Gender, Religion and Caste39Chapter 4Gender,Religion andCasteOverviewIn the previous chapter we noted that the existence of social diversitydoes not threaten democracy. Political expression of social differencesis possible and sometimes quite desirable in a democratic system. InthischapterweapplytheseideastothepracticeofdemocracyinIndia. We look at three kinds of social differences that can take theform of social divisions and inequalities. These are social differencesbasedongender,religionandcaste.Ineachcasewelookatthenature of this division in India and how it gets expressed in politics.We also ask whether different expressions based on these differencesare healthy or otherwise in a democracy. NCERTnot to be republished40Democratic PoliticsGenderandpoliticsLet us begin with gender division. Thisis a form ofhierarchical social divisionseen everywhere, but is rarely recognisedinthestudyof politics.Thegenderdivision tends to be understood as naturaland unchangeable. However, it is notbasedonbiologybutonsocialexpectations and stereotypes.Public/private divisionBoys and girls are brought up to believethat the main responsibility of women ishouseworkandbringingupchildren.This is reflected in a SEXUAL DIVISION OFLABOUR in most families: women do allwork inside the home such as cooking,cleaning,washingclothes,tailoring,looking after children, etc., and men doall the work outside the home. It is notthatmencannotdohousework;theysimplythinkthatitisforwomentoattend to these things. When these jobsare paid for, men are ready to take uptheseworks.Mosttailorsorcooksinhotels are men. Similarly, it is not thatwomen do not work outside their home.In villages, women fetch water, collectfuel andwork in the fields. In urbanareas, poor women work as domestichelperinmiddleclasshomes,whilemiddle class women work in offices. Infactthemajorityofwomendosomesortofpaidworkinadditiontodomestic labour. But their work is notvalued and does not get recognition.The result of this division of labouris that although women constitute halfofthe humanity, their role in public life,especially politics, is minimal in mostsocieties. Earlier, only men were allowedto participate in public affairs, vote andcontest for public offices. Gradually thegenderissuewasraisedinpolitics.Women in different parts ofthe worldorganised and agitated for equal rights.Therewereagitationsindifferentcountriesfortheextensionofvotingrightstowomen.Theseagitationsdemanded enhancing the political andlegal status of women and improvingA poster from Bengal affirming womensstrength.Sexual division of labour:A system in which all workinside the home is eitherdone by the women of thefamily, or organised bythem through thedomestic helpers.Why not? Ifpolitics is aboutpower, thensurely maledominance in thehousehold shouldbe consideredpolitical.Why are wediscussing thingslike householdwork in thistextbook onPolitical Science?Is this politics? Zuban NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste41theireducationalandcareeropportunities.Moreradicalwomensmovements aimed at equality in personaland family life as well. These movementsare called FEMINIST movements.Politicalexpressionof genderdivision and political mobilisation on thisDiscuss all these perceptions of an ideal woman that prevail in our society. Do youagree with any of these? If not, what is your image of an ideal woman?Feminist: A womanor a man whobelieves in equal rightsand opportunities forwomen and men. Zubanquestionhelpedtoimprovewomensrole in public life. We now find womenworking as scientists, doctors, engineers,lawyers,managersandcollegeanduniversity teachers which were earlier notconsidered suitable for women. In somepartsoftheworld,forexamplein NCERTnot to be republished42Democratic PoliticsPatriarchy: Literally,rule by father, thisconcept is used to referto a system that valuesmen more and givesthem power overwomen.Activities Men WomenIncome generating work 6:00 2:40Household and related work 0:30 5:00Talking, Gossip 1:25 1:20No work/ Leisure 3:40 3:50Sleep, self-care, reading etc. 12:25 11:10Daily time use (hours: minutes)Source: Government of India, Time Use Survey, 1998-99.+A time use survey was conducted in six states of our country. Itshows that an average woman works every day for a little overseven and half hours while an average man works for six and ahalf hours. Yet the work done by men is more visible becausemost of their work leads to generation of income. Women also doa lot of direct income generating work, but the bulk of their workis household related. This work remains unpaid and invisible.Scandinavian countries such as Sweden,Norway and Finland, the participationof women in public life is very high.In our country, women still lag muchbehind men despite some improvementsince Independence. Ours is still a male-dominated, PATRIARCHAL society. Womenfacedisadvantage,discriminationandoppression in various ways: The literacy rate among women isonly 54 per cent compared with 76 percentamongmen.Similarly,asmallerYou can conduct a similar time use survey in your own household.Observe all the adult male and female members of your family forone week. Every day note down the number of hours each ofthem spends on the following activities: income generatingactivity (working at the office or shop or factory or field, etc.),household related activity (cooking, cleaning, washing, fetchingwater, looking after children or elders, etc.), reading andrecreation, talking/gossiping, self-care, taking rest or sleeping. Ifnecessary make new categories. Add up the time taken on eachactivity for a week and calculate the daily average for each activityfor each member. Do women work more in your family as well? NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste43Mummy alwayssays to outsiders:I dont work. Iam a housewife.But I see herworking non-stopall the time. Ifwhat she does isnot work, whatelse is work?Map not to scaleproportion of girl students go for higherstudies. When we look at school results,girlsperformaswellasboys,if notbetter in some places. But they drop outbecause parents prefer to spend theirresources for their boys education ratherthan spending equally on their sons anddaughters. Nowondertheproportionofwomenamongthehighlypaidandvaluedjobsisstillverysmall.OnanaverageanIndianwomanworksonehour more than an average man everyday. Yet much ofher work is not paidand therefore often not valued. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976provides that equal wages should be paidto equal work. However in almost allareas of work, from sports and cinema,to factories and fields, women are paidless than men, even when both do exactlythe same work. InmanypartsofIndiaparentsprefer to have sons and find ways tohave the girl child aborted before she isborn. Such sex-selective abortion led toa decline in child sex ratio (number ofgirl children per thousand boys) in thecountrytomerely914.AsthemapSource: UNFPA, Missing... Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India, 2005, p.3.Can you identify your district on this map?What is the child sex ratio in it? How is itdifferent from others with a different colour?Identify the States where most districts havechild sex ratio below 850.Compare this map with the poster on the nextpage. How do the two of them tell us about thesameissue?CHILDSEXRATIOBELOW 800800-849850-899900-949950 AND ABOVEDATANOT AVAILABLEDELHINATIONALAVERAGE914(2011Census) NCERTnot to be republished44Democratic Politics Oxfam GBshows, this ratio has fallen below 850 oreven 800 in some places.There are reports of various kindsof harassment, exploitation and violenceagainstwomen.Urbanareashavebecome particularly unsafe for women.They are not safe even within their ownhomefrombeating,harassmentandother forms ofdomestic violence.Womens politicalrepresentationAll this is well known. Yet issues relatedto womens well being or otherwise arenot given adequate attention. This has ledmany feminists and womens movementstotheconclusionthatunlesswomencontrol power, their problems will notgetadequateattention.Onewaytoensure this is to have more women aselected representatives.In India, the proportion of womeninlegislaturehasbeenverylow.Forexample,thepercentageofelectedwomenmembersinLokSabhahascrossed 10 per cent of its total strengthfor the first time in 2009. Their share inthe state assemblies is less than 5 per cent.In this respect, India is among the bottomgroup of nations in the world (see thegraphbelow).IndiaisbehindtheCouldyouthinkofsomereasons why womensrepresentation is so lowinIndia?DoyouthinkAmericasandEuropehaveachievedasatisfactory level ofwomensrepresentation?WorldAverageWomen innational parliaments in differentregions of the world (in%)19.7NordiccountriesAmericas *Europe Sub-SaharanAfricaPacific ArabStatesIndiaRegion*Europe OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) member countries excluding Nordiccountries.Note: Figures are for the per cent of women in the directly elected chambers of parliament as on 31 December 2011.Source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htmAsia0510152025303540454222.620.8 20.418.312.411.310.8 NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste45This cartoon offers an understanding of why the Womens Reservation Bill has not been passed in theParliament. Do you agree with this reading? Surender - The HinduIf casteism andcommunalism arebad, what makesfeminism a goodthing? Why dontwe oppose allthose who dividethe society onany lines caste,religion orgender?averages for several developing countriesofAfricaandLatinAmerica.Inthegovernment, cabinets are largely all-maleeven when a woman becomes the ChiefMinister or the Prime Minister.One way to solve this problem is tomakeitlegallybindingtohaveafairproportionofwomenintheelectedbodies. This is what the Panchayati Rajhas done in India. One-third of seats inlocal government bodies in panchayatsand municipalities are now reservedfor women. Now there are more than10 lakh elected women representativesin rural and urban local bodies.Womensorgani sati onsandactivists have been demanding a similarreservationof atleastone-thirdofseatsintheLokSabhaandStateAssemblies for women. A bill with thisproposal has been pending before theParliament for more than a decade. Butthere is no consensus over this amongall the political parties. The bill has notbeen passed.Gender division is an example thatsome form ofsocial division needs tobe expressed in politics. This also showsthat disadvantaged groups do benefitwhen social divisions become a politicalissue. Do you think that women couldhave made the gains we noted above iftheir unequal treatment was not raisedin the political domain? NCERTnot to be republished46Democratic PoliticsReligion,communalismandpoliticsLet us now turn to a very different kindof social division, the division based onreligious differences. This division is notasuniversalasgender,butreligiousdiversity is fairly widespread in the worldtoday. Many countries including Indiahave in their population, followers ofdifferent religions. As we noticed in thecase of Northern Ireland, even whenmost of the people belong to the samereligion, there can be serious differencesaboutthewaypeoplepracticethatreligion. Unlike gender differences, thereligious differences are often expressedin the field ofpolitics.Consider the following: Gandhiji used to say that religion cannever be separated from politics. WhathemeantbyreligionwasnotanyI am not religious.Why should Ibother aboutcommunalism andsecularism?particular religion like Hinduism or Islambut moral values that inform all religions.He believed that politics must be guidedby ethics drawn from religion. Human rights groups in our countryhave argued that most of the victims ofcommunalriotsinourcountryarepeople from religious minorities. Theyhavedemandedthatthegovernmenttakespecialstepstoprotectreligiousminorities. WomensmovementhasarguedthatFAMILYLAWSof allreligionsdiscriminateagainstwomen.Sotheyhave demanded that government shouldchange these laws to make them moreequitable.Alltheseinstancesinvolvearelationship between religion and politics. NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste47Buttheydonotseemverywrongordangerous.Ideas,idealsandvaluesdrawn from different religions can andperhaps should play a role in politics.Peopleshouldbeabletoexpressinpolitics their needs, interests and demandsas a member ofa religious community.Those who hold political power shouldsometimesbeabletoregulatethepracticeofreligionsoastopreventdiscrimination and oppression. Thesepolitical acts are not wrong as long asthey treat every religion equally.CommunalismThe problem begins when religion is seenas the basis of the nation. The exampleof Northern Ireland in Chapter 3 showsthedangersofsuchanapproachtonationalism.Theproblembecomesmore acute when religion is expressedin politics in exclusive and partisan terms,when one religion and its followers arepitted against another. This happens whenbeliefs of one religion are presented assuperiortothoseofotherreligions,whenthedemandsofonereligiousgroupareformedinoppositiontoanother and when state power is usedto establish domination of one religiousgroupovertherest.Thismannerofusing religion in politics is communalpolitics.Communal politics is based on theidea that religion is the principal basis ofsocialcommunity.Communalisminvolves thinking along the followinglines.Thefollowersof aparticularreligion must belong to one community.Their fundamental interests are the same.Anydifferencethattheymayhaveisirrelevant or trivial for community life.It also follows that people who followdifferent religions cannot belong to theFamily laws: Thoselaws that deal withfamily related matterssuch as marriage,divorce, adoption,inheritance, etc. In ourcountry, different familylaws apply to followersofdifferent religions.same social community. Ifthe followersofdifferentreligionhavesomecommonalities these are superficial andimmaterial. Their interests are bound tobe different and involve a conflict. In itsextreme form communalism leads to thebelief that people belonging to differentreligionscannotliveasequalcitizenswithin one nation. Either, one of themhas to dominate the rest or they have toform different nations.This belief is fundamentally flawed.People of one religion do not have thesame interests and aspirations in everycontext. Everyone has several other roles,positions and identities. There are manyvoices inside every community. All thesevoices have a right to be heard. Thereforeany attempt to bring all followers of onereligion together in context other thanreligion is bound to suppress many voiceswithin that community.Communalismcantakevariousforms in politics: The most common expression ofcommunalismisineverydaybeliefs.Theseroutinelyinvolvereligiousprejudices,stereotypesofreligiouscommunities and belief in the superiorityof ones religion over other religions. Thisis so common that we often fail to noticeit, even when we believe in it. A communal mind often leads to aquest for political dominance ofonesownreligiouscommunity.Forthosebelonging to majority community, thistakesthefor mof maj ori tari andominance. For those belonging to theminoritycommunity,itcantaketheformof adesiretoformaseparatepolitical unit. PoliticalmobilisationonreligiouslinesisanotherfrequentformofI often crackjokes aboutpeople from onereligion. Doesthat make mecommunal? NCERTnot to be republished48Democratic Politicscommunalism. This involves the use ofsacredsymbols,religiousleaders,emotional appeal and plain fear in orderto bring the followers of one religiontogether in the political arena. In electoralpolitics this often involves special appealto the interests or emotions of votersofone religion in preference to others. Sometimes communalism takes itsmost ugly form ofcommunal violence,riots and massacre. India and Pakistansuffered some of the worst communalriots at the time of the Partition. Thepost-Independence period has also seenlarge scale communal violence.Secular stateCommunalismwasandcontinuestobeoneofthemajorchallengestodemocracy in our country. The makersof our Constitution were aware of thischallenge. That is why they chose themodel of a secular state. This choice wasreflectedinseveralconstitutionalprovisions that we studied last year: There is no official religion for theIndianstate.UnlikethestatusofBuddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam inPakistanandthatofChristianityinEngland, our Constitution does not givea special status to any religion.WeremainstrangersEvenaftersomanymeetingsBloodstainsremainEvenaftersomanyrainsFaiz NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste49 TheConstitutionprovidestoallindividuals and communities freedom toprofess,practiceandpropagateanyreligion, or not to follow any. TheConstitutionprohibitsdiscrimination on grounds of religion. At the same time, the Constitutionallowsthestatetointerveneinthematters of religion in order to ensureequality within religious communities.For example, it bans untouchability.Understood in this sense, secularismis not just an ideology ofsome partiesor persons. This idea constitutes one ofthefoundationsof ourcountry.Communalism should not be seen as athreattosomepeopleinIndia.Itthreatens the very idea of India. That iswhycommunalismneedstobecombated. A secular Constitution likeours is necessary but not sufficient tocombatcommunalism.Communalprejudices and propaganda need to becountered in everyday life and religion-basedmobilisationneedstobecountered in the arena ofpolitics.CasteandpoliticsWehaveseentwoinstancesof theexpression of social divisions in the arenaof politics, one largely positive and theother largely negative. Let us turn to ourfinal case, that of caste and politics, thathas both positive and the negative aspects.Caste inequalitiesUnlike gender and religion, caste divisionis special to India. All societies have somekind ofsocial inequality and some formofdivision oflabour. In most societies,occupationsarepassedonfromonegeneration to another. Caste system is anextreme form ofthis. What makes itdifferent from other societies is that inthissystem,hereditaryoccupationaldivisionwassanctionedbyrituals.Members of the same caste group weresupposed to form a social communitythatpracticedthesameorsimilaroccupation,marriedwithinthecastegroup and did not eat with membersfrom other caste groups.Caste system was based on exclusionofanddiscriminationagainsttheoutcaste groups. They were subjectedto the inhuman practice of untouchabilityabout which you have studied in ClassIX. That is why political leaders and socialreformers like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji,B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Ajith Ninan - The Times of India NCERTnot to be republished50Democratic PoliticsSocial and Religious Diversity of IndiaThe Census of India records the religion of each and every Indian after every tenyears. The person who fills the Census form visits every household and records thereligion of each member of that household exactly the way each person describes it.If someone says she has no religion or that he is an atheist, this is exactly how it isrecorded. Thus we have reliable information on the proportion of different religiouscommunities in the country and how it has changed over the years. The pie chartbelow presents the population proportion of six major religious groups in the country.Since Independence, the total population of each group has increased substantiallybut their proportion in the countrys population has not changed much. In percentageterms, the population of the Hindus, Jains and Christians has declined marginally since1961. The proportion of Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist population has increased slightly.There is a common but mistaken impression that the proportion of the Muslims in thecountrys population is going to overtake other religious groups. Expert estimates donefor the Prime Ministers High Level Committee (popularly known as Sachar Committee)show that the proportion of the Muslims is expected to go up a little, by about 3 to 4per cent, in the next 50 years. It proves that in overall terms, the population balanceof different religious groups is not likely to change in a big way.The same is true of the major caste groups. The Census of India counts two socialgroups: the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Both these broad groupsinclude hundreds of castes or tribes whose names are listed in an official Schedule.Hence the prefix Scheduled in their name. The Scheduled Castes, commonly knownas Dalits, include those that were previously regarded as outcaste in the Hindu socialorder and were subjected to exclusion and untouchability. The Scheduled Tribes, oftenreferred to as Adivasis, include those communities that led a secluded life usually inhills and forests and did not interact much with the rest of society. In 2001, theScheduled Castes were 16.2 percent and the Scheduled Tribes were8.2 per cent of the countryspopulation.The Census does not yet count theOther Backward Classes, the groupwe discussed in class IX. Hencethere are some differences abouttheir proportion in the countryspopulation. The National SampleSurvey of 2004-05 estimates theirpopulation to be around 41 percent. Thus the SC, ST and theOBC together account for abouttwo-thirds of the countryspopulation and about three-fourthsof the Hindu population.PopulationofdifferentreligiousgroupinIndia,2001Hindu80.5%Muslim13.4%Others 1.9%Christian 2.3%Sikh 1.9%Others include Buddhist 0.8%Jain 0.4%All other religions 0.6% No religion 0.1%Source:Census of India, 2001 NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste51Naickeradvocatedandworkedtoestablishasocietyinwhichcasteinequalities are absent.Partly due to their efforts and partlydue to other socio-economic changes,castes and caste system in modern Indiahaveundergonegreatchanges.Witheconomicdevelopment,largescaleURBANISATION, growth of literacy andeducation, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY andtheweakeningofthepositionoflandlords in the villages, the old notionsof CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.Now, most ofthe times, in urban areasit does not matter much who is walkingalong next to us on a street or eating atthenexttableinarestaurant.TheConstitutionofIndiaprohibitedanycaste-based discrimination and laid thefoundations of policies to reverse theinjustices of the caste system. If a personwho lived a century ago were to returnto India, she would be greatly surprisedat the change that has come about inthe country.Yet caste has not disappeared fromcontemporary India. Some of the olderaspects of caste have persisted. Evennowmostpeoplemarrywithintheirown caste or tribe. Untouchability hasnotendedcompl etel y, despi teconstitutional prohibition. Effects ofcenturiesofadvantagesanddisadvantages continue to be felt today.Thecastegroupsthathadaccesstoeducationundertheoldsystemhavedoneverywellinacquiringmoderneducation as well. Those groups that didnothaveaccesstoeducationorwereprohibited from acquiring it have naturallylaggedbehind.Thatiswhythereisadisproportionatelylargepresenceofupper caste among the urban middleclasses in our country. Caste continues tobecloselylinkedtoeconomicstatus.(See Plus Box on Page 52.)Caste in politicsAs in the case of communalism, casteismis rooted in the belief that caste is thesolebasisof socialcommunity.Accordingtothiswayofthinking,peoplebelongingtothesamecastebelong to a natural social community andhave the same interests which they donot share with anyone from another caste.As we saw in the case of communalism,suchabeliefisnotborneoutbyourexperience. Caste is one aspect of ourexperience but it is not the only relevantor the most important aspect.Caste can take various forms in politics: When parties choose candidates inelections, they keep in mind the castecompositionoftheelectorateandnominatecandidatesfromdifferentcastes so as to muster necessary supportto win elections. When governments areformed, political parties usually take carethat representatives of different castes andtribes find a place in it.Urbanisation: Shift ofpopulation from ruralareas to urban areasOccupationalmobility: Shift fromone occupation toanother, usually when anew generation takes upoccupations other thanthose practiced by theirancestors.Caste hierarchy: Aladder like formation inwhich all the castegroups are placed fromthe highest to thelowest castes.I dont care whatmy caste is. Whyare we discussingall this in thetextbook? Are wenot promotingcasteism bytalking aboutcaste?Now you dont likeit! Didnt you tellme that whereverthere is domination,we should discuss itin Political Science?Will caste disappearif we keep mumabout it? NCERTnot to be republished52Democratic PoliticsCaste inequality todayCaste is an important source of economic inequality because it regulates accessto resources of various kinds.For example, in the past, the so-calleduntouchable castes were denied the right to own land, while only the so-calledtwice born castes had the right to education.Although this kind of explicit andformalised inequality based on caste is now outlawed, the effects of centuries ofaccumulated advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt.Moreover, newkinds of inequalities have also developed.The relationship between caste and economic status has certainly changed a lot.Today, it is possible to find very rich and very poor people in every caste,whether low or high.This was not true even twenty or thirty years ago itwas very rare indeed to find rich people among the lowest castes. However, asthis evidence from the National Sample Survey shows, caste continues to be verystrongly linked to economic status in many important ways: The average economic status (measured by criteria like monthly consumptionexpenditure) of caste groups still follows the old hierarchy the upper castesare best off, the Dalits and Adivasis are worst off, and the backward classes arein between. Although every caste has some poor members, the proportion living inextreme poverty (below the official poverty line) is much higher for the lowestcastes and much lower for the upper castes, with the backward classes onceagain in between. Although every caste has some members who are rich, the upper castes areheavily over-represented among the rich while the lower castes are severelyunder-represented.Percentage ofpoulation living below the poverty line, 1999-2000Caste and Community groups Rural UrbanScheduled Tribes 45.8 35.6Scheduled Castes 35.9 38.3Other Backward Classes 27.0 29.5Muslim Upper Castes 26.8 34.2Hindu Upper Castes 11.7 9.9Christian Upper Castes 9.6 5.4Sikh Upper Castes 0.0 4.9Other Upper Castes 16.0 2.7All Groups 27.0 23.4Note: Upper Caste here means those who are not from SC, ST, or OBC. Below the poverty linemeansthosewhospentRs327orlessperpersonpermonthinruralandRs454orlessperpersonpermonthinurbanareas.Source:NationalSampleSurveyOrganisation(NSSO),GovernmentofIndia,55th Round,1999-2000 NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste53 Political parties and candidates inelections make appeals to caste sentimentto muster support. Some political partiesare known to favour some castes andare seen as their representatives. Universal adult franchise and theprincipleofone-person-one-votecompelled political leaders to gear upto the task of mobilising and securingpolitical support. It also brought newconsciousnessamongthepeopleofcastesthatwerehithertotreatedasinferior and low.The focus on caste in politics cansometimesgiveanimpressionthatelections are all about caste and nothingelse. That is far from true. Just considerthese: No parliamentary constituency inthe country has a clear majority of onesingle caste. So, every candidate and partyneeds to win the confidence of morethan one caste and community to winelections. No party wins the votes of all thevoters ofa caste or community. Whenpeople say that a caste is a vote bankofone party, it usually means that a largeproportion of the voters from that castevote for that party. Many political parties may put upcandidates from the same caste (if thatcasteisbelievedtodominatetheelectorate in a particular constituency).Somevotershavemorethanonecandidate from their caste while manyvotershavenocandidatefromtheircaste. The ruling party and the sitting MPor MLA frequently lose elections in ourcountry. That could not have happenedifallcastesandcommunitieswerefrozen in their political preferences.Clearly,whilecastemattersinelectoralpolitics,sodomanyotherfactors.Thevotershavestrongattachment to political parties which isoften stronger than their attachment totheir caste or community. People withinthesamecasteorcommunityhavedifferent interests depending on theireconomic condition. Rich and poor ormen and women from the same casteoftenvoteverydifferently.Peoplesassessment ofthe performance ofthegovernment and the popularity rating ofthe leaders matter and are often decisivein elections.Politics in casteWe have so far looked at what caste doesto politics. But it does not mean that thereis only a one-way relation between casteand politics. Politics too influences thecastesystemandcasteidentitiesbybringing them into the political arena. Ajith Ninan - India Today Book of CartoonsDoyouthinkthatpoliticalleadersarerighttotreatpeoplebelongingto a caste as vote banks? NCERTnot to be republished54Democratic PoliticsThus, it is not politics that gets caste-ridden, it is the caste that gets politicised.This takes several forms: Each caste group tries to becomebiggerbyincorporatingwithinitneighbouring castes or sub-castes whichwere earlier excluded from it. Various caste groups are required toenter into a coalition with other castes orcommunitiesandthusenterintoadialogue and negotiation. Newkindsofcastegroupshavecomeupinthepoliticalarenalikebackward and forward caste groups.Thus, caste plays different kinds ofrolesinpolitics.Insomesituations,expression of caste differences in politicsgives many disadvantaged communitiesthespacetodemandtheirshareofpower. In this sense-caste politics hashelpedpeoplefromDalitsandOBCcastes to gain better access to decisionmaking. Several political and non-politicalorganisations have been demanding andagitating for an end to discriminationagainst particular castes, for more dignityand more access to land, resources andopportunities.At the same time exclusive attentionto caste can produce negative results aswell. As in the case of religion, politicsbased on caste identity alone is not veryhealthyinademocracy.Itcandivertattention from other pressing issues likepoverty, development and corruption. Insomecasescastedivisionleadstotensions, conflict and even violence. NCERTnot to be republishedGender, Religion and Caste551. MentiondifferentaspectsoflifeinwhichwomenarediscriminatedordisadvantagedinIndia.2. Statedifferentformsofcommunalpoliticswithoneexampleeach.3. StatehowcasteinequalitiesarestillcontinuinginIndia.4. StatetworeasonstosaythatcastealonecannotdetermineelectionresultsinIndia.5. WhatisthestatusofwomensrepresentationinIndiaslegislativebodies?6. MentionanytwoconstitutionalprovisionsthatmakeIndiaasecularstate.7. Whenwespeakofgenderdivisions,weusuallyreferto:(a) Biologicaldifferencebetweenmenandwomen(b) Unequalrolesassignedbythesocietytomenandwomen(c) Unequal child sex ratio(d) Absenceofvotingrightsforwomenindemocracies8. In India seats are reserved for women in(a) LokSabha(b) Statelegislativeassemblies(c) Cabinets(d) PanchayatiRajbodies9. Considerthefollowingstatementsonthemeaningofcommunalpolitics.Communalpoliticsisbasedonthebeliefthat:A. Onereligionissuperiortothatofothers.B. Peoplebelongingtodifferentreligionscanlivetogetherhappilyasequalcitizens.C. Followersofaparticularreligionconstituteonecommunity.D. Statepowercannotbeusedtoestablishthedominationofonereligiousgroupoverothers.Whichofthestatementsis/arecorrect?(a) A, B, C, and D (b) A, B, and D (c) A and C (d) B and D10. WhichamongthefollowingstatementsaboutIndiasConstitutionis wrong? It(a) prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.(b) givesofficialstatustoonereligion.(c) provides to all individuals freedom to profess any religion.(d) ensuresequalityofcitizenswithinreligiouscommunities.11. Social divisions based on _________ are peculiar to India.Exercises NCERTnot to be republished56Democratic PoliticsList I List II1. A person who believes in equal rightsand opportunities for women and men A. Communalist2. Apersonwhosaysthatreligionistheprincipal basis of community B. Feminist3. Apersonwhothinksthatcasteistheprincipal basis of community C.Secularist4. Apersonwhodoesnotdiscriminateothersonthebasisofreligiousbeliefs D.Castiest1 2 3 4(a) B C A D(b) B A D C(c) D C A B(d) C A B DExercises12. MatchListIwithListIIandselectthecorrectanswerusingthecodesgivenbelowtheLists: NCERTnot to be republished