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A community caught between Manu and Adam Smith
Chandra Bhan Prasad
Saturday, December 5, 2009 1:04 IST
There is no consensus among Dalits about how to measure the
community's development. Neither academia, nor the state has come out
with any tool to do this. What all of us -- Dalit intellectuals,
academics and the state -- have been doing is to count the number of
jobs Dalits hold in government, and, of course, a headcount of Dalits
in educational institutions.
Thanks to affirmative action policies for Dalits authored by Dr BR
Ambedkar, the community has become visible in government offices,
college campuses and legislative houses, and a tiny Dalit middle class
has emerged. But Dalits in state employment would be around 3.4
million. This, in a population of over 160 million, cannot make them
happy.
On another note, the state-produced Dalit middle class can work as a
catalyst for the emancipation of the entire community.
What will 'emancipation' mean? There is very little debate on this
all-important question. More often than not, we speak in a vague
language. "Casteless society," we say. Are we, by implication, asking
for a "class society"?
Let us discuss 'caste society'. By all accounts, India's caste order
rests on the twin principle of 'occupational purity' and 'blood
purity'. The Manusmriti speaks of preserving this. If we read the book
and look at Indian society, the Manusmriti looks like a script, and
the society a film based on the script.
Dr Ambedkar rejected and critiqued the Dharma-shastras -- from the Rig
Veda to the Ramayana -- but burnt only the Manusmriti on December 25,
1927. That event is celebrated by Dalits every year as Manusmriti
Dahan Divas.
Historically, there has been no caste without clear occupation
identity and vice versa. If a casteless India is our goal, then all
caste-based occupations must either wither away or be made
caste-neutral. That would mean a complete revamp of India's production
system and production relations.
Since caste order evolved in an agrarian setup, to make India
casteless, we need to completely destroy agrarianism and its economic
foundations. That would mean India going for complete
industrialisation and by implication, the creation of an urban
society.
But our drive for a casteless India pushes the entire Dalit
intelligentsia into a web of dilemmas. The world over, the task of
industrialisation and urbanisation was accomplished by capitalism. It
was capitalism which defeated feudalism. The dilemma before Dalit
thought leaders is about whether to support capitalism. To a
non-intellectual underclass Dalit, working for Ratan Tata -- the
poster boy of Indian capitalism -- is better than working for Raja
Bhaiya -- poster boy of caste feudalism.
It is a dilemma with no parallel. Here is a situation where we are
witnessing an intense battle between Manu and Adam Smith. By
implication, unintended though, most Dalit intellectuals are cheering
Manu by questioning capitalism and globalisation.
By World War II, almost half the globe had gone communist. The Chinese
revolution of 1949 threatened the very existence of capitalism. Even
Jawaharlal Nehru had begun admiring Karl Marx and communism. Around
that time, 1952 to be precise, Dr Ambedkar wrote the manifesto for his
political party, the All India Scheduled Caste Federation. In it he
promised the start of agriculture on large farms, mechanised farming,
and the use of fertilisers and pesticides. He was arguing for
industrialisation of agriculture along the Western pattern. He made
the argument contrary to socialism at the height of the ideology
because he knew that agrarianism is the mother of Manudharma.
Today, 60% Indians are involved in agriculture and over one-third
Dalits are landless agricultural labourers. Now, is there any way to
map Dalit development unless we know what percentage has entered
caste-neutral occupations? At Mumbai's roadside, do we know what caste
the cobbler belongs to and what caste the sweeper belongs to?
The author is an independent researcher and writer
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