Hello aspirants,
Today’s revision capsule of PSIR optional preparation covers CASTE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY. There are four 20-markers, six 15-markers, and two 10-markers from this topic in last 12 years.
① CASTE ↔ POLITICS
</table class=”table-responsive”> ② RELIGION ↔ POLITICS</table class=”table-responsive”> ③ ETHNICITY ↔ INDIAN NATION-BUILDING</table class=”table-responsive”> Cross-cutting Arguments & key points
- Democratisation ≠ de-ethnicisation
Universal franchise actually furnishes caste, religious and regional identities with unprecedented bargaining power. - Representation vs. Transformation
Symbolic gains (legislative seats, festival recognition) do not automatically deliver redistribution—echoed by Mehta, Omvedt, Pai. - Instrumental Elites, Responsive Masses
Mobilisers (priests, politicians, militants) may spark action, but enduring movements require genuine socio-economic stakes (land, jobs, language). - Federal Adaptability Matters
Linguistic states (1950s), Bodoland Councils, Sixth-Schedule areas, Article 371 clauses show that calibrated autonomy can channel ethnic energy constructively—Baruah’s “federation-building” thesis. - Secularism Under Strain
Competing visions—Gandhian inclusive spirituality vs. Savarkar’s cultural nationalism—still shape debates on citizenship, minority rights and majoritarian entitlement. - Future Puzzle
How to align constitutional universalism with group-based justice so that empowerment politics does not ossify into perpetual identity conflict.
Scholars Index
- R. Ambedkar | C. N. Annadurai | Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi | Sanjib Baruah | Dag-Erik Berg | Paul R. Brass | Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay | S. K. Chaube | Louis Dumont | M. K. Gandhi | Sumit Ganguly | K. P. S. Gill | Hiren Guhain | Dipankar Gupta | Selig Harrison | Sanjay Hazarika | Christophe Jaffrelot | Kenneth W. Jones | Rajni Kothari | Sanjay Kumar | Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal | Mayawati | Pratap Bhanu Mehta | Oliver Mendelsohn | Sajal Nag | Gail Omvedt | Sudha Pai | Gyan Pandey | Thomas Pantham | Joyce Pettigrew | Jyotirao Phule | Balraj Puri | Harish K. Puri | Chhotu Ram | Kanshi Ram | Periyar E. V. Ramasamy | Lloyd I. Rudolph | Susanne Hoeber Rudolph | V. D. Savarkar | Ghanshyam Shah | Charan Singh | Gurharpal Singh | V. P. Singh | Nesweadra Subramaniam | Romila Thapar | Bal Gangadhar Tilak | Ashutosh Varshney | B. G. Verghese | Marika Vicziany | Swami Vivekananda | Shah Waliullah | Myron Wiener | Yogendra Yadav
Practice Questions Question 1.Cultural and regional differences are the enduring bases on which politics is played out in India. Discuss. [2016/10 m] Question 2. “Relative deprivation is a major source of ethnic conflict.” Elaborate the statement with relevant examples. [2024/15 m] Question 3. The rise of caste politics is to be attributed to both regional aspirations and electoral manifestations. Comment. [2023/20m] 📌 Model answers drop this evening on the Telegram channel:https://t.me/psirbyamitpratap – keep notifications on.
See you tomorrow on Day 25. Keep practicing!
—Amit Pratap Singh & Team
A quick note on submissions of copies and mentorship
- 2025 Mains writers: Cohort 1 of O-AWFG started on 12 June and ATS on 15 June. The above practice set will serve as your revision tool, just do not miss booking your mentorship sessions for personalised feedback especially for starting tests. Come with your evaluated test copies.
- 2026 Mains writers – keep uploading through your usual dashboard. Act on the feedback and improve consistently.
- Alternate between mini-tests (O-AWFG) and full mocks (ATS) has been designed to tackle speed, content depth, and structured revision—line-by-line evaluation pinpoints your weaknesses and errors. Follow your PSIR O-AWFG & ATS schedule and use the model answers to enrich your content, as rankers recommended based on their own success.
| Theme | Core Ideas & Turning-points | Scholars / Texts | |
| Why caste still counts | Democratic franchise turned ritual hierarchies into political constituencies (“democratic incarnation” of caste). | Rajni Kothari – Caste in Indian Politics; L. I. & S. H. Rudolph | |
| Structure | Jāti = hereditary, endogamous unit ranked by Louis Dumont’s purity/pollution scale (Homo Hierarchicus). | Dumont | |
| 19-20 C. anti-caste currents | Brahmo, Arya, Satya Sodhak, Dravidian, Ambedkar-led movements erode ritualism. | Jyotirao Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar, Gandhi | |
| Rise of caste associations | From socio-religious sabhas → electoral bargainers; single-caste & federations (e.g., Kshatriya Sabhas). | Kothari; Rudolph & Rudolph (2012 Pacific Affairs) | |
| Classic alliance formulas | Triveni Sangh (Kurmi-Yadav-Koeri, Bihar), AJGAR (Ahir-Jat-Gujar-Rajput), KHAM (Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim, Gujarat); BAMCEF – DS4 – BSP (Kanshi Ram / Mayawati). | Chhotu Ram, Charan Singh, Kanshi Ram, Mayawati | |
| Electoral penetration | “Democratic upsurges” = OBC assertion (1960-70s) → Dalit advance (1980-90s). | Yogendra Yadav; Jaffrelot & Sanjay Kumar Rise of the Plebeians? | |
| Legislative footprint | Quotas for SC/ST/OBC; Mandal (1990) triggers pro/anti-reservation waves. | B. P. Mandal; V. P. Singh; Ghanshyam Shah | |
| Caste + class dilemmas | Gains in representation ≠ proportional welfare; “gap between representation & responsiveness.” | Pratap Bhanu Mehta – Burden of Democracy; Gail Omvedt; Sudha Pai | |
| Conflict zones | Bihar Senas; Andhra massacres (Karamchedu) illustrate land, status rivalries. | Mendelsohn & Vicziany; Dag-Erik Berg | |
| Milestones & Motifs | Lead Voices / Works | ||
| Two faces of “religious politics” | (a) Faith as ideological core; (b) Faith as mobilisation tool (rituals, festivals, shrines). | Your conceptual frame | |
| From reform to revival (19th c.) | Social reform (Rammohan, Sir Syed) cedes ground to cultural revival: Ganesh Utsav, cow-protection, Hindi-Urdu row. | Bal Gangadhar Tilak; Bankim Chandra; Swami Dayanand; Vivekananda | |
| Hindu revivalism / Hindutva | Nation tied to Vedic symbols; homogenise sects; masculinity rhetoric. | V. D. Savarkar – Hindutva; ICSSR Survey | |
| Islamic reform streams | Wahabi purism (Shah Waliullah → Sayyid Ahmad), Faraizi in Bengal; Sir Syed modernism at Aligarh. | Kenneth Jones Arya Dharma (for communal polemics) | |
| Historical memory politics | “Temple destruction” myths, selective histories fuel polarisation. | Romila Thapar; Gyan Pandey (“Mobilising the Hindu Community”) | |
| Gandhi vs. Communalism | Ramrajya = multi-faith ethical politics; warned of secularism without soul. | Thomas Pantham on Gandhi’s “Purna Swaraj” | |
| State & secularism | Indian model vacillates between strict neutrality and multi-faith support; susceptible to majoritarian push & minority backlash. | Comparative note (US vs. India) | |
| Violent flashpoints | Mumbai 1992-93, Gujarat 2002 show policing bias, majority consolidation. | Empirical riot studies (e.g., Brass, Varshney—implied) | |
| Region / Issue | Grievance Trajectory | Analytical Lenses | Key Analysts |
| North-East (Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam, Bodoland) | Autonomy → secession → insurgency (NSCN, ULFA); demand genuine federation. | ① Modernisation gap; ② “Nation-state vs. federation” neglect. | S. K. Chaube; B. G. Verghese; Myron Wiener ⟸ vs. Sanjib Baruah; Sajal Nag; Hiren Guhain; Sanjay Hazarika |
| Punjab | Phase 1: Punjabi Suba; Phase 2: Khalistan insurgency (1980s). | A. Socio-economic crisis post-Green Rev (Gill, Puri, Pettigrew). B. Elite manipulation (Indira–Bhindranwale nexus). | Gurharpal Singh; Joyce Pettigrew; Paul R. Brass |
| Tamil Nadu / Dravidian land | Anti-Hindi, anti-Brahmin, call for Dravida Nadu, later robust state autonomy. | Ethnicised critique of “north-Indian Brahmin” nationalism. | Periyar (E. V. R.); C. N. Annadurai; Nesweadra Subramaniam |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 1947 accession contest; 1953 Sheikh dismissal; 1989 insurgency; multi-region (Jammu/Ladakh) claims. | Accumulated central interference + economic distress + Pakistan dimension. | Balraj Puri; Sumit Ganguly (implied) |
| Theoretical triptych | Primordial (given ties) vs. Instrumentalist (elite mobilisation) vs. Hybrid (Brass: institutions channel latent cleavages). | Paul R. Brass; Dipankar Gupta | |
| State tool-kit | Reorganisation (1956), coercion (AFSPA), patronage, divide-and-rule. | Brass’ “unwritten rules”; Selig Harrison – ‘Dangerous Decades’ |
