Ans) Politics too influences the caste system and caste identities by bringing them into the political arena. Thus, it is not politics that gets caste ridden, it is the caste that gets politicized. This takes several forms.

• Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it neighbouring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.
• Since one caste alone cannot have hold of its own, so to have more political power, various caste groups are required to enter into a coalition with other castes or communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.

New kind of caste groups have come up in the political arena like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups. Thus caste plays different kinds of roles in politics.

Ans) There is social division regarding gender and religion all over the world but social division on the basis of caste is special to India as cleared by the following things-

1. Caste system was based on exclusion of and discrimination against the ‘outcaste’ groups. They were subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability. That is why political leaders and social reformers like Jyotiba Phule, Gandhiji, B. R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker advocated and worked to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent.
2. Yet caste has not disappeared from contemporary India. Some of the older aspects of caste have persisted. Even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe.
3. Untouchability has not ended completely, despite constitutional prohibition. Effects of centuries of advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt today.
4. The caste groups that had access to education under the old system have done very well in acquiring modern education as well. Those groups that did not have access to education or were prohibited from acquiring it have naturally lagged behind. That is why there is a disproportionately large presence of ‘upper caste’ among the urban middle classes in our country.

Ans) The aspects of life in which women are discriminated or disadvantaged in India are:-

1. In many parts of India, parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have the girl child aborted before she is born. Such sex-selective abortion led to a decline in child sex ratio (number of girl children per thousand boys) in the country to merely 919. In some states of India, this ratio has fallen below 850 or even 800 in same places.
2. Every day there are reports of various kinds of harrassment, exploitation and violence against women. Urban areas have become particularly unsafe for women. They are not safe even within their own home from beating, harassment and other forms of domestic violence.
3. The literacy rate among women is only 54 percent compared with 76 percent among men. Similarly, a smaller proportion of girl students go for higher studies. Girls drop out because parents prefer to spend their resources for their boys’ education rather than spending equally on their sons and daughters.
4. On an average an Indian woman works one hour more than an average man every day. Yet much of her work is not paid and therefore often not valued.
5. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be paid to equal work. However in almost all areas of work, from sports and cinema, to factories and fields, women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.
6. Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children. This is reflected in a sexual division. Women do all work inside the house such as cooking, looking after children, cleaning, washing clothes etc. and men do all the work outside the home.

Ans) Political leaders and social reformers like Jyotiba Phule, Gandhiji, Dr. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker advocated and worked to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent.

Due to their efforts and other socio-economic changes, castes and caste system in modern India have undergone great changes. With economic development, large scale urbanisation, growth of literacy and education, occupational mobility and the weakening of the position of landlords in the villages, the old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down. Now, in urban areas, it does not matter much who is walking along next to us on a street or eating at the next table in a restaurant. The constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system. If a person who lived a century ago were to return to India, he would be greatly surprised at the change that has come about in the country.

Ans) Caste is one aspect of our experience but it is not the only relevant or the most important aspect. Caste can take many forms in politics-

1. When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from different castes so as to muster necessary support to win elections. When governments are formed, political parties usually take care that representatives of different castes and tribes find a place in it.
2. Political parties and candidates in elections make appeals to caste sentiment to muster support. Some political parties are known to favour some castes and are seen as their representatives.
3. Universal adult franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote compelled political leaders to gear up to the task of mobilising and securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among the people of castes that were hitherto treated as inferior and low.

The focus on caste in politics can sometimes give an impression that elections are all about caste and nothing else. That is far from true. Just consider these-

1. No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. When people say that a caste is a ‘vote bank’ of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the voters from that caste vote for that party.
2. The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently lose elections in our country. That could not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences.

Clearly, while caste matters in electoral politics, so do many other factors. The voters have strong attachment to political parties which is often stronger than their attachment to their caste or community. People within the same caste or community have different interests depending on their economic condition. Rich and poor people from the same caste often vote differently. People’s assessment of the performance of the government and the popularity rating of the leaders matter and are often decisive in elections.

Ans) Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community. Communalism involves thinking along the following lines. The followers of a particular religion must belong to one community. Their fundamental interests are the same. Any difference that they may have is irrelevant or trivial for community life. Communalism can take various forms in politics:-

1. A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For those belonging to majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
2. The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions. This is so common that we often fail to notice it, even when we believe in it.
3. Political mobilisation on religious lines is another form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena. In electoral politics, this often involves special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
4. Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre. India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of the Partition. The post-Independence period has also seen large scale communal violence.