GENDER, CASTE AND LABOR

BOOK REVIEW
SUBMITTED BY: SHEENAM KOHLI
M.A SOCIOLOGY (SEM II)

Anand Teltumbde, a management professional, writer, civil rights activist, political

analyst, in his book THE PERSISTANCE OF CASTE- THE KHAIRLANJI MURDERS
AND INDIAS HIDDEN APARTHEID, has continuously emphasised that how even
after feudalism, capitalist industrialization, a republican constitution and now
globalization, caste has continued to survive in the Indian society. In his book he
mentions that how Navy Pillay, the high commissioner of The United Nations For
Human Rights has compared the situation of caste to that of apartheid. This shows
that this problem of caste differentiation is so deeply grounded in our Indian society.
Its not just that this problem of caste is limited to India, it can even be seen in the
Indian diaspora. The author has given various examples to explain the Indian
diaspora and caste. He even explains that caste is not just restricted to the Hindu
population but has infiltrated in Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism as well.
Even after conversion to different religion the problem of caste could not be
eradicated. Islam majorly used this caste discrimination to influence people to
convert to Islam. The author explains that despite adopting various measures to
eliminate caste, like that of Bhakti Movement and various other reform movements
in various parts of India, caste prevailed in India. The major reason for the failure of
these movements was that the victims themselves never participated in these
movements. The author states that how during different time periods attempts were
made to finish the problem of caste but all went in vain. Through the example of the
Khairlanji case, author in this book is trying to portray that how this caste
differentiation has led to the problem of caste atrocity and the major reason for this
was the decline of the dalit movement. These atrocities included any inhumane
activity that one could think of. And that the problem of atrocity is prevalent not just
because of the differentiation between the dalits and non-dalits but also because of
the lack in the judicial system. Author says that even atrocities have changed with
the passage of time. He states that earlier, atrocities were committed in the
arrogance of impunity, for untouchables had no means of resistance; now they are
committed in vengeance against dalit assertion. Earlier, atrocities were a
manifestation of contempt; today they are a manifestation of the deep resentment of
the privileges Scheduled Castes get from the state. With the emergence of
globalization it was expected that the problem of caste would simplify, but with
relation to the lower classes, it had an opposite effect. Globalization has brought for
them a crisis of livelihood and an erosion of confidence. Through this book, via the
example of Khairlanji murders, the author wants to display that what caste really
means in this modern India. These atrocities constitute the state, media and the civil
society as its agents. The author initially describes how caste was earlier and about
various caste massacres and moves on to the most recent case of Khairlanji.
Though caste has not withered away in spite of many attempts, it has faced certain
changes as observed by the author. They try to contract inward and form new

castes, they also implant their relative superiority in relation to other castes. This has
led to an increase in the complexity of caste and has a huge influence of the political
economy. Earlier the Brahmins had an authority over other castes but the hegemony
of the Brahmins is steadily loosening. Even in the case of Khairlanji, it was not the
upper caste or the Brahmins who attacked the Bhotmange family, rather it was the
Shudras. This contradiction between the dalits and the non-dalits that can be seen in
rural areas creates its base from the opposition between the dalits role as a landless
labourer and the shudras new position as a dominant landowner. The main reason
according to the author for caste violence in villages is due to this changed position
and roles of the dalits and shudras. Even the massacre of Khairlanji started off with a
small dispute over land. The Indian state has also contributed in caste contradiction
by forming such modernist policies which brought more wealth to the landed BCs
and OBCs and failed to provide an equitable power to the dalits. Taking capitalism
into consideration, which faded away feudalism from everywhere, could not do much
with respect to caste in India. The pre-capitalist institutions, such as caste, religious
bodies and tribal customs, remained unchanged even after capitalism emerged in
India. As the author stated that capitalism was expected to provide jobs, especially to
the lower class, but it could not eliminate the influence of caste already prevailing in
the occupational lines. Even if a dalit was forward looking and modern, he was
always reminded that he is a dalit and will always remain one. Even the policy of
reservation has benefited and provided employment to just about 3-4% of dalits.
When the oppressors were asked of the reason of attacking the dalits, majority of
them felt that it was their right and it was important to show the dalits their place in
the society. Caste crimes or atrocities are planned activities to teach a lesson to the
entire community. Keeping the proliferating cases of atrocities in mind, Indian
government passed various laws for dalits to avoid and reduce atrocities. The main
law, The Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989,
also known as the PoA Act, was completely based on atrocities and recognised 18
crimes as caste atrocity. Though the act was anticipated to be beneficial to the lower
caste people, but its implementation lacked in various aspects. The failure of the Act
in meeting its objective, as observed by the author, was due to the implementing
machinery, viz., the police, prosecution and the judiciary, because laws and legal
processes are never self-executing ; they depend on human agency and institutions.
Considering all the facts and figures it was observed that a crime against dalit is
committed every eighteen minutes. The author describes about the Khairlanji case in
detail. He states that how a family, the Bhotmanges consisting of a mother, two sons
and a daughter, was brutally murdered by a large mob and the reason was that the
family was trying to move beyond their caste lines. It was strange to see that as the
incident happened there was no one of their caste who came forward for their
support and help them get justice. Everyone was busy with the annual Deeksha
celebration and no one noticed about the atrocity happening 125 kilometres away
from Nagpur. The police, who are the human agents of providing justice, did not
register a case under the PoA act. This shows that even the police was under the
influence of high caste people and were in favour of them. Even the media did not
raise the issue of this case even after one month of the incident. It was very late that
a local newspaper raised this case of Khairlanji murders. The political leaders
avoided to visit the incident site and help the deceased get justice. Also the dalit
leaders avoided a visit to Khairlanji as far as possible. Even when they went there,
they tried to score more points for their political career and paid less attention on

providing justice. This made the public protests move from the focus of justice to the
criminals to the lack of state machinery in protecting them from these atrocities. It
was noted that most of the protest movements were lead by the dalit women. The
investigation done by the police showed their disinterest in the case as after the
post-mortem was done many aspects of the case were hid like that the daughter and
mother were raped. The lack of the state machinery in providing proper justice to
these lower caste dalit people made the dalits against the state. Slowly this agitation
of the dalits spread across different parts of the country. Police suppressed these
events by attacking the protestors and going to different dalit localities and abusing
and arresting dalit people. The main reason that could be sensed behind this was
that they were trying to suppress the voices of this repressed caste.
In a democracy media acts as an important institution. As noted by the author that
even though the Indian society was modernizing there were no dalits in the Indian
media. Its effect can be seen in the Khairlanji murder incident as the media displayed
biased reports and also considered the protests done by the dalits as an act of
creating nuisance. Media made no effort to understand the dalit agitation. Ambedkar
rightly mentioned that the untouchables have no press. Through the Khairlanji case
it can be inferred that the Indian administration has a caste biased character. The
denial of justice by the state machinery to the victims of atrocity leads to an increase
in the cases of atrocities. To curb away with these protests of the dalits the political
institutions termed them as being naxalites, who just want to be against the
government and create situations of abnormality in the society. It can be noted that
the state, most of the times, uses naxalism as a repressive tool and to intensify the
crises. Looking at the intensity with which the state deals with peoples movements,
one cannot but infer that the enmity of the state towards naxalism is merely an
expression of its age old caste hatred for the subordinated, oppressed groups who
are naxalisms adherents. The contemporary struggles against the states land grab
operations on behalf of big capital are also leading to many atrocities against dalits
and adivasis. Instead of responding to these struggles with sensitivity, the state
resorts to inhumane repression. Therefore, we can derive that the state can wilfully
link any and every struggle by ordinary people with the naxalites and then have
licence to crush them. While concluding the book the author mentions about the
various myths surrounding the question of caste. First such myth is that globalization
will eradicate caste. The failure of capitalism has demolished this myth and it can be
seen that globalization has further created a crisis of livelihood for majority of people
as they are forced to go into the market to fend for themselves because of the
change in the government policies. The next myth is that economic development will
eradicate caste but we can see through the Khairlanji case, where the Bhotmange
family was economically independent and had satisfactory earning, that this myth is
also false. The next myth that the author talks about is the myth of civil society. He
states that as people become civil and educated they help in reducing caste
differentiation. But whenever there are issues related to caste then this civil society
leaves it all to the dalits. There is no participation of the non-dalits on the name of
civil society. Dalits believe that if they have their own people placed in the
bureaucratic structure then they would be in a better position. This is seen as a myth
by the author, the myth of representation. Looking in the Khairlanji case it can be
seen the entire chain of bureaucracy, staffed with dalits, failed to provide justice at
every possible step. This is because as soon as an individual enters the bureaucratic
structure he starts working for the system and forgets about his people. The last

myth according to the author is the myth of the Bahujan. Bahujan means the
coalition between different lower castes such as shudras, dalits and other minority
castes. But the Khairlanji case demolishes this myth as well because it was the
shudras who attacked the Bhotmange dalits.
These above myths mentioned by the author makes the people blind and it is
important that these myths should be broken. People should feel that they all are
Indians and that all the issues related to caste should not be dealt by dalits alone.
Only if all people will come together then only there will be no more cases like that of
Khairlanji.