CIVIL SERVICES CLUB

Current Affairs Primers

June - 2022
Role of Caste in Economic Transformation

Relevance- Prelims- Not much; Mains- GS II- Issues Relating

to Development and Management of Social Sector; Welfare
Schemes for Vulnerable Section

Why in news

India is in a phase of jobless growth for at least two

decades now. It is coupled with rising poverty and
discontent in rural areas.

The ongoing protests against the Agnipath programme,

agitations against farm laws before, and agitation for
reservation by agriculture castes are the outcomes of the
jobless growth.

Caste system

 The caste system is a distinct Indian social

institution that legitimises and enforces practices of

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discrimination against people born into particular

castes.

 These practices of discrimination are humiliating,

exclusionary and exploitative.

 Historically, the caste system classified people by

their occupation and status. Every caste
was associated with an occupation, which meant that
persons born into a particular caste were also ‘born
into’ the occupation associated with their caste – they
had no choice.

Role of caste in Indian Economy

 In India, there is a link between economic

transformation and caste.
 Caste, through its rigid social control and networks,
facilitates economic mobility for some and erects
barriers for others by mounting disadvantages on
them.
 Caste also shapes the ownership pattern of land and
capital and simultaneously regulates access to
political, social, and economic capital too.

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Caste impedes economic transformation in India

Three ways in which caste impedes the economic

transformation in India:

 ownership and land inequality related to productivity

failure within the farm sector,
 elite bias in higher education and historical neglect of
mass education, and
 caste-based entry barriers and exclusive networks in
the modern sector.

Major Factors

1. Land ownership, productivity

o India has one of the highest land inequalities in
the world today.

o Unequal distribution of land was perpetuated by

British colonial intervention that legalised a
traditional disparity.

o Some castes were assigned land ownership at the

expense of others by the British for its
administrative practices.

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o The British inscribed caste in land governance

categories and procedures that still
underpin post-colonial land ownership pattern in
India.

o They made an artificial distinction between proper

cultivators who belong to certain castes and those
labourers — lower caste subjects who cultivated
granted/gifted lands (Panchami, etc.) that have
institutionalised caste within the land revenue
bureaucracy.

o The prescribed categories and practices have

entrenched caste inequality in land ownership.

o Even the subsequent land reform that took place

after India’s independence largely excluded Dalits
and lower castes.

o It emboldened and empowered mainly

intermediate castes at the expense of others in
rural India.

2. Role of Green Revolution

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o The Green Revolution did not alter land

inequality as it was mostly achieved
through technological intervention.

o Castes that benefited from the Green Revolution

tightened their social control over others in rural
India.

o Land still defines social status and pride in many

parts of rural India.

3. Economic Reforms

o Those castes that had a stake in agriculture did

not benefit from the economic reforms of the
1990s for two reasons — historical neglect of
education and the entry barriers erected by the
upper castes in modern sectors.

4. Neglect of education
o The Indian education system has been suffering
from an elite bias since colonial times.
o British colonialists educated tiny groups of elites,
largely from upper castes, for their
own administrative purpose.

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o Although the Indian Constitution guaranteed free

and compulsory education under its directive
principles, it was hardly translated into
practice. Instead, attention was given to higher
education for the elites.
5. Social inequalities
o Castes that were already in control of trading and
industrial spaces resisted the entry of others.
o Even those who had economic surplus in farm
sectors could not invest in non-farm modern
sectors. Social inequalities have mounted barriers
for economic transition.

Comparison with other Nations

 In contrast, Chinese and other East Asian countries

invested in basic education and gradually shifted
towards higher education. Their success in
manufacturing is a direct outcome of the investment in
human capital.

 South-East Asia and China captured low-end

manufacturing jobs, whereas India
largely concentrated in high-end technology jobs.

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 China taking over India in manufacturing is due to

this neglect in human capital formation.

 Rural entrepreneurship in China was able to grow out

of the traditional agricultural sector on a massive
scale. Rural India, in contrast, hampered by a poor
endowment of human capital, could not start
entrepreneurial ventures even remotely on the scale of
the Chinese.

Constitutional Provisions against caste discrimination

 Article 15 of the Constitution of India states that the

State shall not discriminate against any citizen on
grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth
or any of them.
 Article 16 of the Constitution of India states that there
shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in
matters of employment under the State.
o No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race,
caste, sex, descent, place of birth or any of them,
be ineligible for any office under the State.
 Article 21A of the Constitution of India states that the
State shall provide free and compulsory education to

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all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such

manner as the State may, by law, determine.

Conclusion

 All the nations which succeeded in achieving inclusive

growth in the Global South had land reforms
combined with human capital, invested in
infrastructure by promoting capitalism from below and
began industrialisation in the rural sector. Only India
lost on all three counts.
 Caste shaped policy outcomes, including India’s highly
unequal land reform and lack of public provision of
education and health, which in turn erected barriers
to economic diversification. Caste also worked in
building social networks.

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