Introduction:
When we analyze the Indian Cast System, we can find that this is the one under which peoples of India are communally differentiated through gender, region, religion, class, tribe, and gender. Many scholars say that India’s caste system is derived from the varna system, which exists from Ancient India till the present. This term is derived from the word Casta, a Spanish word that means a race or breed.[1]
In India, the word caste is also used as the term Jati. Henry Maine said that Caste is a system that is considered an integral part of the religion. Due to this, it had divided people into society into the one who is superior and the other inferior based on their responsibility their way of living.[2] Hence due to this, schedule caste is developed, but there are many scholars who say that there is a distinction between the Hindu Caste and Schedule Caste. And this distinction has also led to a big legal impact because there are untouchables who help in the construction of colonialism.[3] So, in this research paper, I am going to discuss what is caste Hindu and colonial classification and what are the anomalies of caste and in the last conclusion.
Legal Aspect
Our constitution of India provides equal rights to every citizen of India and prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, etc. But according to some researchers, there is some provision that is considered discriminatory. Article15 of the Constitution of India says that there should be no discrimination but also mentions that the state has the power to form any special provision for the scheduled tribes and scheduled caste.[4] And when we see Article 16 of the constitution of India, we can find that it says that every citizen should have an equal opportunity for getting employment.[5] But it also mentions that the state has the power to make some special provision in the form of reservation for the scheduled caste.[6]
So, these caste-based benefits give rise to the distinction between the Hindu Caste and Schedule caste. Because there is a big question asked by the many scholars that on which basis the government has decided that how one thousand two hundred communities will come under the schedule caste and no which basis, they distinguish the communities. And if the government did not know on which basis they are differentiating, then it would become tenuous.[7]
But according to colonial officials and policymakers, they have done several tests to find that who comes under the scheduled caste, and the main point comes front that mainly untouchables are part of it. And therefore, they say that schedule caste gets a special benefit for development because Caste Hindus are the ones who are self-evident, and therefore there is no need for support for them.
Depressed Class and Hindu Caste
When we see today’s India, we can find that there are many scholars says that our society is divided into two different part that is Caste Hindu and Dalit (Scheduled Caste). According to them, Dalit is a community that is discriminated against in India and considered as untouchables and has a large number of jatis under it, which follow a different tradition.[8] This led to the formation of two different communities.[9]
The first time the word caste Hindu made its appearance when in the constituent assembly. Some British conservatives deprived that assembly should be said as Caste Hindu institution because it would develop Hindu raj in India which will lead to increase a threat in the country.[10] There is a claim by so many scholars that mentions that Caste Hindu was the one who practices the concept of untouchability and believes that they cannot touch impure persons. And according to them, these persons are untouchable because they are the ones who clean the city and economically weaker.
Therefore, these people are considered the most depressed class in the whole of Indian society. But when we analyze the speech of Mahavir Tyagi in Assembly at the time of May 1949. According to him, schedule caste was formed by legal decree, and there was no role of the constituent assembly in it because it was the main apparatus which is developed by the British Raj.[11]
Colonial Classification
There are two methods by which we can find why the schedule caste is formed and how it came into existence. First, whether its origins from the structure of the Indian society that is categories and communities which later form into the castes. Second schedule caste is developed due to the division, which is based on the classified groups.
If the first point applies, then it is clear that schedule caste is a formed division of communities in society. And if the second point applies, then schedule caste is formed due to the colonial decree by which Indian society should be divided due to certain lines. And if it is done under the colonial, then the question arises that how they have drafted the list of Schedule caste.
- Finding the Depressed People: In the year of 1932, the prime minister gives some guidelines to the Franchise Committee of India. So that they can find whether how many communities are depressed and to what extent they are. When the colonial official was preparing the list of the depressed community or depressed caste, they told that they had faced so many problems to find.
When the Lothian committee was reviewing the different areas in India, they said that they have found that Indian society is divided into two different parts, in which one is depressed caste or depressed caste people and in another side, there are people of remaining caste.[12] And by seeing, they said that they had faced so much difficulty in finding which caste should be considered as depressed.[13] But they have seen a few by which they were considering that some people are depressed in India. They found that they are another class that is untouchable and mostly depressed from others. - Creating a different Class: When we see that how the different colonial institution has made different criteria for finding that which person should be considered as a part of a scheduled caste or depressed class. Like on the basic economic condition of person etc. now the big question comes in front that whether this different caste or class is formed earlier in the society or it is just developed by the British administration.[14]
So, there are different answers by the different scholars, as some of them say that it is formed by the British administration under which they have divided people into two different parts based on their census.[15] But there are some scholars who say that there is a division in society from a very old age, which is a term in the form of Shudra. People belonging to the Shudra are the one which is considered an impure person. It means no one touches them; otherwise, the person who is touching them will become impure and termed as untouchables.[16]
Conclusion
Many scholars have said that the British Colonial Power has constructed caste as the most important part of the Indian society. Caste can be considered as the output of the encounter between Indian society and colonial rule.[17] The argument which is developed through this research paper is that there are so many problems which are there in the Indian society in which the caste system is one of the important because it has divided society into the untouchables and touchable.
From the above research paper, I can conclude that there is a distinction between the schedule cast and Hindu caste, but in my opinion, this is built in our society, and this can be a way resolve this big issue even though this is not able to pass the classification which was proposed by the Supreme Court of India. Because when we see the leaders of postcolonial India, we can find that they have also accepted the caste system and social division in the society. Therefore, after the formation of the constitution, there are special provisions mentioned for the people belonging to the scheduled tribes and scheduled caste. Due to this, we can say that in today’s, the caste system exists only in two phases, that is the Indian legal system and the political system.
References:
[1] Abdul Hamid Teli, Theories of Origin and Changes in Indian Caste System, available at http://iasir.net/AIJRHASSpapers/AIJRHASS17-310.pdf.
[2] Id.
[3] Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany, The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty, and the State in Modern India, 1, 5, and 6 (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
[4] The Constitution of India, 1950, Article 15.
[5] The Constitution of India, 1950, Article 16.
[6] Id.
[7] Jakob De Roover, Scheduled caste v. Caste Hindu, available at http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/EC21E34C-5FF4-47B5-B514-5B207FAD075A.-Caste-Hindus-About-a-Colonial-Distinction-and-its-Legal-Impact__MIsc.pdf.
[8] K.S. Singh, The Scheduled Castes (Oxford University Press, 1993).
[9] State of Karnataka v. Appa Balu Ingale, 1995 Supp (4) SCC 469.
[10] Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee (Bengal: General), 1 CAD 98.
[11] Shri Mahavir Tyagi (United Provinces: General), 8 CAD 344.
[12] Jakob De Roover, Scheduled caste v. Caste Hindu, available at http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/EC21E34C-5FF4-47B5-B514-5B207FAD075A.-Caste-Hindus-About-a-Colonial-Distinction-and-its-Legal-Impact__MIsc.pdf.
[13] Indian Franchise Committee Report, supra note 36, at 116-118
[14] Supra Note 12.
[15] Supra Note 12.
[16] Simon Charsley, ‘Untouchable’: What is in a Name, 2(1) J. of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1, 17 (1996).
[17] Dirks, Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India (Permanent Black, 2002).
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