Caste in stone 

Caste in stone 

Context

Centre’s initiative on inter-caste marriages is welcome, revives a question: Why are they so few in number?

Author’s contention

Author states that, the Centre’s decision on the eve of Babasaheb Ambedkar Mahaparinirvan Divas to lift the income ceiling on its scheme that provides Rs 2.5 lakh to every inter-caste couple — in which the bride or bridegroom is a Dalit — is a welcome gesture

• Intent of the scheme: The intent of the Dr Ambedkar Scheme For Social Integration Through Inter-caste Marriage, introduced in 2013, is clear: People who marry outside their caste often face social ostracisation and in such instances, financial help from the state can help the couple to rebuild their lives independent of traditional social institutions

Limited success

While such schemes — state governments have similar initiatives — serve a purpose in financially supporting inter-caste couples, they seem to have had only limited success in encouraging inter-caste alliances: As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-III) (2005-6), inter-caste marriages constitute only about 11 per cent of the whole

Intermarriage: A solution to breaking caste

The preference of a majority of people to marry within their own caste is a disturbing sign of continuing social orthodoxy. It also points to a failure of politics

• The institution of marriage is crucial to the preservation and perpetuation of caste. Hence, Babasaheb Ambedkar wrote that “the real remedy for breaking caste is inter-marriage”. “Nothing else,” he said, “will serve as the solvent of caste.”
• Anti-caste philosophers from Sree Narayana Guru to Ambedkar, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy and Rammanohar Lohia felt the political empowerment of the oppressed communities was a necessary first step towards the destruction of caste.

Present situation

Author states that the promotion of inter-caste marriages is not on any mainstream party’s political agenda. Worse, politicians increasingly prefer to stand with the conservative view on the matter, which is the protection and preservation of caste identity through marriage within the caste