PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Party System & Electoral Politics

Comment on the emergence of Backward classes in the Indian Politics.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes

Route 1 Backward Class rise = Kothari’s “politicisation of caste” → social presence turned into bargaining power

Route 2 emergence read as democratic upsurge → representation widens, but unevenly

Body flow

socio-economic roots: zamindari abolition + Green Revolution → intermediate peasant castes → Rudolph “bullock capitalists” → two channels: Charan Singh kisan politics / Lohia quota politics → Karpoori Thakur, Janata Dal → Mandal 27% → V.P. Singh 1990 → Jaffrelot “silent revolution” (leaders from own milieu)

Counter-view

OBCs not cohesive → Yadav dominance vs MBC exclusion → Hindu nationalism as competing identity → BJP social engineering absorbs non-dominant OBCs

Conclusion routes

Route 1 Kaviraj: hierarchy of castes → “democracy of castes”

Route 2 representation widened, justice still pending

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2016, Party System & Electoral Politics