5 0 - 5 1 ] .I n t h e p o s t
1966reorganizedIndian Punjabthe Sikhs constitutednearly60 percentwhile theHinduswere
The populationexchangethat accompanied around 38 per cent of the total population.
partition in 1947changedthe demographicpro- ChristiansandMuslimstoo hadtheirpresence
in
file of the Punjabvery significantly.Almost the some pocketsof the statebut their total populaentireSikh and Hindu populationof the western tionswerenot much (aroundone per centeach).
Despitethepopularimageof thePunjabbeing
a Sikh state,it was only in 1966,afterthe reorganizationol' the state in responseto a strong
movementfor a Punjabi speakingprovince,that
the Sikhs became a majority in the state. The
pre-partitionPunjabwas a much biggerprovince
where,in religiousterms,the Muslims outnumbered both the Hindus as well as the Sikhs.
According to l9l I census the proportion of
Muslim populationto the total populationof the
unitedPunjabwas 50.86per cent and that of the
Hindus36.35per cent.Only aroundl2 per cent
hadreportedtheir religionto be Sikhism(Christianswere aroundI per cent) [Sharma,1985,p.
l 781.
384
JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
Another importantaspectof the demographic
compositionof religious communitiesin the
Punjab is their uneven rural-urbandistribution.
Despitebeingin a minority at the statelevel,the
Hindus overwhelminglydominateurban Punjab
while the Sikhs are concentratedmore in rural
IULY.DEC.2OOO
areas.As shown in table2, the proportionof the
Hindu populationis as high as 76.46 per centin
Jalandharand76 per cent in Gurdaspur.On the
otherextreme,theSikhsconstitute89 per centof
therural populationin Amritsar andnearly87 per
centin Bhatinda.
Table 2. District-Wise Rural-Urban Composition of Population of Different Religious Communities (in percentages,l98l)
Rural'
Sikhs
(2)
Hindus
(3)
Curdaspur
Arnntsar
Firozepur
Ludhrana
Jalandhar
5t.42
91.37
64.t9
88.31
53.54
40.21
6.54
34;70
10.88
45.39
Kapurthala
Ropar
Hoshiarpur
Patiala
Sangrur
7t.52
41.89
62.00
64.69
80.5
1
2750
56.75
36.6r
33.34
15 . 8 7
Bhatinda
Faridkot
Punjab(T)
87.69
90.38
7l.30
l 1.63
9.02
26.51
Christians Muslims
(4)
(s)
'7.67
Sikhs
(6)
Hindus
(7)
Christians Muslims
(8)
(e)
0.66
0.09
0.10
066
0.36
20.t I
43.64
20.60
36.45
23.29
76.12
54.91
76.92
6i.14
75.1l
2.65
0.94
|.92
0"42
0.73
0.4'7
0 .i 3
0,21
r).3I
0.23
0.34
0.76
0.09
0 .l 6
0.04
0.56
0.57
1.74
3.85
33;70
22.96
36.87
35.14
34.03
65.24
75.35
60.80
6 36 4
50.00
0.35
0.35
0.50
0.l4
0.06
0.35
0.20
o.47
0.62
I4.79
0.02
0.il
t.25
0.55
0.43
0.89
37.2'7
4l.55
33.19
6l .75
5 1. 5 2
64.t6
0.21
0.34
0;t2
0.34
0 .l 3
1.30
1.99
0.9'7
0.08
0.64
L.L)
Source:as calculatedby Abbi and Singh II997], appendix L
Though all the Sikh gurus came from the
trading casteof Khatris, it is among the peasant
casl,eof Jats and the other rural castes(which
includedthe "shudra"and "untouchable"
castes
of the Punjab countryside)that Sikhism found
much of its followings [Mcl-eod 1996; Kaur,
1986,Pp. 221-23.9).
Thus in casteterms,while
the urban Punjap is largely dominated by the
trading castes,Qindus as well as Sikhs (Khatris
and Aroras) and the Brahmins (the Scheduled
Castesalso have their presence),the rural populationof Punjabis mostly thatof the landowning
Jat Sikhsand the ScheduledCasres.5
in the givenideologicalcontext,'The traditional
structureof theIndianvillagenot merelytolerated
butrequiredthepresenceof untouchables
for both
economicand ritual reasons.
Therehad to be in
every group of villages,if not in every village,
labourersto do thehardphysicalwork in thefields
as well as scavengers,flayers and tanners to
insulatethe community from pollution' [2000.
Pp. 171-721.On the other end, though the presence of caste and caste basedhierarchieshave
beenreportedfrom urbanIndia [Kamble, i99ti.
Pp. l9-231, the scopefor practicinguntouchability is considerably
reducedgiven the sizeol'
the communityand anonymityof relations.
Caste system and the practice of untouchability are much more pronouncedin the village
Thusa sociologicalexerciseat understanding
setting.The notions of traditional caste system the changingstatusof the ScheduledCastesin
and jajmani relations are conceptualizedin the contemporary
India oughtto beginfiom the vilframeworkof the village.As Beteillecomments, lage. Given the fact that the village societyof
voL. I2 NO.3&1
,PREJUDICE' WITHOUT'POLLUTION'
?
Punjab is predominantlya Sikh society and the
religiousideologieshave much to do with the
practiceof untouchability,
it may be worthwhile
examiningthe questionof castein relationto the
Sikhsin generaland rural Punjabin particular.
The Sikh holy book containswritingsof many
Saints and Sufis of the Bhakti period. This
includesthe writings of some of the Saintswho
camefrom the Shudra(suchas Kabir, a weaver;
Dhanna,a Jatpeasant;and Namdev,a tailor) and
untouchablecastes(such as Ravidas,a cobbler;
Casteancl the Contemporan'Sikhism: Sikhism Sadhan,a butcher;andSain,a barber).The Sikh
had emergedas a reform movementduring the holy book also containsthe writings o[ some
Sufis,suchas SheikhFarid and Bhikan.
fiftecnth century. Perhapsthe most obvious Muslim'five
the
Of
beloved' who were the first to be
aspectof thcteachingsof thefirstSikhGuru,Guru
baptizedasKhalsason theday ofBaisakhiin I 699
was
Nanak,
his oppositionto the brahmanical
by the tenth guru, four belongedto the shudra
orthodoxyandthecastesystem.In contrastto the
castes.
hierarchicalvalues of brahmanicalHinduism,
GuruNanakadvocated
equalityof humanbeings
At theempiricallevelalso,manyhavereported
in relationto God. For him, the aim of salvation
on the relativelylesserholdof casteon thesocial
wasunionwith God thattranscended
thecycleof relationships
amongthe Sikhs in particularand
birth and death.Since the divine presencewas the Punjabisin general.This is reflectedin
the
cverywhere,it was availableto everyone.He writings of colonial administratorsas well as in
denounced ritualism, ascetic practices, idol socialscientificstudies.
rvorship and the hermit life in jungles. An
importantaspectof Guru Nanak's philosophy
Reportingon theproblemsof the 'low castes'
washis cmphasison the valuesof everydaylife, in thc province,oneof thecolonialadministrators
a ' t h i s w o r l d l i n e s sH
' . e p r e a c h etdh a to n es h o u l d vicwed it more in terms of politico-economic
attainGod rvhilebeing part of the socialworld disabilitiesratherthan in terms of their being
'untouchable', was
as
the casewith the rest of
a n dc a r n i n go n c ' sl i v i n g .
India.A colonialgovernment
report,for example,
The teachingsof the Sikh Gurusdiffered from observedin 1920s:
It would be misleadingto attachtoo great
the brahmiinicalworldview in yet anotherway.
importanceto the existenceof castein the
In contrastto casteexclusivismand the practice
Punjab....Notonly is it the case that the
of untouchabilityprevalentamong the Hindus,
Brahman has no practical pre-eminence
the Sikh Gurus emphasizedon the need for
among Hindus, but as between'caste' and
sharing and communal living. The kirtan (the
'non-caste'Hindus
the distinctionis not so
corporatesinging) and langar (the community
strongly marked as to create the political
kitchenandeatingtogether)wereamongthenew
problem fbund elsewhere in India....The
and important institutionsintroducedby the
Problem in truth, if one exists, is rather of
Gurus.The secondCuru standardised
the Guruclasses
sociallydepressed
thanof 'out-castes'
mukhi script,which evcntuallybecamea vehicle
assuch;while muchremainsto be donefor the
for the Punjabi languageand identity. Earlier
social uplift of some of theseclasses.they
GuruN.anakhadconsciouslyrejectedSanskritin
hardly presenta separatepolitical problem
preferenceto the indigenousspokenlanguage.
[Nayar,1966,p. 20].'
The fifth Guru. Guru Arjun compiled the first
canonof the faith,theAdi Granth,thateventually
Another British author contrasting Punjab
cameto be worshipedas the eternalGuru by the with restof the sub-continent
andcomparingthe
Sikhs after the death of the tenth and the last of castein Punjab with the class in Europe wrote,
'nowhere
the living Gurus.
else in Hindu India doescastesit so
386
JOURNAL OI" INDIAN SCHOOL OF-POI,ITICAL ECONOMY
IULY-DEC.2O(X)
lightly or approachso nearlyto the socialclasses
Most other sludentsof Punlabtoo agreethat
of Europe' [Andersonin ibid: 20]. Someof the thoughthe structureof hierarchycould be dil'Westernobserverswent to the extentof saying ferentin thestatewhen cclmpared
to otherregions
that the Punjabwas a 'notableexception'to the o f l n d i a ,c a s t ed i v i s i o nds i de x i s ta n t o n gt h eS i k h s .
castesystemin India [O'Malley in Nayar, 1966. T o s o m ee x t e npt o l l u t i o na n da v o i d a n cw
e e r ea l s o
p.201.
practicedin the regionparticularlyin rclationto
the Scheduled
Casre,both amongthe Hindusas
More recentlysomeanthropologists
havealso w e l l a s a m o n gt h e S i k h s I N a y a r . 1 9 6 6 ;S i n g h .
madesimilar claims and have arguedthat caste 1 9 7 5 ;S i n g h ,1 9 7 7 ;S a b e r w a l1, 9 7 6 1 .
inequalitiesin the regionweremuch lesserthan
While recognising
thatcastedivisionsexisted
elsewherein India. Comparing the disability
among
the Sikhs, the availableiitcraturealso
experienced
by the low castein Punjabwith the
in thc attirestof India,Saberwal,who studieda smalltown indicatesthat the changeexperienced
tudes
towards
caste
during
thc
last
century
has
of Punjabduring the late 1960swrites:
quite
been
significant
in
the
rcgion.
E,videncc
for
...evenif the Brahminswere able to carve a
t
h
i
s
i
s
a
v
a
i
l
a
b
l
e
f
r
o
m
s
t
u
d
i
e
s
o
t
'
i
n
d
i
v
i
d
u
a
l
v
i
l
l
a
,ses
ccremonialplacc at Ranjit Singh's court fbr
or
towns,
well
as
as
of
tl.re
social
rclbrm
nrovethemselves,there is no evidcncethat they
'low
ciistcs'.
acquiredmuch land or that they wcre ableto mentsfor the uplift of thc
enforcc the social circumstancesthat they
L P . S i n g h[ 1 9 7 5 1 9 7 7 ] w
. h o d i d a s t u d yo l ' a
would havc required for maintaininghigh
levelsof ritualpurity;andthereforethelowest villagenearAmritsarduringthe lare 1950sprclcastesin Punjab had to carry only a lighr videsa iairly goodideaabourthe natureof casre
b u r d e n o f r i t u a l i m p u r i t i e s ,m u c h l i g h t e r . r e l a t i o nisn a S i k hv i l l a g eT. h c S i k l r sl i v i n gi n t h c
villagewercdividedinto two -sroups.
the Sardars
physicallyand socially,thanrheburdenelse( t h e u p p e rc a s t c sa) n d t h e M a z h a b i s( r h el o w c r w h e r ei n I n d i a[ S a b e r w a l , 1 9 7 6
p ,. 7 ] .
castescavcn_rlers).
Thc l'irstgroup includcclthc
JoycePettigrew,anotheranthropologist,
gocsto
J a t s ,K a n r b o h sT. a r k h a n sK, u r n h a r sS. u n a r sa n d
theextentof sayingthattheruralsocietyof Punjab
Nais(in thc Hinducasrchierarchy,theyrvouldall
differsradicallyfrom the Hindu India because
ol'
be treatedas Shudrasand with the cxceptionof
the absenceof casteamongthe SikhsIPettigrew.
Jats,they wereperhapsall includcdin the list ol'
1975,p. 41.
the 'Other Backward Classes'). Ihough the
agriculturistJats considcredthemselvcshrgher
Howcver, not everyone who has studied
thantheothcrgroupsin thiscategor-y,
Singhlbund
Punjabagrceswith sucha position.Paul Hershno feelingol'caste-based
avoidanceor prcjudicc
man,anotheranthropologist
who carriedout his amon_q
them. They visitedeachother'shouses.
fieldworkin a villagenearJalandhar,
for example, interdinedand attendedmarriagc
l'unctionsancl
completelydisagrecs
with thethesisthattheideas celebrated
mostof thefestivalstogether.
In tcrnrs
of purity and impurity did not existin Punjabor of the villagc settlement
also. no demarcation
that caste in the region functionedmore like existedin thc housesof
thescgl'oups.
class.?Contesting Pettigrewsclaims on the
absenceofcaste in Punjab,he writes:
However, the Mazhabis, who constiturcd
Pettrgrewappearsto arguefrom the premise nearlyhalf of thevillagepopulation.wcre
treated
of Sikh theologythat thereis no casteamong d i f f e r e n t l yT. h c y l i v c do n o n cs r d co 1 ' t h cv r l l a s c .
the Sikhs,but this is manifestlynot the case Theyhada scpilrarc
wcll whilc iill tl.rcother-casrcs
when one considersthe relationships....There
u s e da c o m m o nw c l l . I n t h c v i l l a g ef b a s t sw, h c r e
a r em o s (c e r t a i n l ym a n yc a s t ed i v i s i o n sw i t h i n everyonewas invited, thc Mazhabissilt scpat h eS i k hf b l d I H e r s h m a nl 9, 8 l , p .2 l ] .
r a t e l y .S i n c cr n a n yo l ' t h c n rr . l o r k c da s l a h r r u r t r . s
vot,.t2 No.-t&1
'PRI'JUD] CE' WITHO
UT' POLI,UTION''!
387
'community'
in thefieldsof theJatlandowners,
thelattervisited
from the Hindusand the legalrecthe housesof the Mazhabisbut thev did so as a ognitionto weddingsthroughtheSikhrituals,the
gesture.
patronizin-g
Anand Karaj, made thc village Brahmin priesr
redundant.Unlike the Brahmin.the Sikh priest
There were also occasionswhere untouch- couldbe from anycasteand.
asmentionedabove.
ability was eithernot practiccdor its extenthad
the priest in this particularvillage was from a
beendeclining.Many Jats in the village let the
lower caste.He had beentrainedto be a priestat
Mazhabisentertheirhousesanddid not consider
the
Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar.
their touch polluting. One of them had also
Priesthood
amongthe Sikhshadthusbecomean
employed a Mazhabi to clean utensilsin his
achieved.
rather
thanan ascribedstatus!
house.
Untouchability was practiced minimally
With theexceptionof Hershman's
work.there
amongthe drinkersin the village"The Mazhabis would hardly be any study of rural Pun3abthat
werethe traditionalbrewersof countryliquor in reportsatroutthe superiorityof statusenjoyedby
the village.
Brahminsover the Jats(the'landowning
peasant
Mazhabisand Sardarsdrink liquor togetherat
caste)and the Khatrrs(mostly in tradeand serin the fields.We saw
thefair and occasionally
vices).Brahminsthemselves
tendedto concede
themdrinkingliom the sameglasswhich was
such
a
franrework
of
ranking
19671.
ID'Souza,
passedfiom oneto theother.However,in their
honiesthey usually drink only among their
Commcntingon thelackof respectenjoyedby
own castcmcmbers.On festivalslike Lohri
Brahminsin Punjab,SabcrwalquotesChathc
a n d H o l i . w h e n v i l l a g e r si n d u l g ei n h e a v y
drinking, no castedistinctionsare observed nana:
In Punjabithe word Pandat(Pandit)denotes
I S i n g h1
, . 9 i 7p, . 7 6 ] .
a Brahmanandmay connotesomcrespectfbr
t ya sa l s ol e s si n
T h ep r a c t i c eo l ' u n t o u c h a b i l iw
t h e l a t t e r .B u t t h c w o r d B a h m a n( B r a h m r n )
reiigiousaffarrs.Thcrc was only one gurudwara
alnrostalwayscarriesa little contempttas in
(the Sikh holy place.)in the villagewirerecveryS a b e r w a l1, 9 7 6 ,p . l 0 l .
one was allowed entry. Thcy also sat together
while eatingfood in the gurudwara.Thc priest,
who himself belongedto a low caste(Cheernba, In his studyof a smalltown of Punjabcarried
washcr-man),
servedall the casteswithout any out during the late 1960s.Saberwalfbund a
changein attitudetowardsthe tradiscrimination.He had performedall thc mar- considcrablc
'The
conjunctionof
riagesrn the villages irrcspectiveof any caste ditional ideologyof caste.
d r s r r n c t r oTnh. r sw a sq u r t ei n c o n t r a stto t h ew a y pressurefronr above with pressurefrom belou
a Brahminpriestfunctioncd.Thc Brahminpriest hadproduccdnew culturalpatterns.
rejectingthe
usedto perlbrrnritualsfbr thc Sikhsin thevillagc ideasoiinhcritedpurityandpollution'
ISaberwal.
as well until they beganappointingtheir own 1 9 7 3p, . 2 5 6 1 .
priestlbr the gurudwara.But hc servedonly the
uppercasteSikhs.
Thc cmpiricalstudieson thecasterelationsin
Punjab,
thoughconfirm that the ideasol purity
Thc rcligiousrelbrm movementsamong thc
S i k h sd u r i n g t h e 1 9 2 0 sl a u n c h e db y t h e S i n g h andirnpuritywereratherweakin thercgion.tend
Sabhasand Akalis had a lastingimpact on the to also emphasizeon the significantrole that
religious liie ol' the Sikhs in the village. Thc different reform movementshave played in
insistenceol' Sikh reformers to distancethc bringingthis changeabout.
388
TOURNALOF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
JULY.DEC.2OOO
The Mobilisations against Untouchabili4, in natureof the rural power structure,'conversion
Punjab: Punjab has been witness to a good to Christianityfor thesehighly vulnerablepeople
number of religious reform movementsagainst wasa veryrisky actof rebellion'[Webster,1999,
untouchability. Sikhism itself is commonly Pp.96-71.
interpreted by modern historians as a reform
movementagainstthe brahmanicalorthodoxy
According to Juergensmeyer,
the Christian
prevalentin the regionduring the fifteenthcen- missionaries
hadnot reallyintentionallytargeted
tury.As mentionedabove,thefounderguru,Guru the low castes for conversions.'lt was the
Nanak. and the later Sikh Gurus advocared untouchableswho had ori_einallysought out
equalityof humanbeingsin relationto Cod and C h r i s t i a n i t y[ ' 9 8 8 ,p . 1 8 4 ] .T h e yo b v i o u s l ys a w
thefutility of castedivisions[Mcl-eod,1996,Pp. a potentialof socialmobility in conversions.
85-861.The Sikh Gurusalso introducedcerrain
Originally,themissionaries
of thepunjabhad
institutions that actively discouraged caste
only attemptedto convertthe upper castes,
exclusion.Thoughthe Sikh Guruswereall upper
sincetheyregardedothersasbeyondthereach
casteKhatris,their followings camemostly from
of the methods they preferred-intellectual
amongthosewho wererankedrelativelylower in
argumentandmoral suasion.The enthusiasm
the castehierarchy.
of the first convert,Ditt, and the subsequent
lower casterequestsfor conversionnor only
However,with routinizationover a periodof
baffled the missionariesbut embarrassed
time, particularlyafter the establishment
of the
them:theysawno sensibleor moralreasonfor
Sikh kingdomunderRanjit Singh,the brahmankeepingthd lower castesout, yet fearedthat
ical orthodoxy is believed to have once again
allowing them in would sully the church's
entrenched
theregion[Singh, 1977,P.8 I ] . It was
reputation[Juergensmeyer,
1988,p. l8al.
only after the British establishedtheir rule in the
regionand introducednew institutionsof goverThc l'ears ol' the missionarieswere not
nance, particularly census and the notion of unlbunded.When a newspaperarticle in the
representation,
thatthequestionof untouchability Tribuneof October19,I 892reportedthattherate
acquiredprominencein the Punjabonce again. ofconversionswould soonturn the Punjabinto a
Christianregion,'a tremoroi fearranthroughthe
Along with the British rulers came the Chris- upper caste Hindu and Sikh elite' [Juergenstian missionarieswith the intentionof spreading m e y e r ,1 9 8 8 ,p . l 8 l l . T h e r ew a s a v i r t u a lc o m the messageof the Church. The first to find the petition among the religiouscommunities,the
appealof the Churchattractivein the regionwere Christians,the Hindusand the Sikhs,to win the
the members of untouchablecastes.The first untouchables
overto theirside.It wasaroundthis
conversionis reportedto havetakenplacein I 873 time that the militant Hindu reformistorganizawhen a man namedDitt was baptizedin Sialkot. tion, the Arya Samaj,made its entry into the
'To
the surpriseof the missionaries,
Ditt was Punjab.
followed by hundredsofthousandsofothersfrom
lower castes,and Punjab Christianity becamea
The colonialadministrative
structurehadalso
de facto movement' [Juergensmeyer,
1988, p. begunto deploy new categoriesof social aggrel 8 l l . B y l 8 9 0 t h e r ew e r e1 0 , 1 7 1
C h r i s r i a nl si v i n g gationand classification.
The British thoughtof
in 525 villages of Punjab and by l9l I their theirpopulacein termsof religiouscommunities
numberhad goneup to 1,63,994and by l92l to andlookedat themaccordinglyin the processof
over 3,00,000 [Webster, 1999, p. 96; Grewal, governance.
They 'encouraged
the membersof
1994,p. l 301.Most of themcamefrom a partic- each communityto presenttheir case in comularuntouchable
caste,theChuhras(scavengers)munitarianterms' [Grewal, 1989,p. 195].The
and mainly hailed from rural areas.Given the rolethatcensusenumeration
playedin converting
voL. t2 NO.3&1
, PREJ
UDI CE' WITHOUT' POLLUTION' ?
389
the fuzzy boundariesinto well-dellnedcommu_
Unlike the other Hindu reform movements.
nitieswasperhapsmostevidentin punjab.As Fox Arya Samajnotonly attacked
othcrreligionswho
polnts out. these administrativedrscoursesol had beenconvcrtinsHinclusrnto rheii
ioicl bur
British rulershad far reachinginfluenceson thc also sevcrelycriticized rnany of the existing
practicesof the Hindusincludingthc practiceol.
processof idcntityformationin the region
[Fox,
TheSwamiaclvocatecl
19851.The introductionof censusthusmadcthc untouchability.
goingback
'religious
c o m m u n i t i e s 's e n s i t i v ea b o u t t h e to thc ancientVedic religion whcreinuntouch_
'Nunrbcrs
ableswere presuntably
a part of the Hindu rclinunrbcrs.
weregcnerallyequatedwith
gron. He attackedbrahmanicalhegemonyin
stren_9th.
particularlyfbr employrnentunderthc
rcligiousaffairsand emphasizeduprinrhe neeO
, . l3l ].
- s o v e r n m c n[tG' r e w a l ,1 9 9 a p
f o r s p r c a d i nm
g o d e r ne d u c a t i o a
n m o n qt h e H i n .
d u s . H e a d v o c a t e dt h e i n c l u s i o no l i h e l o w c .
Whilc theMuslim populationremainedstablc castesinto thc Hindusociety
througha processof
at arouncj-5i percentduring l gg I to l9l I andrhe rcligious purification, the Shudcthi.
Sincc
Sikh and the Christianpopulationswcnt up, thc untouchabilitywas presumedto emanatefrom
H i n d u p o p u l a t i o ns h o w e da d e c l i n cf r o m a b o u r ritual impurity, it could be removeclthroueha
'1I per cenrin I 88I ro around36 per
touch-abte
centin I 9 I I religiousritual to renderuntouchables
[Jones,1976, 324). The conversionsro Chris_ IPimpleyandSharma,1985].
tianityweremostly fiom the low castes:mostof
At the concretelevel, the Shuddhimovemenr
whom hadearlierbeenrecordedasHindusby the
wasto involvei) conversion
to Hinduismof thclse
coionial enumerators.
The upper castepunjabi
belongingto foreignreligions;ii) rc-conversion
Hrndus.who were alreadyfceling marginalized
of thosewho had been convertcdro a fbrersn
by the Bengali clerks whom the British ha<l religion;and
iii) initiatingsrepsro rarserhcstar-us
broughtwith rhem from Calcuttafor adminis_ o f t h el o w c a s t e sw i t h i nH i n d u i s m
[ p i m p l e ya n d
tratlvework. would have obviouslyviewed the S h a r m a1. 9 8 5p. , 5 4 1 .
declinein Hindu populationwith much concern,
The first Shuddhiritual was performednearlv
The passingof thelandalienationactin I 90 I that
stoppecltransf'erof agricultural land from the five yearsafterthe deathof Swami Dayanancl
in
belongingro thecaste
agriculturalcastes,mostlySikhsandMuslims.to I 888when70 untouchables
o f O d e sw c r e s o l e m n i z c dS h u d c l h iD. u r i n s t h e
the non-agricultural
castes,mostly Hindus,hacl
y e a l l 9 0 l - 1 9 1 0a h o u sr i x t yr o s c v c n t yt h , , u - s 3 n d
also been seenby the Hindu elite as an act ot
u n t o u c h a h l eusn d e r w e n S
l l r u i d h il p i m p i e yu n t r
discriminationagainstthem.
S h a r m a ,1 9 8 5 ,p . 9 6 ] . T h e m c ) v e m e nsta i n e d
l u r t h c l m o m L . n t u ni nt t h c l b l l o w i n g y e a - na, n d
The militant reformism of Arya Samaj more untouchablcs
were "purified',and brought
appearedto provide an answerto the crisis of thc i n t o t h c H i n d u l o l d .
uppercasre
Hindu eliteof theregion.It ollbred'a
progressive
Did Slutcldhi nrake any dif{'ercnce to the
ideologybasedon traditionalvalues,
untouchables
afterthcy werc raiscdto thc status
1
9
8
8
,
[ J u e r g e n s m e y e r , p . 3 8 ] . S w a m iD a y a n a n d
'dwrya'?
Weretheyaccepted
in BombayhadlaunchedrheArya Sarnajin 1g7,5 ol
by thc uppcrcastc
H
i
n
d
u
s
a
s
t
h
c
i
r
c
q
u
a
l
?
andin 1877the SwamivisitedLahore.He stayed
on in Funjabfor nearlyeighteenmonthsduring
In their study carried out during the earlv
h i s f i r s tv i s i ra n ds e ru p b r a n c h eosI l h e S a m a ir i
1 9 8 0 sP, i m p l e ya n dS h a n n at 1 9 8 5 1
f o u n dt h a tt h !
a l m o sa
t l l t h c b i g r o w n so f r h ep r o v i n c eI S h a r m a ,
movementdid not really rnakeany significant
1 9 8 5p, . 4 0 1 .
dif'fbrencc
to rhe untouchables
thoughit trelpea
JOURNAI, OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POI,ITICAI, ECONO]'IY
IULY-D8C.200()
The militantassertion
of Hindutvaidcntityby
the Punjabi Hindu elite in consolidatingtheil
'The Punjabi[{indu elite the Arya Samajhad alreadysparkedoff a dcbate
positionin the region.
succeedcd.in largc measure. to retain the on rhe questionof Sikh identity.Sikhsbeganto
religionand that
uniouchablecastesIn the Hindu fold thcreby assertthai therrswasa separate
with
shouid
not
be
clubbed
the Hindus
they
rncreasing
thcir politicalstrength'.As l"aras the
practice
1994].
The
of
untouchability
or
wer€ concerned,thcy lbund that a IOberoi,
untouchables
discriminationagainstthe low castcsamongthe
inajorityof'thosewho wcnt throughthe Shuddhr
'still sufferedfiom poverty and the Sikh wasattributedto thecontinuedinfluenceof
ccremony
Hinduismon thc community.Thus the strugglc
s t i g m ao l ' u n t o u c h a b i l i tTyh. e i red u c a t i o n al el v e l s
that were seen
againstcasteand untouchability,
theywcreengaged as the core Hindu values,rvasimplicatedin the
wercvcry low. Occupationally
in agriculturallabourlbrccor werein low prestige movementf or a separate
religiousidentityfor the
occupations.Their geographicalsegregation S i k h s .
suggestcm
d i n i r n u ml e v e l o 1 's o c i a li n t c r a c t i o n
with orhef castes.Probably, even after their
The SinghSabhamovementfor the liberation
Shutldhi,they did not gain anythingexceptfor a ol' Sikh Curudwarasfrom the Hindu Mahants
:iyrnbolicri-ehtof readingthe Vedasand putting launchedduring the 1920aiso becamea moveo n t h cs a c l c dt h r e a dI' P i m p l c ya n dS h a n n a1, 9 8 5 , m e n t f o r d e - H i n d u i z a t r oonf t h e S i k h r e l i g r o n .
One of the main demandsof the movementwas
p.981.
'unquestioned
entrance
to Sikhplacesofworship'
( J u e r g e n s m e y e1r 9
, 88,p. 281. Some
l
b
r
a
l
l
Furthcr.despitetheir criticism o1'the Brahmembersof theSikhKhalsaDiwantriedto crcate
m a n i c aol r t h o d o x yw i t h i nH i n d u i s mt.h es t r a t e g y
'deprcsscdclass movements'
their own
to
cil'Arya Sarnajfor elevatingthc statusol thc
cncourageSchcdulcdCastcsupport.The movewas workedout within thc framcuntouchablcs
rnentwasnotconl'ined
to thc liberationof historic
w o r k o t p u r i t y a n d i m p u r i t y .T h o u g ht h e yc o n - Sikh Gurudwaras.
Its lmpactwent very lar. i.P.
t j e r r r n ctdh c p r r a c t i coel " u n t o u c h a b i l i ttyh, e yd i d Singhin his studyof a villagein Amritsardistricit
t 1 - v a r n aT.h e v e r y n o t i o n reportedthat thc <Jcclinc
n o t r c l c c tt h c c o n c e p o
of the tsrahrnrns
in the
ol' Shuddhiinvolved afllnnation to the idea of villagc bcgan around the tinre these rciorm
ritual purity as being the criterion for status nrovcmcntswcrc launched,i.e., 1922-26.It was
cnlrancement.
aiicr thesemovementsthat a low castcSikh was
appointeda pricstin the localGuludwaraandhc
Thoughthe Alya Samajinitially attackedthe beganto givc equaltreatmentto membersof all
so-callcdl'orcignreligions,i.e. lslam anclChris- c a s t e si n t h ev i l l a g eI S i n g h .1 9 7 i. P p . 8 l - t t 2 ] .
t i a n i t yd. u r i n gt h ec o u r s eo f t i m ea st h e i ri n f l u e n c e
to havccontinueddunng
This processseemeci
spreadthcy alsobeganto criticizeSikhism.Evcr
period
post
independence
as weli. More srgthc
srncc{lrc ,ia}s of Sikh -eurus.rnany of the low
perhaps,
rural
the
Sikh
elite attnbuted
nificantly
Jasteslri riher"egionhad bccn a part of the Sikh
in Funlah
thechangein thestatusofuntouchables
'fhc
reportsof low castc Sikhs being
religion.
to the quality of their rcligion.Reportingabout
int,..r
cnunciatedSluuldhiand their re-conversion
h i s v i l l a g e I, . P .S i n g hw r i t e s :
Hinduisnrwercvicwedwith muchconcernby tl.re
of cqualityof castcslike
themodernprcachcrs
S i k hm i d d l ec l a s sl e a d e r s h i pS.i n c et h e n u m b e r s
andhisyoungfriendspointit out
theSarpanch
in the
had begunto rnatterand the cclmmunities
thatwhatthenew law dcmandsisjust whatthc
hadbccomevery sensitivcatrouttheir sizc,
rc-uion
gurushad preachcd.It is in kcepingwith the
keento
the Sikh lcadcrshipwas understandably
percepts
of Sikh religion.Thereliesthemajor
oi castestructureLletween
a Sikh
dil'f'ercnce
keenlhc iow cirsteswithin their fold.
vAL 12 NLr. 3&1
,
PREJIJD IC E, WTTHO UI' P()'L|,U1'ION
. hilein a Hindu
v i l l a g ea n da H i n d uv i l l a g e W
village castehierarchyand differenceshave
religioussanctionsbehindthem,thereare no
s u c h s a n c t i o n si n t h e S i k h r e l i g i o n .T h u s i t
becomes casier to propagate and instill
e q u a l i t vo l c a s t er e l a t i o n sr n a S i k h v i l l a g e
i ' S r n . s h1,9 1 1. p . ' 1 9 j .
evidentin thedoabaregionol'Punjabwheresomc
of theChamarshadcvengoncto theUnitcdStates
andEnglandandhadbeena partol'the lcft-wing
there.The introductionof sec:ular
organizations
alongwith thesocialmobilitythatsomc
education
rndividual untouchablescxperiencedprovrdeci
the socialground for such autonomousmobiiizations.In the favourable
atmosphere
createdby
Sihli,: LheSikh rcformersattackedcaste.the
socialrefbrmcrs,by the carly 1920ssomeof the
, a v i n g b e c o m ea w a r eo f t h e
S i k i ' l c n d c r s h i ph
Chamarsbcganto thinkof anorganization
of their
s i ! r r l t i c a n eoc { n u m b e r sd, i c ln o t d e n y t h e e x i s Most
o1'
the
early
leadership
ol'
orvn.
thc
Ad
t e n c eo f ' c a s t ca n r o n gt h e S i k h so r t h a t t h e l o w
Dharnr
rnovement
had
under
the
influcncc
-qrown
S
i
k
h
s
d
i
d
n
o
t
f
a
c
e
a
n
y
c a s t e sa n r o n g t h c
with its
d i s a b i l i t i edsu ct o t h c i rb i r t h .T h eSi k h l e a d e r s h i p ,of theArya Sarnajbut l'eltuncomfortable
in 1act,hadto lobby a grcatdealwith thenational overallidcology.A SchedulcdCastememberol.
leadershipthat aiong with the Hindus, certain thc Arya Samajfrom Hoshiarpur,SantRam.had
Sikh castcsshoulcialsobe includedin the list of begun a new movemcnt for ScheduledCaste
the Schedule<i
Castesl'orthe provisionof speciai nrobility r.vithinthc Samal.thc Jat Path Torak
They were otrvtously Mandal (Society for the Abrolitionof Castc).
bsnelrtrand reservatrons.
w'!-riadthat ii thc rescrvationbene{ltswere nol Howcver.soon he had seriouscontlict with lhc
extendedt<-rSikhs,the low castesamong ther- leadership
and lcli the Sam.g.
may declarctheir reli-eionas Hinduism.Nayar
'concessionwas
reportsthat this
achicvcd in
The Ad Dharammovementtook off rvith thc
returnfor an agreementby the Sikh leadersthat
arrival of Mangoo Rarn on the sccne.Mangoo
no f'urtherpolitical demandswould be made in
Ramwassonof a rich Chamarbut his family had
the l'utule on behalf of the Sikh conrrnunitv'
t
o b c a r t h e s t i g m ao f u n t o u c h a b i l i t yH. e s p c n t
i N a y a r " 1 9 6 6 .r r . 2 3 8 1 .H o w e v e r ,w h i l e a l l t h e
much
of his earlyiif'ein thc I-lnitedStateswhere
Fiinciuunrouchable
castesweregiventhe special
got
hc
rnvoivedwith the Caclarmovcment.Ey
privriegcs.'rniy lbur sub-castes
of untouchablc
'
T
h
e
1
9
2
5
h
.
c h a dc o m cb a c kt o P u n j a bO
. n h i sr c t u r n
S i k h sw e r ei n c l u d e di n t h c l i s t .
sub-castes
horne,
hc
set
up
a
school
firr
lower
castechildrcn
excluciedlionr the schcdulcshowcdlittle reluct a n c ei n a b a n d o n i n tgh e K h a l s a( S i k h ;t r a d i t r o n with tlrc hclp of'Arya Samajbut very soon hea n dd c c l a r i n g
t h e n r s e l v eHsi n d u si n o r d e rt o c l a i r n distancecl
hirnscllfiom the Samajand took ovcr
. . 3041.
b c n e f l t sI' S i n g h ,1 9 6 6 p
thc Ad Dharmnrovcment.
Apart fronr the competition arnong thc
The Ad Dharmmovcnrentsaw itsclfas a new
Christians.
theArya SamajHindusandtheSikhs, religiousrrovcment.Thcy advocatedthat 'Unduringthe colonialperiodPunjabalsowitnessed
touchableswerc a qaunt, a distinct religious
mobilizations
autonomous
by thelocaldalits.The
c o m m u n i t ys i m i l a rt o t h o s eo l ' M u s l i m sH
, indus.
most inrportantof these was the Ad Dharm
and Sikhs,and that the qaum had existedfiom
nl()vcrne
nt.r
t i m ei m m e m o r i a lI'J u e r g c n s m c y e1r9, 8 8 p, . a 5 ] .
openedup by the growing When the 193I Census approached.the Ad
New opportunities
demandol Ieathergoodssuchasbootsandshoes Dharmis insistedthey be listcd as a separate
lbr thc Britisharmy hadbroughtsomeprosperity religiouscommunityandnot be clubbedwith the
to sonlc o1' the enterprisingmembersof the Hindus.In thc vcry first confelcnceof the orgaChamar caste.This mobility was particularly n i z a t i o nt,h e yh a dd e c l a r c d :
JOURNAI, OF INDIAN SCHOOI, OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
JULY-DEC.2OOO
We are not Hindus.We stronglyrequestthe ScheduledCastesof Punjabhave beenattracted
governmentnot to list us assuchin thecensus. by somenew religiousreform movements,such
They havealsoformed their
Our faith is not Hindu but Ad Dharm.We are as the Radhasoamis.
bothat the levelof individual
not a part ol Hinduism,and Hindusare not a own organizations,
p a r to f u s I J u c r g e n s m e y eI 9r ,8 8 ,p . 7 4 1 .
castecommunitiesas well as acrossthe dalit
castes.
Despitestil'foppositioniiom the localHindu
theirdemandwasaccepted.
A totalof TheScheduledCastesin ConteruporaryPunjab:
leadership,
418.789 persons reported themselvesas Ad As mentioned above, the ScheduledCastes
Dharmrsin the 1931PunjabCensus,almostequal accountfor a little more than28 per cent of the
far abovethe all
to the Christianpopulationof the province.They total populationof the Pun"jab,
accountedfor about 1.5 per cent of the total India average.Their populationis not only conpopulationand around ii tenth of the total low siderablyhigherthanthenationalaverage( 16.32
c a s t ep o p u l a t i o on l ' t h eP u n j a bN. e a r l y8 0 p e r c e n t percent)it hasalsobeengrowingfasterthanthe
ol' the low castesof Jalandharand Hoshiarpur generalpopulationofPunjabduringthelastthree
The Proportionof theScheduled
Castes
districts reported thensclves as Ad Dharmis decades.
[ J u c r g e n s m e y e1 r9,8 8p, . 7 7 ] .I n o t h e r p a r tosf t h e populationin thestatewentup from24.7percent
Punjab howcvcr, the locally dominant groups i n 1 9 7 1t o 2 6 . 9p e r c e n t i nl 9 8 l a n d a g a i n t o 2 8 . 3
were able to thwartthe Ad Dharmi drive rather p e rc e n ti n I 9 9l .
el'fcctiveli,IKhan in Saberwal,1972,p" 144].
This higher rate of populationgrowth among
After the census.the Ad Dharm movementwas
absorbedin Ambedkar'sScheduledCastesFed- themas comparedto the "general"populationis
eration thal was Iater transformedinto the perhapsdirectly linked to their overall backRepublicanParty of India. While Ambedkar wardness.They accountedfor more than half of
enjoyed a great deal of influence in Punjab, t h e t o t apl o o r i n t h e s t a t e b o t h iln9 8 l a s w e l la s
p. 14].Educationally
particularlyamong the Ad Dharmis and made in 1991[YadavandSharma,
severalvisits to the province[Ahir, 1992],few also,theyhavenotfairedtoo well.The Scheduled
amongthem followedhis stratcgyof converting Castesof Punjab are not only far behind the
to Budhismfor socialmobility [Saberwal.1972, generalpopulationof Punjab,the percentageo1'
p 1451.
literateamongthemis alsolower thantheall India
averagefor ScheduledCastes.While the literacy
Aften independence,the Ad Dharmis were ratefor thetotalpopulationof Punjabin l99l was
Castesof thePunjab 58.12 percent,it wasonly around33.35per cent
listedasoneof the Schedulecl
and were clubbedwith the Hindus once again for the ScheduledCastespopulation(according
Over a pcriod of time they too came to see to the revisedfigurcsas given in the Statistica.
lvesso.A recentstudyfoundthatasmany Abstractof Punjab1999,it was4l percent).The
themse
figurefor the Scheduled
Castesat
as 98.3 per cent o1' the Ad Dharmis Punjab corresponding
as a 'castegroup' andonly theall Indialevelwas37.41percent.While there
identifiedthemsclves
1.6 per cent o['them reportedthat they were a hasbeensomeimprovementin the literacyover
religiouscommunity.Whenaskedabout theyears,thegapbetweenthegeneralpopulation
separate
their caste before they began reporting them- andthe SchedulcdCasteshasremained,more or
selvesas Ad Dharmis,all of themreportedto be less,the same(seetable3). They are aiso com'Chamars
Comparedto 29.55per
[Kamaljot, 19961.Though attempts parativelyiessurbanized.
havebeenmadeto revive the Ad Dharm move- cent of urbanpopulationfor the entire Punjab,
period,there only 20.55percentof the Scheduled
Casteswere
mentduringthe post-independence
has not bcen much response.However. the l i v i n ei n t o w n sa n dc i t i e si n 1 9 9 L
.PREJ
UDICF:'WITHOUT' POU,UTnN' ?
v)t,. D NO. -1&l
'fable
393
3. Literacy among the Scheduled CastesofPunjab (in percentages,1971i 1981; l99l)
lndia
Punjab
Year
Total
SCs
SC
(men)
SC
(women)
Total
SCs
SC
(men)
SC
(women)
(l)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
16.00
23.86
3 33 5
22.95
33.96
4C.54
8 .l 0
16.67
2 3l t
t97|
l
198
1 9 9I
2945
36.t't
52.21
l2;7'7
2l.38
3'7.41
20.04
31.12
49.91
3367
49.t2
58.r2
5.06
10.93
23.76
S o u r c e : C e n s u s o f l n d1i a9 7 1 ,1 9 8 1 ,l 9 9 l ( a s c a l c u l a t e d b v Y a d a v a n d S h a r m a o . 5 ) .
F{owever.the ScheduledCastesof Punjab thepost-rndependence
IndianStatefor thebenefit
wereurbanizingat a ratemuchfasterthantherest of tne ScheduledCasteswas the policy of job
of the population.The annualgrowth rateof the reservations.
Though not designedto eradicate
ScheduledCaste population in urban Punjab poverty or unemploymentamong depressed
during196I -9 I was4.3 percentasagainst2.9per communitics, reservationswere expected
to
centin the caseof non-Scheduled
Castepopula- createan influentialgroupof elite
amongthem
tion. The increasein their populationhas been
who couldprovidea leadership
to thesedepressed
particularlyimpressive
in thetownsof Jallandhar.
communitiesin their struggle for social and
Hoshiarpurand GurdaspurIKrishan,1998].
economicmobility. The availablefigures for
PunjabshowthattheScheduled
Castesin thestate
Thesefiguresclearlyindicatethatevenwhen
indeed
did
avail
the
benefits
of reservations.
thernstitutionof castewascomparatively
weaker
at the different
in the state and the socio-culturaldisabilities However. their representation
sufferedby the ScheduledCasteswere lesser,in lcvelswas uneven.As rcvealedin table4, while
at the lower lcvel
termsof developmental
indicators,they seemto they were over represented
havenotdoneaswell astheircounterDarts
in some (class IV) their proportionsdeclined as one
movedup in thejob hierarchy.However,evenat
otherstates.
thc top level,theirprcsence
was net insignificant
Perhapsthemostimportantinitiativetakcnby ( 1 5 . 3 2p e rc e n t ) .
T'able 4" Iimployment of Scheduled Castesin the Various Dcpartmcnts of thc Punjab Statc Government
(l)
T o t a ls a n c t i o n e d
posts
F i l l e dp o s t s
SchcduledCastes
% o f S c h e d u l e dC a s t e s
Backlog/exccss
C l a s sI
C l a s sI I
C l a s sI I I
(2)
( - 3)
(4)
7111
u,675
6.290
964
15.32
-9r.68
7.43IJ
t.r95
16.06
-11.9.1
SourceY
: a d a vl n d S h a r n r a( u n d a r e dp) . 9 . ( f i g u r e su p t o M a r c h 1 9 9 3 )
1,60.385
2.44.194
4l .608
l7.03
-7.97
ClassIV
(5)
70.402
62,t63
25,905
+ t . o/
+16.67
JOURNAL OI; INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLfl.lCAl, LCONOMY
JULY.DEC.2UOO
However. despite such successcases,thc
As clsewherein India. the ScheduledCastes
oi' Pun.iabare not a homogenouscategory.In ovelallpositionof the ScheduledCastes.particP u n i a bt h e y a r e d i v i d e di n t o 3 7 d i l l e r e n tc a s t e ulnrly of the smallerand lessmobilizedgroups.
conrnrunrties"
Though historicallythey havc all remainsratherbleak.It waswith the intentronol
bccnvrctrms01'caste
oppression
and haveexpe- targetingdevelopmentschemesfbr suchgroups
ircrri-cdthc stigrnaof berng untouchabie,their that Punjab government identified l3 caste
'Deprcssed
ScheduledCastes'.
currcntstrltusis not similar.The differentcaste groups as thc
comrnunitiesdi{'l'ernot only in terms of self- Togetherthey accountfbr oniy I I per centofthe
i d c n t i t i c sb u t a l s oi n t e r m so f t h e i rl e v e lo f s o c i a l total ScheduledCastepopulation.Among these
'de-notified
sevenarethe
tribes'or the
and cconomic devclopment.The numericirL I 3 castes.
'Vimukta
Jatis'.Sincethey followeda nomadic
strcngthol' individual castc groupsalso varies
way of Iife, the colonial administrationhacl
considerably.
'vagrant
brandedthem as
and criminal tribes'.
they were inrtially called
Charnars (includrng Ramdasrasancl Ad Attcr rndependence,
'ex-crinrinal
tribes'butlatertheyweredesignated
L ) h a r r n r sa)n c M
l a z h a b i s( i n c l u d r n g
C h u h r a sa n d
' d c - n o t i l ' i etdr i b e s ' .
Balmikisr ro.qcther
constitutenearlythlee-fourth f l st h c
')l' the totai ScircduiedCastepopulationol thc
Beingsmall in size,they are unableto act as
Punjab.Most other groupsare much snrallcrin
pressure
groupswithin thestatepolitics.
s i z e( s c ca p p c n d i xl ) . W h i l et h eA d D h a r m i sa n d cfl-ectivc
theChamarshavcbeensociallyandcducationally They'have also not been able to produceany
amongstthem.Sincesome
q u i t e m o b i l e .t h c M a z h a b i s b
, e i n g t h e l a r g e s t inlluentialleader1'.-om
castcgroup,havcenjoyedsomeclout in the state ot them havealsu had nomadiclif'estyles,they
p < . r l i t i cIsn.i t i a l l yi t w a s t h e A d D h a r m i sa n d t h e could not accumulateany property for themCharnarswho seemedto havecornereda maJor selves.Comparedto the otherScheduied
Castes,
partol'thereservedseats.Subsequently,
thestate povertyamongthem rs considerablyhigher.A
govcrnmcnl.
decidedto reservefifiy per cent of studyof thedepressed
Scheduled
Castesreported
quotafbr the Mazhabis.
thatthenumberof thoseiiving belowthepoverty
the reservation
line could be as high as 96 per centof theirpopReservationsbenefits also tended to get ulation.Literacy rates among them.were also
m o n o p o l i z c bd y s o n r ei n d i v i d u afla m i l i e sa m o n g q u i t el o r v .S o m eo f t h e s eg r o u p s( s u c ha sB a n g a l i ,
thcSchcclulccl
Castcs.A recentstudyreportedthat B a u r i aa n d B a z i g a r shl a d o n l y a r o u n dl 0 t o l 2
n r o s to l ' t h o s eh o l d i n gj o b s u n d e rt h c r e s e r v a t i o nper ccnt literatepopulationIKumar and Kumar,
quotawcrc r"lotthe first generationbeneficiaries, 1 9 9 6 .P p . I l - 1 1 1 .T h e l a c k o f e d u c a t i o na l s o
jobs under
i.e. thcy wcrc childreno1'thosewho had already rnakesthemineligiblefor government
of the scherneIYadavand the reservation
ouota.
beenthc bencl'iciaries
S h a r m ap, . l 0 J .
Caste,ClassanclOccupationalChanges:Despite
'backwardness'
amongsomeof the
Someol'thc Chamarsand Ad Dharmishavc thecontinucd
alsc,been cxtrcmcly succcssfulcntl'eprencurs.SchcdulcdCaste communitiesof Punjab, the
-fhcy
controlnearlytheentiresurgicalindustryin overallpicturchaschangedquitea lot duringthe
Perhaps
themostsignificanthas
the town ol'Jalandhar.About 70 per cent of thc lastfive decades.
big unitsandabout80 percentofthe msdiumand b e e nt h ec h a n g c si n t h e i ro c c u p a t i o n s .
small units producingsurgicalinstrumentswere
ownedby thc SchcdulcdCastcs.Thcir presence The processof moving away from traditional
wasalsoquitc significantin the sportsgoodsand casteoccupations
amongtheScheduled
Castesof
s in thetown IYadavandSharrna. Punjab had begun during the colonial period
leathcrindustrie
Pp.3a-351.
underthc inlluenceof socialreformmovements.
voi.. !2 '\'!O.:&t
PREJ UD 1CI.:' W1711O U'1" P 0 I ],'U'f I ON'':
T h ee s t a b l i s h l l l conltc a n a cl o l o n i e b
s y t h eB r i t i s h
S u c ha h i g h i n c r c a s ci n t h c n u m b c ro l ' a g r i rulerswould havealso increased
the demandtirr culturallaboulersin thc statccould perhapsbc
agriculturallabour.The availablehistoricalevi- becausc
unlikcin somcothcrstates.
theScheduled
iJcnccsuggeststhat a largc numherof menials Castesof Punjab rarely worked as cultivating
supplemcntcd
thcir incornesliom theirtraditional peasants
on theirown holdings.As shownin the
i.rccupationby working on land, particularly Table 5. though thc proportion oi Schedulcd
dunng thc hrrvesllng scAsonsIBhattacharya,Casteswas the highcstrn Punlabrabove28 per
i 9 9 5 . p . i l - i l . H o w e v e r i,t w a sd u r i n gt h e p o s r - c e n to f t h et o t a lp o p u l a t i o n o
l .n l v 0 . 4 p e rc e n to f
indcpendencc
period that the proccssof prole- all tlre landholdingsoccupyin_u
0.72 pcr cenrol
tarianisation
of'thoseengagedin traditionalcaste thc total cultivatedarcain thc statewcrc being
occupations
cxperienced
a radicalacceleration. cultivatedby the SchedulcdCastes.This was in
starkcontra-st
to someothcrstateswheredespite
'l-he
intloductionol'ncw f'alnttcchnology,i.e., the proportionatenunrber
of ScheduledCastcs
thc GreenRcvolution,and the transfornration
ol' b c i n gl c s s eirn t h ct o t a lp o p u l a t i o nt h. c
n u m b c ro f
thc agrariansocial structurehad far reaching
thosecultivatinglandwas nruchhigher.In Uttar
inrplicationslirr the ScheduledCasteconrnruniFradesh,for example. the ScheduledCasrcs.
I r c s r n t h e P u n j a bc o u n t r y s i d eW
. hile the new
c o n s i s t i n og f 2 1 . 0 6p e r c c n to l ' t h e r o t a lp o p u l a i e c h n o l o g ys i g n i l ' i c a n t leyn h a n c e d
t h e n e e df b r
tion, held as many as 24.,5pcr cenrol the land
!abour',
it simultaneously
madesomeof theolder
h o l d i n go c c u p y i n g1 4 . 3 1p e r c e n r o f t h e t o t a l
trccupationsredundant. The introduction ol'
cultivatedlandin thestate.Sintilarlyin Biharand
nrultiplecroppingsystemand mechanization
ol'
W e s tB e n g a lt,h e yc u l t i v a t e d1 2 .I I a n d 1 0 . 8 9p e r
agriculturalopcrationscompletelytranslbrmed
centof the totallandholdingsrespectively.
thc naturco1'rurallabourmarkets.The farmersin
the nc\\' conrrncrcializedagricultureprel'erred
Apart fi'om the shift from traditionalcasre
iirrnralized contractual relations with their
occupations,
there rvasalso a trend antongthc
laboulcrsto thc olderstructures
ofpatronageand
Schedulcd
castes
of' thc statcto movc out ol'the
c i r e n tlec 'fhe
village.
technological
developnrcnr
in agnThe new demandfbr agriculturallabourwas cultureand growing commercialoricntaticlnol
partiy met bv migrantlabourfrom easternUttar the larmcrshad led to growth ol'closelyspaced
Pradesh and Bihar and partly by the local markctingandindustlialtownsalmostall overthc
SchedulcdCasteswho switchedover tiorn thc statc. Such towns providcd new avenucsol
c a l l i n go { ' t h e i rc a s t e st o a g r i c u l t u r al al b o u r T
. h e ernploymentto the rural artisansand the Schedpcrcentage
of'agriculturallabourersto the total uled CastcworkerslGosal. 1990,Pp. 222-231.
rural workcls in Punjab cxperienccda sharp While somehavepcrmanentlynrigratcdtclurban
r n d r c a sael t e r t h e G r e e nR e v o l u t i o nA. s p e r t h e areas.nlany othcrscommutedlbr work to thesc
. v e rr h e
availablestatistics,their numberswent up from n e w t o w n sI K a i s t h a 1
. 9 t 3 7P. p .2 5 - 3 6 1O
8 . 9 5p c r c c n t i n 1 9 6I t o 2 . { . 8 0p e r c c n t i n 1 9 71 . last centuryor so. Punlabhas also expcrienced
It agarnwent up to 28.52 per cent in I98 I and migrationsto theWesterncountries.
Thoughtherr
i u r l n c r t o3 0 . 7 5p e r c e n tr n l 9 9 l [ A b b i a n dS i n g h . numbcrsamongtheemigranthasnotbeenashigh
i 9 9 i . p . 1 3 0 1A
. p a r t f i o m i n c r e a s i ntgh e i re a r n - as that of the land owning Jats.the Schedulcd
i n g s , a g r i c u l t u r a l a b o u r a l s o g a v e t h c l o c a l Castes too have bcen going abroacl.More
SchcdulcdCastcsa little betterstatus.The wagc recently,many of'thcrnhavcgonc to the Gulf in
ratesl'oragriculturallabourhavebeenanrongthe scarchof lucrativcjobs IMchta,1990:Mehtaand
hi-ehcst
in the Punjab.')
G i l l , 1 9 8 4P
, p .2 6 - 3 8 1 .
396
JOURNAI, OF IND]AN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
JULY.DEC.2OOO
Table 5. Percentagesof the Schedulcd Caste population and Land Holdings of ScheduledCastesin different states
o f I n d i a (l 9 9 l )
o / co f S . C .p o p u l a l i o n
State/UT
to total population
(l)
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammuand Kashmir
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Mcghaiaya
Nagaland
(-Jrrssa
L a n d H o l d i n g so f
S.C.sas 7c of total
holdings
(2)
Vcof are'rof S.C. holdi n g so f t o t a la r e a
Avcrage size of S.C
Holdings
(+)
(5)
t5 . 9 3
7.40
14.56
2.08
rJ.8
I
0.90
t2.ll
0.01
8 . 2t
0.99
4.90
Negligible
0.91
i.08
0.40
7.41
t9.75
25.34
Not available
1.08
0.34
r.39
0.63
2.53
0.58
L05
0.61
2.30
1.65
o.14
0.91
3.89
7.87
5.66
0.02
7.55
0.38
13.63
9.57
0.0'1
1.56
0 .l 0
t.70
t.66
I.6l
16.38
9.92
14.55
Il.l0
2.02
0.51
16.20
28.31
l7.29
o.o,
i.ot
Punjab
Raiasthan
0.40
5.59
0.72
18.70
084
\.76
3.29
Sikkinr
Tanril Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
West Bengal
_s.93
19.18
t6.36
2t.05
23.62
0.01
6.74
0.36
24.50
10.89
0.02
4.0-s
0.23
t4.31
8.46
1.00
0.59
0.63
0.57
0.76
Sources:StatistrcaiAbstract, Punjab 1999,Pp.206-7. StatisticalAbstract,Haryanap. 79
As shownin AppendixI, theoccupational
shift
hastakenplaccamongalmostall thecastegroups.
However,it has been much more among those
who had bccn part of the refbrm movementssuch
as thc Ad Dharmis (the ex-Chamars)and the
Mazhabis(the Chuhraswho convertedto Sikhisrn).A lecentstudy reportedthat while 8l per
centol-Ad Dharmiswereemployedin jobs other
thanleathertanning.Similarlyonly four percent
of theMazhabiswereengagedin theirtraditional
occupationol scavengingIYadavandSharma,p.
lltl" Anothcr study showsthat in somepartsof
the state,partlcuiarlyin the enterprisingDoaba
regionnranyof the SchedulesCasteswere currently in the processof moving away evenfrom
agriculturallabour.While 49.25per cent of thc
sample ScheduledCaste population was still
employedin agriculture,as many as 21.75 per
cent of them had alrcady moved to nonagricultural occupations. They (respondent
Scheduled
Castes)alsoviewedthis occupational
mobility in positiveterms [Judge1997,p. 58].
S i m i l a r l yA
, b b i a n dS i n g h[ 9 9 7 ] f o u n d :
An almosttotal occupationalchangeamong
theScheduled
Castes.
cleanartisansandother
non-agricultural
castes,de-linkingtheir livelihood patternfrom agricultureand agricultural labour. Further,the increasingtaking
over of agricultural labour and minor
supervisorywork by the migrant Bhaya
labourers,while the local landlesslabourers
comrnutefor grainloading,construction
work,
\'ot. n A'(/.,i.{J
PRLJUDICI' lvl'l'H()U7' POLl.U-ilON' I
397
r a i l o r r n g "t e c h n r c a l m
. c c h a n i c a ia n d o t h e r has no unrouchability,probably because of
Sikhism.bur I am ashamedro say thar in coms k r l l e du t i l k i p " 9 | I .
mlttingatrocitieson Dalits,wc do not lag bchind'
.fhougir
rlre ehnngc ntay nor Lrc as radical flnciian Express.2ffi01. The figures available
clscuhcrc in Pun.lair
as reportcdby thesestudics with thc CrirneDepartment01'thePunjabPolrce
ll'onrthc Doubarcgicln.thcrcis no doubtthat the ibr the reportedcasesof atrocitiesagainsrthe
d a s t e si n t h e s t a t ea l s oc o n f i r mt h i s .
traditionalstructurcso1'dcpcndencyantongthe S c h e d u l c C
6 below the total numberof
d o m i n a n tJ a t sa n d t h c l a n d l c s sc a s t e sh a s c o n - As shown in table'atrocities
againstthe Sched. o w c v e r .w h i l e r e l a t i o n a l casesrcgisteredas
s i d c r a b l yw c a k c n c d H
structureshavc seensi_enificant
changes.a largc uled Castes'in Puniabhad gone up fiom 14 in
. he
nra.iorityol' the ScheduledCaste population 1 9 9 5t o 4 l i n l 9 9 t i a n da g a i nt o 5 6 i n 1 9 9 9 T
factasrevcaledin thetableis Lhat
c o n t i n u ct o l i v c i n p o v e r t ya n du n d e rv u i n c r a b l e rnostsrgnil.icant
the nurnLrcr
of'casesregisteredunderthe SC/ST
r r) n d l t l o n s .
P r e v e n t r oonl A t r ( ) c l t l eAs c t o l ' 1 9 8 9h a dg o n eu p
t.,"'.t.*:tt:
. h i l ei n 1 9 9 5
L,trtl!tti utrclAtntcities Agtuttst Dulits: r n a l k c d l yo v e rt h c l a s tr w o y e a r s W
' r V h r i cs p c a k i n s
[ o a n e w s p a p e rr c p o r t e r , H a f - only one casewas regrstercd
underthis act. thc
j r n t i c r S r n g h K h a l s a , a r n e m b e r o l ' t h e N a t i o n a l nunrberhad-uoncup to l7 by 1998and further tcr
( r r r r r n r i s s i o nl i r r - t h c S c h e d u l c d C a s t c s a n d It) in 1999.l'his was becausethe punishnrent
S c h e d u l c d l ' r i b c s c o m p l a i n e d t h i r t a t r o c i t i c s underthis act is belicvcdto be more thanotheragainstdllit.s wcrc on the rise in Punjab. 'Punjab w l s c .
'fable
\ a l I r ( : o l en r ) ) e
ll
Murdcrs
Cncv,ltts
Rape
Arson
O t h c r s+
[ttri1
6. Reportcd Cascsof atrocities against Schcdulcd Castes
I995
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( ) t n c l s * - - c r r r n c sr e p o r t e do t h e rt h a nt h o s cr n e u t i o n c tal b o v e .
O t h c f \ ' - - - eu s c sr e g i s t e r e d
u n d e rt h e P r o t c c t i o no f C r v i l R i g l r r sA c l 1 9 5 - 5
O t h c r - ! * * ' ' - c a s c rr e g i s t e r e u
d n d e rS C / S TP r c v e n t l o n
o f A t r o c i t r c sA c t 1 9 8 9 . S o u r c e l: n f o r r n i r t r ocno i l e c r e do e r s o n a l l vf r g n r
t h c P u n r a nP o l i c e( C - ' n r nBe r a n c h )
Howevel'.lccording to some police ol'['icitls thc rvclfari: ol'thesc-sroups.
tl-remain sourceol
: s r r c l l a s o l ' fi c i a l si n t h e N a t i o n a C
l o m m i s s i o n i n l o l n r a t i o nw a s t h c p r e s s .T h c l o c a i a c i m r n i s 'even
ior SC and ST in Chandigarh,the recordsavail- Lrationanclat timcs
thc statcgovcrnmcnts
a b l ci n p o l i c ef i l e si n t h es t a t ec a p i t a w
l a so n l y a t r i c d t o s u p p l c s si n l b r n r a t i o nl'l n d l a n [ i x p r c s s .
t r p o l t h c i c c b c r g .T h e a c t u a ln u m b e ro f c a s e s 20001.
i n v o l v i n g c o n l l i c t b e t w c e na m e m b e r o f a n
uppcr/donrinant
castcanda Schedulecl
Castewere
Howevcr,despitethc increascin the reported
nranyrnorc.A largemajority of the caseswcre casesof'atrocities,
therchavebeenno reDortsol
'
c
o
m r n u n i tvyi o l c n c c '
e i t h c r n e v e ' r ' r e p o r t e tdo t h e p o l i c e o r w e r e
a g u i n stth cn r e m b c ios l t h c
rcsolvcd tirrough 'a compromise'at thc local Schedulcd
Castesin Punjabin therccentpasr.On
t l u t t u ( l h c p o l i c ep o s t )o r a t t h e v i l l a g el e v e l " ' the contrary, the increasein the number of
lpcrsonailntervicws).Evcn I'orthe olTiceof thc crinrinalcasesregistered
anda wrdercoverageof
N a t r o n aCl o r n n r i s s i ofnb r S c h e d u l eC
d a s t e sa n d atrocitres
couldalsobc a rellcctiono1'thegrowing
SchcdulcdTribes which is supposedto nronitor awareness
of dernocratic
rightsanrongmembers
398
JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLIT-ICAL ECONOMY
of the depressedcastes.
Dalit Politics and Casteldentities:The decadeof
the 1980swasan extremelyvibrantperiodfor the
politicsof identityin India [Jodhka,2000].It was
in the 1980sthatthe questionof castecameback
to the centrestageof Indian politics in the form
of a powerfulidentitymovement.Sociologists
in
India once again began to write on the subject
[Srinivas,1996;Fuller, 1997].This time, however,the assertionof castewas from below!
JULY-DEC.2(,)OA
The BSP enteredthe Punjabpolitics for rhe
first time duringthe 1985electionsto rheLegislative Assembly.Though it could not win any
seats,it was able wean some of the Scheduled
Castevotesaway from the CongressParty,particuiarly from the Chamar-concentratedDoaba
region.indirectlyfacilitatingthe victory of the
Akalis.By mid 1990s,theBSPin Puniabhadbeen
ableto form a frontof the Scheduled-Casres
with
some of the 'Backward'communitiesand also
enteredinto a politicalalliancewith the Akalis.
In the 1996parliamentary
elections,it won 3 of
the l3 Loksabhaseatsand had leadsin as many
a s l 7 A s s e m b l ys e g m e n tlsV e r r n a ,1 9 9 9 p
. . l0i.
However,thepafty did not keepits alliancewith
the Akalis during the subsequent
electionsand
lost much of its politicalground.at leasttemporarily.-
AutonomousDalit movementsand dalit oarties also beganro play a much more influential
role in the electoralpolitics,both at the regional
aswell as at the nationallevel,thanthevhadever
donebefore.Insteadof lookingfor socialmobiliry
within the brahmanicalframework of castchierarchy,the ScheduledCastesand other backward
communitiesbegan to underscorethe need of
The significanceof the successor failure of
buildingup horiz.ontal
alliancesacrossregions.
KanshiRam'sparty in the stateelectionsiies in
Mobilisationsof the ScheduledCastesof the the fact that,as in sonreotherpartsof India,thc
CastesofPunjabhavebegunto operare
Punjabby differentreform movementsduring the Scheduled
political
as
votebanks.Theirabilityto do soought
earlytwentiethcenturynot only impelledthemto
to be alsoseenin the backgroundof the disintechangetheir occupations,
they also made them
of dependency
consciousof their political rights. The active grationof thetraditionalstrucrures
oppositionby a sectionof the ScheduledCastes in the agrariansocial structureof the Puniab
( d i s c u s s e idn t h e p r e v i o u ss e c t i o n ) H
. owever.
to the Akali demandfor a separatePunjabiSuba
clearly reflectedtheir astutepolitical sense.The perhapsunlike some other stares,where dalits
first autonomous political formation of the havebeenableto forgea strongpolitical identity,
ScheduledCastesof Punjab had emergedin the the ScheduledCastesof Punjab remain divided
form of the Ad Dharmi movementthat was later on communitylines.The divisionsare not only
merged with Ambedkar's ScheduledCastes among the different casteor sub-castecommuCasresbut alsoon the
Federation,subsequentlytransformed into the nitieswithin theScheduled
RepublicanPartyof India.However,it was only basis of their religious loyalties.Unlike their
or in somecasesevenopposition,to
during the 1980s,with the rise of the Bahuian indifference,
SamajParty(BSP)undertheleadershipof Kanshi the Akali demand for a separatePunjabi Suba
Ram, that the dalits beganto matteras a distinct during the 1960s,the participationof the Sikh
dalitsin themilitantmovementdurinethe 1980s
politicallbrmationin the Punjab.
and 1990swas quitesignificant[Juerlensmeyer,
A ScheduledCaste (of the Chamar caste) 1988,p. ix-xl. More generally,theirinvolvement
college graduate from Punjab. Kanshi Ram with the Sikh religiouspolitics has also been
in growlng.
f!guired his initial political apprenticeship
Maharashrrawhere he was involved with some
untouchableorganizationsin Pune during the Cctnclusions:
Casteand untouchabilityhave for
early 1970s.ln 1973he camero Delhiandhelped long beenseenas peculiarfeaturesof the Indian
to launchthe Backwardand Minoritv Commu- society.From colonialethnographers
to laterday
nities EmployeesFederation(BAMCEF). The social anthropologistsand sociologists,many
BAMCEF waslaterextendedintoa movementof have seen caste to be the most fundamental
the depressed
castesof the north India underthe institutionof India,somethingthatdistinguished
nameof DS-4 and was subsequentlvtransfbrmed it from the Westerncivilisation.The theoriesof
' | a r t y ,r h eB S P .
i n t oa p o l i t i c a p
castetoo havetendedto view it as the definins
vot. i2 No..l&1
PREJUDICE' WITHOUT' POLLUTION'
?
399
t'eatuleol'thc Indian socialstructure.Castesys- employmentin urban,semi-urban
andruralareas
t c n r .l i k c t h c v i l l a g ec o m m u n i t i e sw. e r es u p p o s - that were, to use Beteille'sexpression,'castecdly present in more or less the same form free' IBeteille,l97 I]. The occupational
diversifor ficationof the ScheduledCastesof Punjabhas
everywhcrein Indiaandremainedunchanged
ages. It was only with the establishmentol' beenquitesignificant,
at leastin somepartsof the
influences
colonialrule andtheaccompanying
of state.
Westernculture that seemedto have initiated
changes.
However, despitethe absenceof a strong
brahmanical
tradi-tion
in the regionand the rapid
The most influentialtheory in this genrehas socio-economic
changesexperienced
in thestate
beenthat of Louis Dumont who arguedthat caste with the Green Revolutionand urbanisatron.
neededto be lookedat asan ideologicalstructure. many among the ScheduledCastesof Punjab
The fundamentalfeatureof thecasteideologywas continueto experience
disabilities.
Most of these
thc opposition between pure and impure. disabilitiesemanatedirectly from their disadAccordingto Dumont,materialfactors,suchas vantageous
positionin the castehierarchy.This
land and powcr, did not determincthe structure is directly reflected in their relative social
o{ castcidcologyIDumont, 197l]. Despitemany backwardness
and a lower level of education.
critiquesol'Dumont and the availableempirical Sinceonly a f'ewanrongthem own or cultivate
evidence frorn the field that contradicted his land, educationis possiblythe only sourceof
e^larms.
his theorvof castecontinuesto dominate social mobility fbr them. Internal diversities
rhe academicas well as populardiscourseson
amongtheScheduled
Castecommunitiestoo are
iaste [Gupta,2000,p. 3].
quite glaring. While communitieslike the Ad
DharmisandChamarshavebeenquitemobileand
The historicalaccountof casterelationsand
havebeenableto reapthe benefitso{'thewelfarc
thc contemporary
statusof the ScheduledCastes
programmes
launchedby the state,the relatively
in Punjab prcsentedabove clearly shows that
groups among them have seen much
thoughcastehasexistedin Punjab,the structure smaller
qualityo[ life over the last
ol'castehierarchyin the region has beenquite lesserchangein their
diff'erentfirlm some of the other regions of the half a century.
sub-contrnent.
It certainlydoesnotconformto the
mannerin whichDumonthastheorised
caste.The
Brahminshavenot only not enjoyedthe kind of
statusthat Dumont attributesto them, the brahmanrcaiideologytoo hasbeenquite weak in the
region. More importantlyit was not with the
British rule that the systemof castehierarchy
bcgan to change in Punjab.The influenceof
Islam, Sufism and Sikhism had far reaching
impactson the cultureand societyin the region.
Despitetheir proportionto thetotalpopulation
of Punjabbeinglargestin thecountry.dalitshave
so far not had significant impact on the state's
politics.Internaldifferences
ofcasteandreligion
andthe lack of ablepoliticalleadership
could be
the possiblereasonsfor this.
However,eventhoughPunjabhas had caste
prejudice againstthe dalits and many of them
'backwardness'.
continueto still live in
therehas
not
been
much
of
caste
conflict in the state.
Theeconomicdevelopment
experienced
in the
region during the last five decadeshas also Thoughtherecould be many casesof conflicts
brought about many importantchangesin the involving individualdalits and a nremberof an
manner in which caste works in Punjab.The uppercaste.there have perhapsbeen ncl reports
communityviolenceagainsrthemin
successol'Green Revolutionand the coming of of organised
new agranantechnologyled not only to the dis- the nearpast.Suchincidentshaveoften worked
integrationof traditionalstructuresof patronage as catalystsfor dalit mobilisationsin stateslike
and loyalty, but also created avenues of Andhra Pradesh,Bihar or Maharashtra.
JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLIT-ICAI,I'CONOMY
.IULY.DEC.2OOO
Apprndix I
A Brief Description of the main Schr:dulcdCastesComnrunities of Punjab
l. ,\d Darruis:A ssctronofthe Chamarsin thc Doabaregion
i l r o s t l yh u n t c r sb u t w i t h t h c d e p l c t i o no f { b r e s t sn, t a n yo t
of Punjabbcganto call thenrselvesAd Darnrrsunderthe
t h c r nh a r r r r r o v c dt o t h e t o w n sw h c r et h e y h a v eb c c o r n c
i n l l u c n c eo i t h c A d l ) h a r m m o v e m e n dt u r i n gt h c 1 9 2 0 s .
h a r v k c r so r r i c k s h a wp u l l e r s .A r n a j o r i t yo f t h e r nc o n Though thel' claimed to bc a separatereligiouscornmut i n u c s t o l i v c i n t h c r u r a l a r c a s .c n g a g e dp r r r r r a n l li-n
rrty. aliel inricpendencc
from the colonialrule. theywere
a g r i c r r l t u r al llb o u r .
irstcd as a separarecaste of the Hindus rn Punjab.
A c c c r d i n gr o ( h e l 9 8 l c e n s u st,h e r rt o t a l p o p u l a t r o ni n 7 .I l l z - r g u s T
: h c va r ea i s or n c i u d e dr nt h e l i s i o f l h e " d c p r c s s c d
F u n l a h u t s t ' . 8 0 . 1 3 2 .A s C h a n r a r s .t h e i r t r a d i t r o n a l
S c h e t i u l eC
d a s t e s "T. h e y a r e u r c i a t r v c i vl a r g e rc o l n r n u ,)Lcuplllot] was leathertanning.over the years.a largc
n r t y ( 1 . 2 0 . 2 5 0a c c o r d r n gt o t h e l 9 8 l c e n s u s )s p r e a d
pror)()r'c{)!| Lrfthcrnhavernovedto otheroccupatlons,
acrossthe state.Their Iradrtionaloccupatronusedro frc
such
a sa g i r c r i t u r e h
. o t h a s c u l t i v a t o r s( 8 . 0 2p e rc e n t )a s w e l i
iuggiery and acrobats.They are rnostly rurai basedand
havcmostlymovedto agrrculturelagrrculturallabourers.
r s i a b o u i ' c r is- i 9 . 6 3p e r c e n t ) .S o m eo f t h e m a r e a l s o i n
6 5 . 8 1p3e rc e n to n dc u l t i v a t o r sI: L 4 7 p e r c e n t ) .
l n d u s t r ya n d g o v e r n r n e n. jto b s .
2 . l l a l r n r k i s :l - h t t r a d i t i o n a lo c c u p a t i o t o
i f B a l n r i k i su a s
sclvcnging. They ar-cllso known as Chuhrasbut prefer
t o b e c a l l e d B a l r n i k r s c. l a i r n i n gt h e i r d e s c e n ft i o r n t h e
i c g e n d a r yH i n d L rs a i n t B a l m i k i . A c c o r d i n gt o t h e l 9 8 l
r c n s u s ,t h c l r p o p u l a t l o nr n P u n , l a bw a s 5 , 3 2 , 6 2 t {1i n c l u d r n gC l r u n r a sa n d B h a n g r s )A. l a r g ep r o p o r t r o n
ol thcni
l s c u r r e n t l yc n g a g c dr n a g r i c u l t u r al a b o u r { 5 3 . 0 6 p e r
cent]
tl. llhanjras: They are a snrall _uroupof the "depresseti
S c h e d u l eC
d a s t c s "l.n t 9 8 1 .t h e y w c r e o n l y 3 . 5 5 7 .T h c y
w c r e t r a d i t r o n a l ley n g a g e di n I n a k i n gb a l n b o oc u n a i n s .
c a n n i n _cqh a i r sa n d w h i l c u ' a s h i n gS. o r r r eo f t h e r nh a v c
n o w s h i l i e dt o a g n c u i t u r aal n d i n d u s t r i alla b o u r .
9. Chanrars(aisoknown asJatraChainars.Rchgiirs.ilarnr.lasr:
and Ravrdasts
): Charnarsalrethe secondbiggcstgrotrprr,
the iistoi Schetlulcd
C a s t e si n t n e l ' u n l a bi i 1 , 2i . I 4 5 r n
I 9 8 I c e n s u s )T.r a d r t r o n a l lt yh e yu s e dt o b , il c a t h c tr a n n c r s
.i. Bangalrs*:They areoneofthe "depresscd
ScheduledCastes
and wiiavcrs.Many tlf thenr havc norv tttovcti to agno f P u n l a ba n d a r e i n c l u d e dr n t h e l i s t o f " d e - n o t i f l e d
c u l t u r a ll a b o u r 1 5 { . t t - lp c r c c n t ) a n d s r n a l l c u l t r v t i t r o n
tribcs"T
. h c c o l o n i a lr u l c r sc a l l e dt h c r na " c r i n l n a l ( n b e "
( 8 . 0 1p c r c c n t ) .S o r i l ct r t t l r c r nh l v c a l s o r n o v c dt o t h c
[ l b b e t s r - rIn9 u l j . I n P u n j a bt h e y a l e a l s oc a l l e dJ o g r n a t h .
towns.
A c c o r d r n gt o t h e I 9 8 I c e n s u st h e yw e r eo n l y I . 6 0 0 .T h c y
arc lnostly urban b:rsedand thcir traditionaloccupction
uscdto bc collcction of roots.sceds.tubersand trapprng 1 0 . C h l n a i s : O n l y 1 3 9 p c o p l e r e p o r - t e dt h e r n s c l v e sa s
b e i o n g r n gt o t h i s S r o u pr n I 9 l i I c e n s u s .
oisnrkcs fronr thc forestwhich were usedfbr indigenous
r n e d i c i n e sM
. a n y o f t h e n r h a v e r n o v e dt o a g r i c u l t u r a l
l a b o u r .R i c k s h a wp u l h n ga n d s m a l l t r a d e r s( K u m a l u n d I L l ) a g i s : L i k c C h a n a l st h c y t o o a r c a s r n a l lg r o u n w i l h a
p o p u l a t r osrirz eo f o n l y 5 . 1t l 9 8 l c c n s u s i .
K u n r a r1 9 9 6 :l 5 ) .
'l-hey
12. Darains.
weretladilronullyongxgc(tln rrlii'rstonatlon
4. llararas+,lalsoknown as Buraror Berar):Accordingto l9 8 I
trnr'rrr
b,vnver. They too arc a snralicornnrunltvwlth
of
censustheir populationwas only 4,76I . Their traditional
a total ol' I 56 reportrngas l)ararnsIn i 9lJI ucnsus.
c'ccupotion used to be rnakrng cornbs out of reeds.
wrnnowing lans and basketsout of grassreeds.Many of
( h e r n r n o v c d t o o t h e r o c c u p a t i o n ss, u c h a s l a b o u r i n 1 3 .l ) e h a s( a l s ok n o w na s D h a y a so r l ) h c i l s ) :T h e y u s c dt o b c
t r l d i t i o n a l l yc n g a g e di n n r a k i n gf a n su n d t o v s o l ' r c e d .
l g r i c u l t u r c t r n d t h e m a n u f a c t u r i n gs e c t o r s . ' f h e y a r e
They rvcre4.783 in l9ll I . Most of thcrn havc rnovedto
rnostlvurban based.They are alsoone of the "depressed
t o w n sa n da r ee n l p l o y e di n r n a n u l a c t u r i ncgn d p r o c c s s r n g
S c h c d u l c dC a s t s s "a n d a r e i n c l u d e di n t h e l i s t o f " d e industrics.
n o t i { i e d "t r i b e s .
-flrcy
1 4 . D h a n a k s :T h e y a r e a r e l a t r v e l yb i g g e r g r o u p w r t h a
5. llatwals:
too are a small group with a populationol
p o p u l a t r oonf 4 6 , 2 8 9( i n l 9 8 l ) . ' f h e i r t r a d i t i o n aolc c u 9 , - 1 6 7i a c c o r d r n gt o t h e l 9 8 l c e n s u s )T. h e i r t r a d i t i o n a l
p a t l o nw a s s w e s p l n ga n d w e a v i n g .A t n a l o r r t ,oyl t h c n r
occupallonhasbeenagr-rcultural
labourand mostof them
h u , c r u o v c dt o u r b a n a r e a s .T h o s e s t r l l l i v r n g r n t h r
contrnueto work on land. They are nrostiyrural based.
villagcsarc rnostlyernployedas agncultureas labourers
6 . B l u n l s * : T h e i r p o p u l a t i o nw a s 6 2 , 6 2 4( { r c c o r d i n tgo t h e
l 9 8 l c e n s u s )1. ' h e 1 ' a r ea l s o k n o w n a s B a w a r i a s T
. h c y 1 5 .D o n - q r i(sa l s ok n o w n a s l ) a n g n s ) :I h e y w e r eo n l y 2 ( r 5r n
l 9 8 l M o s t o f t h e r na r e c o n c e n t r a t eldn t h c C u r d a s p u r
are one ol'thc "depressedScheduledCastes"of Punjab
and are also hsted as a "de-notificd tribe". Thev werc
d i s t r i c to f P u n j a b .
t/ol. t2 NO. -t&1
PREJUDICE' WITHOU't, POI,LIJT'ION'
"'
i 6 . D u m n a s( a l s o k n o w n a s D o o r r r so r D a n g r i s ) :T h e y a r e
"de-notified
t r i b e s " .T h e i rt r a d i t i o n aol c c u p a t i o nu s e dt o
i n c l u d e di n t h e I i s t o f " d e p r e s s e dS c h e d u l e dC a s t c s " .
b e r o p cd a n c i n g O
. v c r t h e l a s tf i f t r y e a r s ,m o s to l l h e r r :
T h e r r p o p u l a t i o nw a s 1 . 2 4 . 9 2 9( l 9 t l l c e n s u s ) I h e i r
havernovedto other occuDauons.
tradltl()ualoccuplttlonusedto bc scavengingancibamboo
work. Most of thcnt have rnovedto agriculturallabour. 25 Ods: They too arc a small group u,ith a
nopulatronslzr 0i
Sotne of thenr have aiso rnrgratedto towns. They are
only 6.494( | 98 I eensusr. Thcy lre onr'of I h!, 'dcprcs\ed
nrostly concentratedin the Hoshiarpurand Curdaspur
S c h e d u l e dC t s t e s " .T h e y u e r c t r a d i t r o n t l l ) , k n o w nt o r
d i s t n c t so f P u n j a b .
thelr experlisein digging land.They apparenrlydid l lor
of work dunng the constructionof BhakraDanr.Most of
17.Gagras:They are a small group with a populationsize of
them are rural basedand are curently engagedin agrio n l y 4 l 3 ( 1 9 8 1c e n s u s ) .
cultural labour.
I 8 . G a n d h i l a s *( a l s ok n o w na sG a n d e l s )T: h e y t o o a r ea s n r a l l 26 Pasis:Thcy area small community wrth a population
size
groupuithapopularronsiz1
e .o8f 6 9 ( 1 9 8c1e n s u s ) . T h e i r
of only 5,593 and are rnostly conccntratedin the urban
t r a d i t i o n aol c c u p o t t o n
u s c dt o b e m a k i n gt o y s .T h e yh a v c
ccntresof Ropar. PatialsanclLudhiana districrs of rhe
n o r vn ' t o v c dt t :a g n c u l t u r alla b o u r a n dh o u s e h o l idn d u s t r y .
state.
T h c y a r c r n c i u d c di n r h el i s t o f " d c - n o t i f i e dt r i b e s " .
2 7 P h c r n a sT: h e y w e r eo n l y 7 5 r n n u n t b c ri n t h e l 9 8 l c e n s u s
l ! t K a b r r p a n l h i sr a l s o k n o w n a s J u l a h a s )T: h e i r t o t a i p o p u l a t r o nP u n l a br n I 9 8 l w a s 5 6 . 8 1 J 8L.i k e e l s e w h e r er n 28 Phecras:Thcy too were a small communlty wrth
a popi n d i l . t h c r r t r a d i t i o n ao
l c c u p a t l o nu s e dt o b e w e a v r n g .
u l a t r o ns i z eo f 1 7 9 i n I 9 8 | . T h e r rr r a d i t i o n aol c c u p i t r o n
Many of thcrn have ntovcdto the urbanareaswherethey
usedto be beggrng.
arecrnpkryedin nranufactulingand processingindustrres
t 3 5 . t l 2 p e r c c n t ) . T h o s c s t i l l i n v i l l a g e sw e r e I n o s t l y 29 Sansis*(alsoknown as Bhedkutand Manesh):They arc a
e n g a g e di n a g r i c u l t u r alla b o u r .
r e l a t i v e l yb i g g e r g r o u p o f r h e " d e p r e s s e dS c h e d u l e d
Castcs"and are one of the leading "de-notifiedtribcs,,.
l 0 K h a t i k s :T h c y a r e a r c l a t i v e l ys r n a l lg r o u p w i t h u t o t a l
Their populationin 198I was(rI .986). They clairn Rajpur
p o p u l . r t i oonl l l 9 l l ( l 9 8 I c e n s u s ) . 1 ' h eayr el i s r c dt r n o n s
a n c c s t r ya n d t r a d i t i o n a l l yt h e y u s e dt o b e a , ' w a n d e n n g
the"dcprcsscd
S c h c d u l e dC a s t e s a" n d n t o s t l yl i v c i n t h e
t r i h c " .M o s t u f t h c r r rh u r e n ( ) $ s c l t l e dd o w n i n t h e r u r a l
i o w n so l P u nj l b .
Ludhianaandareengagedrn agrrculturallabourantiother
o c cu p a t l o n s .
I I K o n - K o l r :T l t c y t o o a r c " d e p r e s s cS
dc h c d u l c d
C a s t c "a n t i
l h e ' r t o r u ip o p u l a r l o nr n l 9 1 3 lw . a so n l y . 5 . f r 5 2T.h e y u s e d . i 0 S a p e i r s :T h c y w e r e o n l y I . 0 1 2 r n 1 9 8 1 . T h e y
were
i o w o r k l r a d i l i o n a l l ;r,v o r kt s w c a v e r sT
. hcy aremostly
tladitronllly known as snakecharmersand snakecatchrihan irlseti.
e r s .M a n yo f t h e n )a r en o w e n g a g c di n a g n c u i t u r alla b o u r
anriothe-roccuoatrons.
ll lVlazhabis:TIrcy afc thc largestScheduledCastescon)r n u n i l yo l t h c s r l r c .T h c y r v c r c I 3 . 6 6 . t 1 . 1i nJ 1 9 8 I . T h c y 3 l S a r e t a sT: h c l ' w e r c 1 0 , 2 3 8i n 1 9 8 1 .M o s t o f
theln are
l r e t h c S i k h e o u n t c r p a n os l ' t h c B a l n r r k i sa n d w e r c a t s o
c m p l o y e di n a g r i c u l t u r ca n d h o u s e h o l di n d u s t r y .
c a l l c d( - l t u l r r a sA l a r g c r n a g o r i t ov f t h c r nu o r k a s a g r i c u l t u n t ll l h o u l c r - s( 7 9 . 1 5p c r c c n t ) .S o t n eo f t h e r nh t v e 3 2 S i k l i g a r sA
: c c o r d i n st o t h e I 9 t l I c e n s u st h c i r n u n r b c rw a s
i t l s ot t t o r ' c dl ( ) t o w n \ w h c r e
o n l y . 1 . 3 21 . T h c y a r . ca n u r b t n c o m r n u n i t y e
, mployed
n t o sllv I n r n r nu f a c t u n n ga t r dp r o c e s s i nrgn d u s r r i e(s7 I . 6 {}
l . i l \ ' l c g h sT
. h c y * e r c 7 t < . . 1 0r5n 1 9 8l . T h e l - a r e a l s o l r s r c t i
per cL'r.lU.
'rleprrsscrl
; u l ( - r n lrrh c
S c h e d u l c dC a s t c s "T. l r c i r t r a d i i i o n a io c c u p i r t t oLnr s eldo b c w c a v i n g .N c a r l yh a l f o l ' t h c n i -13Sirkibands:Traditionallylhey nradenttrs from grass
iccris
l!\,.,n lnc cltlc\ oi Pun;lhwhcrethcy work ln thc
u s e d l i r l t l r a t . h i n ! .r:r r o l sa n d c { ) \ e n n g c a f l r T h c r . r r c
; ) l a n u i ; . t u i ' r f rar n d p r o c c s s l nrgn d u s t n e sT.h o s eI i v i n g r n
s p r e a dl l l o v e r P u n j a b r. n o s t l yl n t h e u r b a nc e n r r i : s .
l h c r r i r a iu r c l t si l r c n r o s t i yc r r t p l o y c dr n : r g r t c u l t u r c .
1 . 1N a t s - : l l r c v u c r c o n l y - l ( 1 6i n l 9 t t l . r n o s l l y l i v i n g i n
F i r o z c p u l a u d P u t i a l ad i s t r i c t s .T h c y a r . co n c o l ' t h e
N o i n f o r r n a t r o ni s a v a i l a h l cf b r t h e l o l l o w r n c S e h c d u l c d
C l s t c s : M a r i i u s ( l l \ o k n o $n a , M r r . ' r h a ) , S . r n h l r s .
S r n h : r l su d S l n s o i s .
' I r s ( c dr s " r l t , n o l r i l c dt n b ! ' s "o r V i r n u k t r
Jatis
S . u r c e s :S r r r { hK . S . l 9 9 l : K u r . a r a ' d K u r n r r r r. 9 9 6 . y r d a ' a n d S i r r r r n r( u n d l t c r l )
402
JOURNALOF INDIANSCHOOLOF POL|TICALECONOMY
NOTES
| . H a r w a n rS i n g h ,a S c h e d u l e dC a s t ep h . D . s t u d e n ti n a
universityin Punjabspeakingto P.C. Aggarwal.
2. Krishan Lal, a ScheduledCasteAdministrativeOfficer
from Punjabspeakingto P.C. Aggarwal.
3. One can (hink two possiblefactorsaccountingfor such
a h r g h p r o p o r t r o no f t h e S c h e d u l e dC a s t ep o p u l a t i o ni n t h e
state.First. in most statesof India the dalits who convenedto
other religions are nor included in the Scheduled Caste
P o p u l a t i o nT. h e o n l y e x c e p r i o ni s S i k h i s r nT
. h u s i n r h ec a s e
o f P u n l a b .w i t h t h c e x c e p t i o no f a r o u n dt w o p e r c e n t p o p u l a t r o no f C h n s t r a n a
s n d M u s l t n s i n t h e s t a t et,h ee n t i r ed a i i r
population is includcd in the ScheduledCastes.The other
possible facror accounting for the high proportion of SC
populationir) the srateis that in Punjaband Haryana,nobod;
rs countedas ScheduledTribe. The ex-tnbal populationwas
p e r h a p sc l L r b b ew
d ith theSC population.
4 . I n a v i l l a g c c a l l e d A j r a m o f H o s h i a r p ud
r i s t r i c t ,t h c
S c h e d u l e dc a s r ep o p u l a t i o nw a s n e a r l y6 l p e r c e n t [ S i n g h ,
1 9 8 5 ,p . l 9 7 l S i r n i l a r l y i,n D a l e k e ,t h e v i l l a g ef r o m A m r i r s a r
districtstudicdby L P. Singhlust the Mazhabis,a local caste
lirrnredabout half of rhc total village population.
5 The ScheduledCasresin Punjab are relatively less
urbanrsed than their counterpan non-scheduled castes
A c c o r d l n g r o t h c l 9 9 l c c n s u s7 9 . 4 5 p e r c e n t o f t h e S C
populatronlived in rural creasas against29.55 per cent for
the entire population.
6. Grcat Bfitain lndian Statutory Commission, MenrorunduntSubntttredby tlte Governnent oJ punjub I t930).
7. It may be relevuntto mentionherethatthe village where
P a u l H e r s h r n a nd i d h i s f i e l d w o r k w a s s u r e l yn o t i t y p i c a l
village of Punjab. As nrcnrionedabove, rural populationol'
thc stateis largcly Sikh while his study village had a majority
p o p u l a t i o no f H i n d u h o u s e h o l d sH. i s v i l l a g eh a d a s m a n ya s
40 Brahrninhouscholdsandalmostthecntire ScheduledCaste
houscholdsare reponedas Hinous.
8 . T h e d r s c u s s r o ni n t h i s s e c t i o ni s m o s t l y b a s e do n
Juergensrneye
1 r9 1 1 8 .
9. Sotneeconornlstshavegonero the extentof sayingthat
thanksto the positivccffect of the greenrevolutiontherc was
no absolute povelty tn the Punjab anymore [Shergill and
S i n g h ,1 9 9 5 ,P p . A l t t ) - 3 1 .
I 0. Personalinterviewscarricd out in Chandigarhduring
the last week of August 2000.
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