Caste is still the tie that binds in India
Primitive practices around caste and marriage are still finding
support – even in urbanised, educated India
Kaushik Barua guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 24 June 2010 16.00 BST
A leading Indian matrimonial website found that more than 99% of its
users chose to mention caste when searching for a partner. Photograph:
Raminder Pal Singh/EPA
In villages across northern India, the most dangerous choice young
people could make is one most of us take for granted – choosing their
own partner. In the rural hinterlands, the khap panchayats,
traditional community organisations, mete out their own forms of
justice to "erring" villagers. In recent years, they have ordered the
honour killings of young couples for marrying outside their caste, for
marrying within their gotra (ancient lineage as defined by Hindu
tradition) and even for marrying someone from a neighbouring village.
In short, one could invite censure, and usually worse, by marrying
anyone against the wishes of their parents and the community
patriarchs (for most of the traditional leaders are men).
This month, the supreme court issued a notice to seven states on the
steps taken to protect young couples from the wrath of these khap
panchayats. It is clear that in these rural areas, extra legal norms
based on fossilised traditions run their writ. This happens while the
state remains "a mute spectator", as admitted by the judge of the high
court that was "flooded with petitions" seeking judicial confirmation
of the right to life and liberty of married couples.
Of course, the khap panchayats are selective in their sanctions. In
April, two low-caste Dalits were burned alive and 18 houses gutted by
a mob that was hundreds-strong. Within three days of the carnage, a
gathering of 43 khap panchayats resulted in no condemnation of the
act, only a demand for the release of the arrested. In their various
acts of moral posturing, not once has a congregation of these
organisations criticised female foeticide or dowry. This is not
surprising, considering the khap panchayats are part of the
traditional complex of factors that promote a self-serving,
caste-based, patriarchal view of social norms. This much we all
acknowledge from the comfort of our city living rooms.
In national newspapers, in academic seminars or at evening soirees on
the well-lit lawns of the cities, these acts are roundly condemned.
Such practices are attributed to the primitive mindsets of rural
India, deprived as they are of education, modernity and Coca Cola. The
general consensus is that there are rural areas where the 20th century
has not yet arrived. And that they are as far from the urban
imagination as a foreign country. As are their "medieval" norms.
What most of us fail to see is that these norms probably enjoy as much
implicit support even in the most urbanised, educated and apparently
liberated sections of the country. Chandigarh is one of the
best-planned cities in the country and capital to two of the most
prosperous states. Its roads are teeming with SUVs, and it contributes
more than its fair share of uber-fashionable models, reality TV
participants and cricket stars; it is the modern Indian city. A recent
survey found that more than 65% of the respondents in Chandigarh
oppose marriages within the same gotra. And more than one-third of all
respondents even agree that khap panchayats should order the social
boycott of such couples. Across the country, urban youth are
regressing towards the most conservative readings of gotra and
marriage.
In the affluent, high-rent neighbourhoods of south Delhi, imported
cars vie with foreign-education degrees for attention. The area is
home to some of the country's most elite families. But the number of
girl babies is only 845 per 1,000 boys, much lower than even the
already abysmal national average of about 930. Overall urban India
ranks lower than rural areas, with affluent neighbourhoods ranking
among the worst. It seems higher incomes do not buy urban Indians only
cars and degrees. It also buys multiple trips to illegal ultrasound
clinics and female foeticide to order.
Young urban Indians now pride themselves on being online citizens of
the world, proclaiming the shedding of their caste identities at
parties and updating their Facebook accounts with ferocious
regularity. They seem to inhabit a different world compared to the
village where rural patriarchs prohibit their children from marrying
outside their caste. But caste preferences weigh in as heavily among
the mostly urban, net-savvy Indians as it does among the khap
panchayats. A leading Indian matrimonial website found that more than
99% of its users chose to mention caste when searching for a partner.
The city is not as far from the village as we think. And primitive
norms lurk not far below the veneer of modern living. Another
dangerous choice we could make is to ignore how small these distances
are.
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