RAVAGES OF CASTEISM IN INDUCING DIVISION OF LABOURERS IN INDIA

“The actual constitution of a country has its existence only in the actual condition of force which exists in the country, hence political constitutions have value and permanence only when they accurately express those conditions of forces which exist in the country.”

This is going to be an uncomfortable pill to swallow, but the defenders of the Caste system might come up with the most bizarre argument that this system is but another name for division of labour, which is an essential characteristic of any civilized society. This argument in itself is a highly flawed one, as Melvin Tumin has effectively rejected the hegemony of such a system of stratification in civilized society by questioning the functional importance of one job over the other and the justification of differential rewards for the same.  

However, the caste system is not merely a division of labour, but a division of labourers, that too in a quite rigid hierarchy. This system is hereditary in nature, and the occupation that is fixed for the so-called untouchables is brimmed with immense physical labour, and this labour is pivotal for the functioning of the society, yet it is regarded so menial and seen so lowly that those engaged in it have to face not only being disrespected but also being shoved to the margins of the same society. The society is able to suffice by acting like a parasite, feeding off of their labour, stripping them of any opportunity to develop their potential and perform a job that's more respectable according to societal standards.

And that’s why caste is an extremely harmful economic system. Individual qualities can’t be utilised efficiently if such an inflexible stratification will be in place. A lot of economists would be upfront in criticising reservation as something that would compromise efficiency by enforcing positive discrimination over ‘meritocracy’ but this argument is as shallow as the scientific basis of caste as it overlooks the very fact that generations of maltreatment need to be neutralized with at least some amount of affirmative action for the downtrodden. History is the mapping of relationship between past and present and that’s why the effect of centuries of marginalization and subjugation cannot be reversed by implementing reservations hardly for a decade or two. 

As Ambedkar remarks in his magnum opus ‘Annihilation of caste’ - “Caste has destroyed the sense of public charity. There is no appreciation of the meritorious. Suffering as such calls for no response.”  Society is absorbed in their own myopia of caste consciousness regardless. 

Infact the article titled “Caste and Labour market” published by the Economic and political weekly reports lots of ‘empirical evidence on discrimination in wages in the private labour market’. However, if we go beyond this wage aspect, we will witness an even barbarous reality of employment discrimination encountered by the oppressed communities regularly. 

All of this occurs after all the constitutional provisions that have been guaranteed prohibiting caste-based discrimination. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, (which was meant to prohibit discrimination in employment and wages based on caste), The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, (to end the practice of manual scavenging). The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (to end all forms of unfree labour, closely linked with the caste system). The Karnataka state government passed the Karnataka Devadasi (Prohibition of Dedication) Act.

Going through works on the aforementioned topic, I came across this Ted Talk that elaborately discusses the brutal efficacies of the caste system even in the 21^st century. Arun Vijai Mathavan, a photographer, was working on a project where he found that in villages, Dalits are so tremendously involved in the process of death that they conduct literal autopsies or post mortems without any medical equipment or appropriate setting. Sometimes, they even have to sniff the intestines to detect the presence of alcohol or poison, at worst case, thrust their hand deep into the body to find whether the bones are cracked. In our country, even the equipment provided to sanitation workers who perform the autopsy at government hospitals (who usually hail from such oppressed communities) is of cheap quality, such as loose gloves, non-waterproof aprons which absorb blood, etc. They literally have to eat just a few feet away from the dead bodies. 

Indeed, being able to practice purity and pollution is a matter of huge privilege. While some people sit comfortably in their bubbles preaching caste boundaries, others carry these very bodies, transcending these mere boundaries and being indifferent to the corpse’s caste. 

Also recently, Chief Minister of Delhi, Rekha Gupta praised the Brahmin community by saying they “ignite the flame of knowledge in society.” By doing so, not only is she apparently being casteist, but is monopolising the dynamic field of knowledge to one certain community. It makes me wonder even more that what kind of knowledge is it if it doesn’t make you break free the shackles of narrow mindedness?

This casteist outlook is so hegemonic in the society that the oppressed castes are left to enter poorly-paid ‘dead-end’ jobs. This practice not only serves the economic interests of those who exercise a taste for discrimination, but also carries past discrimination to the present. 

SKIM THROUGH STATISTICS AND REPORTS

According to a Human Rights Watch report, an estimated forty million people in India, among them fifteen million children, are bonded labourers (majority of them are Dalits). Dalit manual scavengers exist under different caste names throughout the country, such as the Bhangis in Gujarat, the Pakhis in Andhra Pradesh, and the Sikkaliars in Tamil Nadu. According to government statistics, an estimated one million Dalits are manual scavengers who clean public latrines and dispose of dead animals; unofficial estimates are much higher. The latest data show that 347 workers have died while or because of cleaning sewers and septic tanks between 2017 and 2022, most of them being Dalits. 

They earn a meagre income of less than 50 rupees per day after toiling for hours as agricultural labourers, sweepers, manual scavengers, leather workers or toilet cleaners. 

Thousands of untouchable female children are forced to become maidens of God, (Hindu religious practice of Devadasis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka State, Maharashtra, Orissa State). They are taken from their families, never to see them again. They are later raped by the temple priest and finally auctioned secretly into prostitution and ultimately die from AIDS. It is estimated by NGOs that 5,000 to 15,000 girls are auctioned secretly every year. 

Sikkaliars, the community mentioned above, were forced to vote in the elections of 1998 according to the demands of the Thevar community or risk losing the little income they had: “Because Thevars are in the majority, they will come inside the voting booth and tell them who to vote for. If they don’t act according to instructions, then they don’t get employment, or they will be beaten.”

All these statistics and statements only validate the quotation cited in the beginning of this text. Dalits are unable to freely exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights and acquire protection from them. All these laws are not at all stringent, instead they are defectively implemented. A lack of training and education, as well as discrimination in seeking other forms of employment, have sustained this system excellently.

 CALL TO ACTION

The Call to action in this case would be extremely back breaking– as Education and jobs are necessary to counter caste inequalities, but they are not that sufficient. Caste is practiced, even after the removal of the economic disadvantages faced by the oppressed castes,  just at a different level and in a more subtle manner. Several examples of this exists, such as an attempt to hurl a shoe at CJI B R Gavai inside his courtroom, or when the then President Ramnath Kovind wasn’t allowed to enter the Jagannath temple at Puri, or when Prime Minister Modi was resented by the Shankaracharyas as he didn’t belong to the caste that should’ve supposedly performed the Pran Pratistha at the Ram Mandir. The sociological truth, as Yogendra Yadav states is “Yeh jati hai ki jaati nhi”.

What if the first incident happened in the court of CJI DY Chandrachud and the offender was a Muslim, how would the outrage be? What would the propaganda look like? The reality is that CJI Gavai might occupy the highest judicial position but he will always be reminded of his position in the social order.

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By Kritita

2ND YEAR SOCIOLOGY HONS STUDENT

ASPIRING ARTICLE WRITER

INTERESTS- Modern History of India, Contemporary Politics, Indian Society and Culture, Social commentary on Art pieces, Feminism, Intersectionality (in Indian context)

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References

1. Ambedkar, B.R. (1936). Annihilation of Caste 

2. Mathavan, A.V. (2019). The irony of caste in the face of death, TEDxNapierBridge

3. Caste and Labour market (1999), Economic and political weekly

4. Yadav, Y. (2025), The Indian Express 

5. DISCRIMINATION AND EXPLOITATIVE FORMS OF LABOR, Human Rights Watch