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News: The caste is an important institution in Indian society. The institution of caste saw a new orientation during the ‘Mandal decade’ of the 1990s. However, the understanding of the caste institution is further being changed, and it is witnessing a new orientation after the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Why is the study of OBCs important for studying caste dynamics?
First, the OBCs led to the recognition that the upper castes were only a minority rather than the ‘general’ or universal category.
Second, they invited closer attention to the notion of backwardness because they were an intermediate group.
Third, the OBCs were subjected to creamy layer and non-creamy layer categorization. Therefore, they highlighted the pros and cons of categorisation in the reservation system. Further, the challenge of internal disparities within large groupings was also highlighted by the OBCs.
Fourth, they have a large population base that is distributed nationwide. Therefore, they played an important role in state politics and coalition politics at the national level.
What were the changes in the caste system over the last two decades?
The upper caste group has also entered into the game of caste and the benefits associated with it.
The internal differentiation has taken place within each large caste grouping. The major factors behind such dynamics were economic status, livelihood sources, regional location and electoral influence. For example,
(1) In Uttar Pradesh, ‘Non-Yadav OBCs’ and ‘Yadav OBC’ have emerged as two subgroups within OBCs in Uttar Pradesh.
(2) The upper castes have seen division into the non-rich, rich and super-rich classes.
What were the factors that have led to changes in the caste system?
Firstly, the groupings were far too big to remain coherent. This has led to an exponential increase in the complexity of the caste system.
Another most important factor is neoliberalism. It has reoriented the role of the state and the market in India since 1991.
Other factors include the ongoing restructuring of federalism in India; and finally, the change in the ecosystem of official statistics.
Source: The post is based on an article “Caste analysis and it’s reading today” published in The Hindu on 2nd April 2022.
