examine the role of caste in indian politics in 200 words
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Answer:
Caste and political power. The caste system has traditionally had significant influence over people's access to power. The privileged upper caste groups benefit more by gaining substantially more economic and political power, while the lower caste groups have limited access to those powers.
Answer:
Caste and political power. The caste system has traditionally had significant influence over people's access to power. The privileged upper caste groups benefit more by gaining substantially more economic and political power, while the lower caste groups have limited access to those powers.The caste system provides a hierarchy of social roles that hold inherent characteristics and, more importantly, remain stable throughout life (Dirks, 1989). ... Individuals born into the Kshatriya caste have been warriors and kings. Individuals born into the Vaishya caste have been merchants.The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation. ... The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupationAs they were from Persia , people here in India start calling them Parsis. They are exceptionally persevering and intelligent individuals. They worked very hard and established themselves as the richest community of India in terms of per capita income. Castes in Indian society refer to a social group where membership is decided by birth.[1] Members of such local groups are endogamous, i.e. they tend to enter into marital relationships among themselves. They often have related political preferences.
For political/government purposes, the castes[2] are broadly divided into[3][4]
Forward Castes (30.80% of the population)[3][5][6][7]
Other Backward Classes (OBC) (about 41.0% of the population)[3][5][6][7][8]
Scheduled Castes (about 19.7% of the population)[3][7][8]
Scheduled Tribe (about 8.5% of the population)[3][5][6][7]
The Indian Muslims (14.2%), and Christians (2.3%) often function as castes.
Official lists are compiled by states recognizing the OBC, Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe. The dividing lines can be ambiguous, several castes have demanded a lower rank so that they can avail the privileges offered. The term Upper caste also refers to Forward castes, when news reports refer to the Scheduled castes in relation to the two upper groups.
The removal of the boundaries between "civil society" and "political society" meant that caste now played a huge role in the political arena and also influenced other government-run institutions such as police and the judicial system. Though caste seemed to dictate one's access to such institutions, the location of that caste also played a pivotal role. If a lower caste were concentrated enough in one area, it could then translate that pocket of concentration of its caste members into political power and then challenge the hegemony of locally dominant upper caste. Gender also plays a significant role in the power dynamic of caste in politics. Women's representation within the political system seems to also be tied to their caste. Lower, more conservative castes have less female participation in politics than upper, more socially liberal, castes. This has caused a disproportionately large number of upper-caste women to occupy political office when compared to their lower caste counterparts. The hierarchy of caste and its role in politics and access to power and resources has created a society of patron-client relationships along caste lines. This eventually led to the practice of vote banking, where voters back only candidates that are in their caste,[9] or officials from which they expect to receive some kind of benefits.
Historically[10] it has been very hard to change the structure of caste politics in India. More recently[when?] however, there has been a flux in caste politics, mainly caused by economic liberalisation in India. Contemporary India has seen the influence of caste start to decline. This is partly due to the spread of education to all castes which has had a democratising effect on the political system. However, this "equalising" of the playing field has not been without controversy. The Mandal Commission and its quotas system has been a particularly sensitive issue.
It has been argued by Professor Dipankar Gupta that the role of castes in Indian elections have been overplayed.[11]