http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Most_of_them_are_proud_to_move_backward/articleshow/2098202.cms
Most of them are proud to move backward TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JUNE 05, 2007 01:22:20 AM] NEW DELHI: Among other things, India is also unique for being a country where downward mobility is desirable, even fought for. "It is to be noted that nowhere else in the world do castes, classes or communities queue up for the sake of gaining backward status," a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had said earlier this year while staying 27% OBC reservations in central education institutions. The court was referring to the necessity of the creamy layer principle in that observation, but its words could as easily be used to describe the role of reservation politics in getting castes to travel down the social hierarchy. The Gurjar agitation in Rajasthan and other parts of northern India, including the National Capital Region, demonstrates that going up and coming down the caste ladder no longer carries static meanings for communities. In fact, they haven't carried such meanings for a while if the post-Mandal rush for grabbing a 'backward' status is anything to go by. The Gurjars' specific demand for being included in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list, to reap the benefits of that reservation as opposed to the benefits of OBC reservations, once again shows that moving up and coming down the caste hierarchy can happen simultaneously. This might sound like the beginning of the end of the caste system, but this process of 'reverse-Sanskritisation' has further strengthened the caste grid when it has worked successfully. A comparison between the Gurjars and Tamil Nadu's Vanniyar community does seem obvious in the context of the violent means being adopted to achieve this beneficial descent. Karnataka's Lingayats and Vokkaligas also resorted to violence to get their backward status reinstated when government constituted commissions removed them from the state OBC list, former union minister Arun Shourie writes in 'Falling Over Backwards'. However, there is one crucial difference between the Gurjars and the Vanniyars. The Gurjar demand for inclusion in the ST list comes in the backdrop of opposition from the Meena community—which has been enjoying the benefits of ST reservation in Rajasthan to date. The Meenas, who should be equal to the Gurjars socially, are clearly superior due to their political clout. The Gurjar demand for inclusion in the ST list is as much an act of becoming equal to Meenas as it a quest for a bigger chunk of the reservation pie. In the case of the Vanniyars, the community wanted to be recognised as a most backward caste (MBC) as distinct from other backward castes in Tamil Nadu. The Vanniyars, under the leadership of the PMK Chief Dr S Ramadoss, who then led the Vanniyar Sangham, demanded a 20% reservation for the community claiming that it constituted one-fifth of the state's population. That in turn opened the door for numerous other castes to follow suit and ended with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announcing a 20% reservation for MBCs in 1989 — a category which included his own Isai Vellalar caste along with the Vaniyars. The following years saw Dravidian parties lose a share of their votes to one-caste outfits such as the PMK. The Vanniyar party is now projecting itself as a competitor to the DMK which has a more pan-OBC appeal. The Vanniyar quest for identity was not to equal but to be to distinguished from the others by becoming 'more backward'. This could be seen as the next step for organised groups who enjoy reservations. This progression, however, has only served to reinforce caste divisions. In Tamil Nadu, as in other parts of India, the entrenchment of caste has led to clashes between the OBC/MBCs and the Dalits with the former clearly being the more powerful. -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
