Question

discuss the board profile of the rural class system in India
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Answer 1

Answer:

You may discuss alone why are you saying to us

Answer 2

Answer:

Dipankar Gupta, while raising the controversy between caste and class, puts these two strata of society in the field of culture and Marxism. If we look at caste as an aspect of culture, it is a primordial form of Indian society and is a part of India’s rural-urban stratification. From the point of view of Marxism it is a mode of production. Louis Dumont is the chief archi­tect of the caste as a form of culture.

We, however, do not want to enter into this controversy of caste as a form of culture or a mode of production. We only wish to argue that class is not essentially an ur­ban phenomenon, nor the caste is restricted to rural society. Both caste and class as forms of stratification are found in rural society.

Changing Class System in Rural Society:

Whenever social scientists and political and social workers including the agricultural workers discuss about rural class system, a question is raised: Is a transition taking place in the rural social structure of India from caste to class? In other words, the basic point of enquiry today is to find out whether caste is changing and taking the form of a class. The question is important. It has taken a form of debate in rural society

on one side of the debate is Andre Beteille who has argued in his article on ‘Class Structure in an Agrarian Society’ says that the Jotedars of West Bengal, as an agricultural caste, are moving towards the formation of a class. But the change from caste to class is amorphous.

By amorphousness Beteille means that the form of class which is emerging among the Jotedars is not of any definite shape or structure of a class. The movement from caste to class is not clear; it is much doubtful. Beteille observes:

It is frequently argued that in countries like India, the older system of inequalities based on caste is being replaced by a class system not only in the cities but also in the rural areas. If caste stands for a system of inequality in which groups are sharply differentiated and at the same time organically related, then clearly there is evidence of the decline of caste.

If, on the other hand, class stands for a system of antagonis­tic groups based on the polarisation of consciously organised interests, there is no general evidence that this kind of structure is emerging throughout the country: the predominant impression is one of amorphousness rather than structure.

(1) Government policy:

Jan Breman who has experience of working in Bardoli taluka of Surat district informs that it has always been the policy of government to pauperise the agricultural labour. The green revolution, white revolu­tion, irrigation and electric supply have gone mostly in favour of the big farmers.

In fact, the benefits of development programmes have been largely cornered by the big landowners. It is due to the govern­ment policy that agricultural capitalism has come to stay in Gujarat. Not only that Breman goes to the extent of saying that the nationalist movement before independence and the heading political parties have also promoted agricultural capitalism.

(2) Correlation between caste and class:

Rural caste and class have been analysed from both Weberian and Marxian perspectives. But if one tries to apply only Marxian perspec­tive to understand the class structure, he cannot do so successfully. Caste and class are a mixed phenomenon in India’s rural society.

also affect the functioning of caste- class formation.