Socioeconomic
Socioeconomic
Socioeconomic
ISSN: 2582-9203
IJPSL
Volume 2, Issue 1
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Abstract
Caste has been used historically as a tool of oppression against the marginalised lower
castes. Since India’s independence and abolishment of untouchability and other forms of
discrimination, a considerable section of the society holds the view that Caste-based
discrimination is a thing of the past. While the cases of explicit forms of discrimination have
surely decreased, caste still plays a very important role in the modern economy and so does the
implicit form of discrimination accompanying it. To undo this injustice, reservations were
introduced, hoping that they would act as a catalyst in the upward mobility of the Scheduled
Castes. However, the situation continues to be grim and the opposition against caste-based
discrimination has only increased. Therefore, to analyse these arguments and provide a
quantitative analysis of the plight of Scheduled Castes becomes necessary. This paper is an
examination of the different facets of caste in a modern economy and how effective reservations
have been in ensuring the upward mobility of the Scheduled Castes. It also analyses the present
intergenerational mobility in India and traces how reservations have impacted this
socio-economic mobility. The paper starts with an extensive introduction of sociological as well
as historical aspects of Caste in India and contextualises socio-economic mobility in India with
respect to caste. This is followed by a literature review of mobility studies in India and the
identification and impact of caste-based discrimination in the modern economy of India. The
paper concludes with a quantitative analysis of the impact of reservations on the socio-economic
mobility of Scheduled Castes in India.
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Keywords: scheduled caste, reservations, socio-economic mobility
1.0 Introduction
Caste has always been one of the focal points of exploration while understanding
development in India, as well as intergenerational mobility of the different social groups. It has
been viewed from a myriad of perspectives such as sociological, economic, anthropological,
political, historical, etc. This paper aims to understand the impact of reservation on the
intergenerational socio-economic mobility of the backward social groups, in particular, the
Scheduled Castes.
The provision of Reservation was implemented for the SC/ST and OBC after the
enforcement of the Constitution of India. In the beginning, it was 15% and 7.5% for the SC and
ST respectively. But in 1991 after the Mandal Commission, 27% reservation was provided to the
OBCs. In 1995, 3% of reservation was allocated to the other weaker section i.e. physically
disabled in jobs. After a long struggle by the teachers for SC/ST reservation in universities and
colleges, the same was allowed in 1997, after 50 years of Independence. Apart from it, after the
Supreme Court order, 3% reservation in jobs of universities and colleges was provided to the
physically challenged in the year 2005 and to OBCs in 2007.
Although the reservation of seats at higher level institutions was there from the 1950s, the actual
implementation was prolonged and as a result, took a decade or two to act at the ground level. To
date, while it happens to be functional on paper in every educational institution, the same does
not translate into a ground reality for all the institutions. In the case of educational universities
controlled by the state, the percentage of reservation is contingent upon the proportion of SCs
and STs in the population. (Weisskopf 2004).
Similarly, in the case of IIMs, latent discriminatory practices can be seen in the faculty
hiring where only five of the 642 faculty members across all the branches belong to SCs and
STs(Subramaniam and Paliath 2020). Also, the absence of more SC and ST professors in the
university makes it a hostile space for the lower caste students as the faculty cannot empathise
with their life experiences.
At a general level, economic liberalisation is supposed to have eliminated caste privilege.
However, data from the IT industry in India suggests that most of the managerial positions
continue to be dominated by members of the dominant caste. Therefore, rather than reducing the
caste effect, economic liberalisation has intensified it as it has increased inequality in a society
that is highly stratified along caste lines. (Subramaniam and Paliath 2020)
In Businesses, we find three effects of castes:(1) network effects, (2) the ranking of markets, and
(3) caste exclusion and barriers (Mosse 2018)
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1. The Network Effect of Caste:
The urban-rural divide has intensified the caste divide in villages severely and has
unmasked another important feature of the caste system: its network effect. (Mosse
2020). For any Dalit worker, employment in an urban area is a big step from ‘poverty,
humiliation, and torture’ to ‘mere poverty’. However, when such opportunities arise, they
are immediately captured by members of the upper caste, because however economically
weak they might be, they have access to a better network of better-placed people by the
virtue of belonging to the upper caste.
In one of the studies, David Mosse shows that in the village of Allupuram, members of
the upper caste were the first ones to exploit their connections for more lucrative
employment opportunities in the urban areas, whereas Dalit workers had to achieve
economic mobility by investing in farm livelihood. At the scale of national level,
analysing data sets (Thorat, Madheswaran, and Vani, 2020) has made it clear that
post-reform development and its economic diversification have not, as regards
employment, breaking the association of ‘upper’ castes with higher-status professions
and Dalits with manual and casual labour. For the post-reform period, the data reveal
glass walls against Dalit occupational mobility out of caste-typed roles or low-end service
trades into more profitable ones, or self-employment (Das 2013). A widening caste
disparity in earnings at the top of the income distribution, and in access to the most
prestigious jobs, indicates a ‘glass ceiling’ effect. To borrow Kirsten Hastrup's distinction
here, caste is less ‘substance’—that is ethnicized collective identity in struggles for
political power—and more ‘set’—that is, looser, intentional, strategic network,
pragmatically realized in the search for jobs, skills, marriages, and support in local
dispute mediation (Mosse, 2020).
2. Ranking of Markets:
The ranking of markets plays an extremely crucial role in caste-based discrimination in
employment. The more inferior the markets, the more caste linked it is to occupational
history. This, therefore, determines their differential access to different labour markets.
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For sectors such as agriculture, mining, etc. there is relatively greater access to Dalit
workers. However, in the case of sectors such as finance, hospitality, education, Dalit
workforce entry is relatively restricted (Harriss-White et al., 2014; Thorat & Newman,
2010) In a research experiment conducted by Oh in rural Odisha, it was concluded that
the ‘average take up’ rate of a task fell by 23% if it was not associated with the traditional
task of the worker’s caste. The study also concluded that the rate fell even by 47% if the
task was traditionally associated with a caste ranked lower than the worker’s caste.
Another important feature of the study was that these choices were made in private
spaces instead of public, indicating that the reason behind the choices was the workers’
own caste consciousness instead of their concern for social image. (Kwatra 2019)
3. Caste Exclusion and Barriers:
A study of 90 cases (Prakash 2015) highlights the experience of a Dalit entrepreneur in a
liberalised economy. It suggests that Dalit entrepreneurs have to face higher implicit costs
in a business venture. By virtue of belonging to a lower caste, they face exclusion from
network circles that provide access to business information, provide preferred interest
rates, etc. As a result, a significant proportion of these ventures by Dalit businessmen,
fail.
One of the papers also mentions (Mosse,2018) the lack of demand faced by such Dalit
businessmen. They are of the view that while other businesses are evaluated for their
service and goods produced, these businesses are evaluated simply on the basis of the
caste of these owners. Even in the liberalised economy, an environment of pervasive
discrimination exists according to which, ‘Dalits are expected to be labourers’. Any
occupation other than that is perceived as a ‘social transgression’, consequently, even
setting up a business as small as selling fruits is seen as a form of ‘social assertion’.
These barriers push several educated Dalits, aspiring to be self-employed, into unemployment.
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3.2 How do we Measure Socioeconomic Mobility?
The term “Sanskritisation”, coined by Prof. Srinivas, is used to describe this process of
‘upward’ social mobility wherein members belonging to the lower caste start following norms
such as renouncing alcohol, vegetarianism, and other aspects of lifestyle which are deemed to be
the culture of the Brahmins. Robert Merton in his ‘Reference Theory’ talks about the creation of
a reference group within a larger group whose tenets and lifestyle are emulated by members of
lower social groups. This can also be viewed as a means of social mobility in the caste system.
To elucidate further, it means a Jati emulating members of higher varna and therefore becoming
a reference group for its varna. Therefore, when the process of Sanskritization takes place, these
groups are the first to climb up the ladder (Vaid, 2014).
Yadavs, though belonging to OBCs, are a strong example of this process. According to
their caste occupation, they are supposed to be cow shepherds, however, capitalising on their
numerical strength and backed by reservations that were provided by the State, they were able to
transform themselves and through upward social mobility, they are affluent sections of the
society in many parts of Northern India. In Uttar Pradesh, they have been gaining economic
power since the 1950s after the abolition of the zamindari system. They purchased land rights
from the State and became dominant agricultural communities. Their wealth and economic
power increased substantially post the Green Revolution and emerged as the new “bullock
capitalists”. They were given a political voice after the Kisan Movement of the 1970s and 1980s
and backed by the socialist leaders, these ‘low ranking’ castes challenged the Congress system.
By the 1970s, the Yadavs of Uttar Pradesh started to gradually introduce themselves in the
political process at the local, state and national level, backed by the reservations provided by the
State. Christophe Jaffrelot has rightly pointed out “The rise of Other Backward Castes is the rise
of Yadavs and Kurmis’. (Jaffrelot 2010)
It is important to note that the process of Sanskritisation is not a silent and effortless one. The
mere imitation, without a simultaneous economic and political rise, does not result in successful
upward caste mobility. There are two reasons for the same. First, according to Prof. Jodhka, the
process of Sanskritization is not something that members of the upper caste naturally appreciate.
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The initial response to such an activity is that of immediate suppression, either through means of
power structures or violence (Dube 1955). This is because it threatens the position of the upper
caste people and also violates the hierarchical relationship they have with the members of the
lower caste. That is why this process entails negotiation with the local power structures. For
example, Dr BR Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste (1936) talks about the Sonars of
Maharashtra, who in an attempt to enhance their social status, styled themselves as 'Daivadnya
Brahmins' wearing their dhotis with folds on and used the word Namaskar for salutation, both of
which were endemic to the Brahmins. Not liking this imitation, the Brahmins (The Upper Caste),
under the authority of Peshwas (The power structure) put down this attempt and even got the
President of the Council of EIC (Again a power structure) in Bombay to issue a prohibitory order
against the Sonars residing in Bombay from styling themselves as 'Daivadnya Brahmins'.
To look at it from a contemporary perspective, we see that in an intercaste marriage
between a lower caste and an upper caste member, there is almost always caste-based violence
against members of the lower caste, not only because it violates the endogamous nature of the
caste system but also because the idea of a lower caste member appropriating the “property”
(women in orthodox communities are unfortunately always seen as the property of a father or
husband, and never an individual in herself) of an upper-caste man. Secondly, according to
Professor Jayaram (Vaid 2014), the public endorsement of the Sanskritized castes is a slow
process and is not likely to be reinforced if there is no simultaneous improvement in economic
status and political clout of the concerned caste.
With respect to the second means of social mobility, while studying intergenerational mobility in
developing countries, social scientists prefer to use education as a representative symbol for
social status primarily because of the lack availability and quality of data pertaining to income,
and also because it is a challenge to measure individual income in households that have a joint
production system (Asher, Novosad, and Rafkin 2021), for instance, a family of Scheduled
Castes working in the fields of an upper-caste landlord. Two diametrically opposite narratives
prevail concerning intergenerational mobility in India. On one hand, we have witnessed
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economic liberalisation and consequently rapid economic growth which has generated an array
of opportunities, thereby increasing access to opportunity. The political arena has also become
relatively more open to different social groups with political parties organising themselves
around caste and other social groups. The targeted affirmative action of the Government has also
drastically increased the variety of opportunities available to a lower caste son vis-a-vis his
father. (Asher, Novosad, and Rafkin 2021). However, at the same time, inequality continues to be
persistent, cultural alliances such as marriage are still visible along caste lines and elites in
business, civil society and the government continue to be majorly from the upper caste (Chancel
and Piketty, 2019). Therefore, it becomes important to define intergenerational mobility in a way
that is reflective of these disparities and contradictions.
While the proof behind this correlation is beyond the scope of their paper, they propose three
theories advanced by other theorists (Deshpande and Weisskopf 2011)
1. Individuals from marginalized groups may well display especially high levels of
work motivation when they succeed in attaining decision-making and managerial
positions, because of the fact that they have reached these positions in the face of
claims that they are not sufficiently capable – in consequence of which they may
have a strong desire to prove their detractors wrong.
2. Individuals from marginalized groups may simply believe that they have to work
doubly hard to prove that they are just as good as their peers – and so they may
actually work harder. Having greater numbers of SC & ST managers and
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professionals working in high-level A+B positions in the Indian Railways might
also serve to increase productivity because their community backgrounds make
them more effective in supervising and motivating SC & ST workers in C and D
jobs.
3. Finally, improvements in organizational productivity may well result from the
greater diversity of perspectives and talents made possible by the integration of
members of previously marginalized groups into high-level decision-making
teams.
Another important criticism raised is that there is no definite timeline as to when this policy will
be finished. While data suggests that there has been significant improvement in the status of
Scheduled Castes, it also shows continued discrimination though in a more hideous manner now.
Therefore, while there is no set timeline, it is in the best interests of the Scheduled Castes that the
policy is continued until the data shows that there has been uniform socio-economic mobility of
the Scheduled Castes across the spectrum, irrespective of their economic prosperity. Until
policymakers are not certain of that happening, reservation cannot be discontinued at any cost.
5.0 Results
According to the data collection by the author (Joshi, n.d.), the below-mentioned graph
suggests that between the two rounds of the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) survey,
the mean household income of both Scheduled Caste, as well as Forward Caste groups, has
increased. However, the increase for Scheduled Castes is greater than that of the Forward Castes.
This means that though the Forward Castes have much higher mean income, the Scheduled Caste
groups are quickly closing in. At the same time, looking at the numbers in absolute terms
suggests that the income gap between Forward Castes and Scheduled Castes has widened
between the two rounds.
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Table 1.0
Table 1.2
Table 1.3
Table 1.4
Table 1.5
Table 1.6
Table 1.7
6.0 Conclusion
The Caste System plays a very important role in the lives of people. For some, it acts as a
structural barrier while for others, it acts as a catalyst for progress.
To increase the socioeconomic mobility of Scheduled Castes, firstly it is important to eliminate
the prejudices about reservations. As has been shown above through empirical evidence and
theoretical arguments, the opposition against reservation is not anti-reservation, rather it is
anti-caste. In fact, the upper caste has no problem if the criterion for reservation is substituted
from caste to economic backwardness. In a modern Welfare State, the strongest and most
effective tool yet to tackle caste-based discrimination is affirmative action. And India, like most
of the other countries, faces opposition to such policies due to misplaced antagonisms like “low
productivity, less deserving, opportunity snatching” etc. which have been methodologically
busted in this paper. The government should introduce active awareness programs for
eliminating caste distinctions as well as promoting the reality of reservations so that the
opposition against reservations can be reduced.
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The government should also re-assess the implementation of its policies since most of them on
paper seem to be extremely effective but are not effective enough when implemented. For
instance, the SC-ST Prevention Of Atrocities Act: while it is an air-tight policy of the Indian
Government, people continue to suffer severely from discrimination and many Scheduled Castes
are victims of incidents where the discrimination is indirect and ‘due to reasons other than caste’.
In a judgment passed in 2018, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court of India ordered the
removal of certain provisions of the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act on the grounds that it
was being used to ‘perpetuate casteism’ and ‘blackmail innocent citizens and public servants.’
The order prohibited aspects such as “immediate arrest of public servants” from the act and also
included provisions such as filing for an anticipatory bail (Johari, 2018). However, according to
public intellectuals like Sukhadeo Thorat, most of these ‘fabricated cases’ under the SC-ST Act
already suffer from weak investigation and relatively easier means of manipulating evidence
such as medical autopsies. Many times, these scheduled castes are overwhelmed by facing an
increasingly complex judicial system which requires heavy financial investments. At such times,
they place their faith in the local politicians, who according to them, are their true ‘messiah’.
However, these politicians are often the ones to disappoint them the most. In one case, a Dalit
rape victim in Rajasthan was forced to change her testimony by their local leader, as he had
arranged for an informal out of court ‘settlement’ between him and the accused party, which
would result in a hefty payment to the politician (Fuchs, 2018). Therefore, the government not
only needs to revamp its implementation structure to avoid such incidents, it also needs to lay
down comprehensive mechanisms in addition to the law implemented for their protection to
avoid the influence of capital and institutions of caste in the judicial redressal mechanism. By
reducing the incidence of such acts, the State can effectively curtail the structural disadvantage
that the Scheduled Castes face at every step in their life.
As for the widening economic inequality within the Scheduled Castes, the State can
withdraw financial support from those SC groups that are economically sound due to stable
income, and allocate these resources to those who need it more, thereby strengthening the
economic support provided by the State to support these marginalised groups.
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There is also a need to have an affirmative action policy in employment in the private sector.
Employment preference for SC is not on the agenda of the current affirmative action policy of
the private sector. The private sector should give some thought to ensure adequate representation
to the SC in their workforce to make it more inclusive and non-discriminatory. Given the high
discrimination in high-level jobs in the private sector, it needs to take some steps to ensure due
share to the SC in high-level posts in the private sector. Similarly, the public sector is not free
from discrimination in employment and wages. Therefore, labour market reforms in public sector
employment are also necessary. (Thorat, Madheswaran, and Vani, 2021)
As the data suggests, while the Scheduled Castes have been redistributed upward, they
continue to dominate “lower-level occupations” and as the level of occupation rises, their
domination in the category decreases. One of the reasons provided for this is that in the
government, lower-level jobs are outsourced to private sector firms who have a prejudice in
employing Scheduled Castes for such kinds of jobs. Therefore, the State needs to actively fight
against this mindset of the private sector and formulate policies to curtail this kind of indirect
discrimination against the Scheduled Caste in the labour market.
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