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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35699/2238-037X.2022.19374
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
OCCUPATIONAL DIVISION AND CONTEMPORARY CHANGES IN INDIA:
CASE STUDY OF A TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY AND THEIR
ALTERNATIVE OCCUPATIONAL -BASED SOCIAL MOVEMENT
SRINIVASALU, Sumathi
SELLADURAI, Manjubarkavi
ABSTRACT
Occupational divisions in any country are understood largely as change in the activities of the members
in a given society and the way to earn their livelihood. Mostly, the change is observed in terms of changes
in the distribution activities in relation to socio-economic structure of the society. India was a traditional
caste-based Hindu society, and a person who is born into a particular caste cannot easily escape from
its prescribed values including occupational activities. Its hierarchical nature reveals its rigid values
attached and hence change should also be understood in terms of socio-cultural aspects and not merely
socio-economic. In the caste hierarchy, the groups of people commonly known today as Dalits occupy
the lowest rung. The point of departure of this paper is the caste affirmation and its ramifications on a
traditional Dalit community that has been protesting against its nomenclature and trying to revive its lost
identity through its traditional occupation. This affirmation in turn is expected to lead to a shift in the socio-
political relationships of the community with the other dominant communities in the social hierarchy. In
India, occupational changes are taking place more widely than statistical changes and emerging with an
alternative social movement. The paper empirically validates the emerging alternative collective social
movement of a community; authenticate its social status through traditional occupation, knowledge
system and its resistance to State nomenclature.
Keywords: Traditional occupation. Contemporary changes. Community nomenclature Identity. Social
Movement.
OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
Kwat (2019) states that occupations can be broadly classified into three categories,
namely, primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary occupations include all those essential
and sustainable acts such as agriculture and allied activities like animal husbandry,
forestry, fishery, and poultry farming. Secondary activities include both large- and small-
scale manufacturing industries and mining. Tertiary activities include all other activities like
transport, communication, banking, insurance, and trade. The occupational structure
indicates the distribution as well as absorption of population into these three classified
types of occupations. Similarly, tertiary occupations are also considered as important, as
these have huge employment potential. In developed countries, the absorption capacity
of this sector is very high. According to ILO (2020), India’s employment in agriculture is
about 42.4% and the dimension of work, employment and vulnerability has been taken
for base categorization. On the other hand, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 9.2
promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, it is expected that there
will be a significant increase in industry's contribution toward employment and Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), in line with national conditions, and double its share in the Least
Development Countries (LDC).
Based on the occupational distribution of India, from early 1901 to 1951, agriculture
seemed to have occupied the dominant position and its absorption capacity had
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increased marginally from 66.9% in 1901 to 69.7% during 1951. Agricultural labourers in
the total labour force increased from 17% in 1901 to nearly 20% during 1951. The
percentage of population engaged in other allied activities like forestry, livestock, and
fishery declined from 4.3% in 1901 to only 2.3% of the total workforce in 1951. Further,
from 1951 to 2000, which marks the post-independence period, there was a shift in the
occupational structure of the working force from agriculture to secondary and tertiary
sectors, such as industrialisation, and this plays a major role in regulating the growth rate
of Indian economy. The highest recorded change occurred from 1975 to 1976, particularly
with the agricultural labour force, which accounted for 60% or so.
India’s diverse traditional occupational variation encompasses occupational models such
as traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern
industries, and a multitude of services. Slightly less than half of the workforce is related to
agriculture, and services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for nearly
two-thirds of India's output but employing less than one-third of its labor force. Similarly,
another aspect of occupational division in India is widely spread such as primary,
secondary, and tertiary with respect to labour force analysis that shares primary sectors
as well as service sector in an increasing manner. The primary occupation is categorised
as comprising of cultivators, agricultural labourers and livestock, forestry, and fishing; the
secondary sector comprises mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction; and
tertiary sector includes trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication and other
services.
OCCUPATIONAL PATTERN IN INDIA
Mehta (2020) points out that the statistics report on occupational distribution in India during
1901–2000 emphasizes that the primary occupation constituted 71.8 % in 1901; 72.1%
in 1951; 71.8% in 1961; 72.1% in 1971; 68.2% in 1981; 66.8% in 1991; 56.7% in 2000.
In the secondary occupational category, labour force was 12.6% in 1901; 17.3% in 1951;
12.2% in 1961; 11.2% in 1971; 13.5% in 1981; 12.7% in 1991; 17.5% in 2000. Finally,
tertiary occupational division was 15.6% in 1901; 17.3% in 1951; 16% in 1961; 16.7% in
1971; 17.7% in 1981; 20.5% in 1991; 20.8% in 2000.
The occupational impetus in India suffers from a constant stagnancy in terms of the ratio
of labour force employed in secondary and tertiary sectors. A total of 27.9% of the labour
force was employed in secondary and tertiary sectors till 1971. In 1951, 10.7% of the
labour force was engaged in the industrial sector which slightly increased to 12.7% in
1991. The National Sample Survey (NSS) estimate shows during 1999–2000, 17.5% of
total labour was engaged in the secondary sector. In the second five-year plan, huge
investments were made to industrialise the economy. This has had a small impact on the
occupational structure of the country.
Further, according to Karmel and MacLachlan’s Index (2001–2011), the Indian
occupational groups are divided into four major categories, namely, Cultivators,
Agricultural labourers, Household Industrial Workers and Other Workers. The figure that
represents them during 2001 is as follows: (Cultivators – 03.5%; Agricultural labourers
03.79%; Household Industrial Workers – 00.73% and Other Workers – 05.15%).
Similarly, according to 2011 data, the representational figures are as follows: Cultivators
– 02.44%; Agricultural Labourers 04.55%; Household Industrial Workers – 00.59% and
Other Workers – 04.11%. The outcome of percentage point decline was affected,
whereas among household industrial workers the decline was only 0.14 percentage point.
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This low decline is due to the already low segregation in 2001 itself. Through the
analyses, it is to be noted that there is less diversity in the distribution of occupational
categories among the states of India (Prasad and Pratap, 2017). Duncan Index of
Dissimilarity analysis compared the occupational gender segregation and represents
(32.23) in 2001 and in 2011 (39.79).
Table 01 Workforce participation rates of gender segregation
Nation and State
Male
Female
Total
2001
2011
2011
2011
India
50.85
53.26
25.51
39.79
Tamil Nadu
56.37
59.31
31.80
45.58
Source: Census of India, 2001 and 2011.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by National Sample
Survey Office (NSSO) during July 2017 to June 2018, the male workers in rural areas
constituted 9.1% and female workers 8.7% in the following occupational divisions:
Division 1: Legislators, Senior officials and Managers, Division 2: Professionals and
Division 3: Technicians and Associate professionals. In urban areas, 30.4% of the male
workers and 34.6% of the female workers were engaged in the following occupation
divisions: Division 1: Legislators, senior officials and managers, Division 2: Professionals
and Division 3: Technicians and associate professionals. NSSO introduced the
household type in their survey, which was based on the sources of household's income
during the year preceding the date of survey. Only the household's income (net income
and not gross income) from economic activities was considered accordingly but the
incomes of servants and paying guests were not taken into account. In rural areas, a
household occupation division belonged to any one of the following six household types:
1. Self-employed in agriculture, 2. Self-employed in non-agriculture, 3. Regular
wage/salary earning, 4. Casual labour in agriculture, 5. Casual labour in non-agriculture,
and 6. Others. In urban areas, the household types are as follows: 1. Self-employed, 2.
Regular wage/salary earning, 3. Casual labour and 4. Others. According to NSSO (2011–
2012), India’s occupational categories are classified as rural and urban. Both rural and
urban populations have similar occupational divisions, namely Self-employed, Regular
wage/ Salaried Employee and Casual Labour and all these workforces comprise of men
and women equally.
Desai (1971) analyses the combined effect of all the occupational changes that compare
the social groups of the traditional society both in urban and rural areas. The comparison
relatively changes the traditional social or functional relations between the communities
that are hierarchically placed in the social structure of Indian society. The emerging
occupational changes become problematic when it comes to the question of ‘division of
labour’ that is based on sex and the other old stratificatory system based on caste, family
and village community.
CASTE THEORIES AND THEIR RELATION TO CONTEMPORARY OCCUPATIONAL
ACTIVITIES
Every region of India has its own cultural context relying on ‘caste marks’ or the community
symbols and the existing caste theories constructed mostly on the mythological
interpretations. Thus, it becomes a point of review for the researchers to study the socio-
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cultural, economic, and political structures of the Indian society and it is taken for granted
that the caste stratification principles include occupational ethics along with the concept of
purity and pollution. The most common theory was that the caste system is believed to
have evolved out of the conquest of Aryan or Indo-European invaders on the Dravidians
while at the same time absorbing some of their proto-caste hierarchies, namely
Aristocracy and Slavery. In the middle of the first millennium BC, caste inequalities were
clearly institutionalized by the academicians, and were entered into the governmental
documents by Risley and others, and legitimised constitutionally, along with the rise of
Brahmanaic Hinduism. It continued with the formalisation of the ‘law of Manu’ and its
interpretations justified the principles and practises of discrimination against Sudra, the
service communities, and Avarna, the communities, who were involved in menial jobs,
polluting in nature and the subjugation of women well intertwined.
The four major caste formations in India ramify into an enormous number of sub-divisions.
The basic caste-based division was based on Varna or colours; sub-caste or Jati are the
sub-divisions of the Varna. The most crucial criteria of caste principles were believed to
be based on occupation, namely the Brahmin or priestly caste, Kshatriya or warrior caste,
Vaishya or merchants and traders, Sudra or the service communities. Avarnas do not fall
within the caste structure and are believed to be born out of the sweat of Lord Brahma,
caused by exhaustion of creating human beings. Traditionally, physical touch with such
communities was considered as polluting and if and when one touches a person beneath
their caste status, elaborate purification rituals were followed before contact with one’s
own caste could be re-established. Such discriminatory practices were part of the
systematic social ranking and created institutional structures justifying unequal access to
valued resources like education, occupations, wealth, income, power, and prestige. The
Indian Caste System is considered as a closed system of stratification, which means that
a person’s social status is obligated to which caste they were born into. There are limits
on interaction and behaviour with people from another social status (Deshpande & Kerbo,
2010).
Post India’s independence, there has been considerable relaxation of rules related to the
caste system. There was also a significant change in occupational goals and pursuits
especially among men from 1954 to 1992. Earlier, most men were dedicated to their
traditional caste-related jobs, but by 1992, most had taken up newer occupations utilizing
special privileges that were constitutionally determined to the subjugated communities.
Special privileges provided opportunities in education, employment and political
participation. In spite of the changing patterns in the above three sectors, at the ground
level, caste-based prejudice and ranking still exist.
The post-independent India, however, shows that constitutional measures meant to end
caste oppression and the division of caste system and its hierarchical order remain caste
oppressive in different forms. For example, caste distribution of persons employed within
each occupation divisions becomes the same as that of the society as a whole. Caste
oppression has not ended through economic change, as the caste identity, and its
associated occupational division of labour in everyday activities has been established as
a structural necessary condition of the Indian society.
Desai (1971) highlighted the social dynamics associated with landholding pattern and
caste system. India's main occupation was agriculture. Agriculture was an open
occupation in the sense that anybody irrespective of his caste or religion could get into it.
But their differences existed as between owning the land and tilling it. The Brahmin, even
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the poor one, though he owned the land did not till it due to a religious belief attached to
his caste or "varna" position. The other Dwija castes without the religious belief did not till
the land but owned it. They either got it tilled through ‘other’ labourers or rented it out to
‘others.’ People belonging to other castes owned their land and tilled it themselves and
also took other's land to till, in addition to their own. Some others tilled the lands that were
taken on rent basis only. Others never possessed or rented land but only tilled it as
labourers. So, the preordained beliefs associated with landholding pattern and getting into
the occupation of agriculture is determined by caste.
The occupational roles of village artisans such as Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Potters,
Tailors and Barbers were caste determined and the skills were acquired and transferred
across generations across the workbench. With respect to the above-mentioned
professions, the occupational relationships were known as Jajmani relationships.
Weaving of cloth was a caste inherited occupation and it was done largely in the home of
the weaver. But the raw materials were supplied by the trader and the cloth was owned
and sold by him. Therefore, the nature of relationship between an agricultural labour and
the owner of land or between a weaver and the trader included the remuneration of labour
and was governed by traditional and customary practices.
The labourer and his labour were not separated to the degree to which it is separated
today. Labour was not a commodity that was sold and bought and there was no labour
market nor labour force as there is in contemporary India. There is a big change in
occupational relations and occupational structure in terms of the way in which human
labour is disposed in contemporary Indian society. Thus, the type of activity that would be
allotted to an individual was largely determined by his birth in a family and caste (Desai,
1971).
The relation between occupation and caste can be broken and yet the overlap of caste
and class can be very strong. If this is true, then the contemporary situation could be
regarded as a permutation of an earlier caste structure where the link between caste and
occupation may be strong for some castes, weak for others, but the association between
caste and status or more correctly between caste and privilege persists, albeit in a
different form. It can even be argued that the cumulative advantage of the upper castes
has been so strong that they no longer need an institutional structure of hereditary
‘reservation’ in order to perpetuate their privilege. The Constitution of India through its
reservation policies protects and supports the rights of communities who have been
denied opportunities through the systemic practise of ‘untouchability’ and also as a result
of granting special privileges to ‘historically discriminated communities. The ground reality
in terms of the division of labour still lingers over historical deprivation of rights and labour
choices for underprivileged communities.
POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION AND OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY
The practice of “Positive Discrimination” started in India under specific socio-historic
conditions. At the bottom of the caste hierarchy, the ‘untouchable’ communities are found
with the lowest ritual standing and economic position. They were subjected to several
social participatory exclusions. They have also borne the brunt of several civic disabilities
over a long period of time and often were victims of caste-based discrimination and
violence.
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There were several attempts to overcome these historical injustices starting with the
British Period. That was the starting point for the practice and integration of “Positive
Discrimination” methods in administrative policies. This is popularly perceived as
reservation policy reflecting the changing nature of the Indian polity, economy, and society
as a whole. In India, the policy usually refers to provisioning of “special treatment”; special
concessions, privileges, and preferential treatment for certain historically deprived social
groups. The term “Positive discrimination” was first used by Aexand Rowiez in 1957.
Galenter (1984) prefers the use of “Compensatory discrimination” for purposes of his
research and feels it is appropriate for the Indian situation. Thus, it is clearly seen that the
aim of this Policy is to constitutionally provide reservation in education, employment and
political office. Scholars have taken efforts to understand the issue linking the relevant
variables and caste proved to be the most crucial underlying impetus for all.
Seth (1999) and Shah (2007; 2002) attempt to capture the contemporary scenario of
caste and occupations. Kumar (2002a) tries to map occupational mobility across two
generations and attempts to investigate the patterns of intergenerational occupational
mobility across caste groups. Kumar (2002 and 2002) may be appropriately described as
the pioneer of contemporary mobility studies in the sociological analyses of Indian society.
Using the Non-Employer Statistics (NES) datasets, they have made an effort to focus on
the issue of occupational mobility and its relation to caste. The studies mostly centered on
the communities placed at the top of the hierarchy (Brahmin) and the communities placed
lowest (Dalit).
Satyanarayana (1991) summarised the context of dominance of ‘Brahmin’ with a
particular social affiliation and an index of rank and privilege. Further, he argued that caste
is the most crucial factor to explain the dominance of Brahmins and the other factors that
go with it are based on traditional occupation and education. The fact remains that
Brahmins are the well-educated people in India because of their caste privileges and
occupation. Caste, occupation, education, and income are not independent determinants
of elitism. He describes that it is possible only through de-brahminisation and through
violation of the traditional caste rules but not the identity of caste itself. The social change
that the Brahmins are said to have associated with can be explained as "ensuring (their)
survival but facilitating all the courses of social events to retain a position of high status
and authority". The situation continued with the social mobility models like Sanskritization,
Westernization and modernization and several other processes including
democratization which added momentum to the beliefs of the dominant population and
continue to explore new alternatives globally. The emergent "democratic model"
demands a new role and would imbibe more consciousness as one of the hallmarks of a
developing Indian society creating more conflicts and simultaneously finding ways for
resolving them (Gupta, 1972).
Traditional Indian society was characterized by the dominance of strict religious and social
customs that minutely defined an individual's position and hierarchy in society, limiting his
personal contacts, mobility, and potential for self-development. Personal and business
affairs were regulated by cultural norms and religious dogmas in an unvarying routine by
birth to a particular social and occupational status through the caste system. The
individual in the group was isolated from contact with lower or higher units by the
religiously inspired fear of “pollution” or “polluting”. Regulation of government, education,
and social life by age-old convention, denial of individual merit, monopoly of the charisma
of leadership by religious hierarchy all defined traditional India and resulted in a closed,
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static society which deprived individuals of alternatives to develop knowledge, skills, and
social contacts (Dardinski, 1972).
Ethnographic studies have documented the changes in occupational structure in Indian
villages across caste over time. Several studies find clear evidence of occupational
mobility among low castes over time. The occupational mobility may act as a catalyst in
case of Schedule Caste (SC) upliftment because they are subjugated since time
immemorial. They are still engaged in low-ranked fixed occupations. If they are able to
show upward occupational mobility, then their social and economic status would surely
improve. But such studies on the occupational mobility of Scheduled Caste population
are meagre (Butool, 2018).
Besides its internal structural complexity and the most crucial policy, pluralism, unity and
diversity, secularism, democracy have emerged as iconic markers of the policies of
contemporary India. The social, economic and political structures of the sub-continent
have been studied, analysed, and interpreted by different schools of thought. The
universalized theories on Indian socio-cultural aspects justify the relevance of
multidisciplinary perspectives but are still unable to apply positivist approach especially in
understanding the origin of the stratified hierarchical positions of every Indian community.
Thurston’s volumes on ‘Caste and Tribes of India’ were the first documents published
from an anthropological perspective but still the interpretations of the then field assistant
Rangacharri’s epistemic view had brought out certain controversies for being an insider.
The People of India project (1985-92) identified 4635 communities and their cultural
specificity has been validated empirically.
The process of democratisation and modernisation of India involves creating a level
playing ground to for all its citizens, which resulted in the policy of ‘Protective
Discrimination’. All the subjugated communities, who were discriminated, were
enumerated within the nomenclature, namely Backward Classes (BC), Scheduled Caste
(SC), and Scheduled Tribe (ST). This nomenclature was created in 1950 and the last
community-wise census of 1931 yielded the base data that exist in India and the
discourses on their socio-economic, and political status, mobility and development could
not come to consensus, even after the legal intervention of the Supreme Court.
A society has many levels of institutional structuring, and some are more inter- dependent
than others. Culture is expressed through all of these different kinds of institutional
establishments, and the activities structured at one level need not be integrated with those
structured at another level, in the sense that they are interdependent of each other. The
most inclusive structures of a society are those that have to do with its political or
governmental institutions. Horan (1974) states that the interpretations of occupational
mobility are simple movement among communities and he argued that presumes
occupational positions are nothing more than economic status and certainly not social
status.
The most obvious source of theoretical justification for the assumption of equivalence
between occupational position and occupational status is the functional theory of
stratification presented by Parsons (1940) and Davis and Moore (1945). According to
them, the underlying system of "moral evaluation" (presumably reflecting the functional
requisites of a particular social system) provides the basis for differential evaluation of a
set of occupational positions. Thus, a set of occupational positions differentiated among
the communities with respect to requisite skills and training and a shared set of values
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defining the socially important tasks of society are combined through the mechanism of
differential rewards to produce and maintain a unidimenisonal continuum of caste.
OCCUPATION, DIGNITY, AND SPACE OF SCHEDULED CASTE
Rawat (2013) stated that Dalit Studies emerged as a new field of study since the 1990s
in continuation of discourses on occupational positions, occupational status and
occupational mobility. Based on the basic tenets of the subject, he highlights three thrust
areas of focus that are examined by scholars of Dalit Studies, namely, occupation, dignity
and space. Perhaps, occupation was a prominent organizing category in colonial and
early post-colonial ethnographic writing that was used to catalogue Dalit socio-economic
and traditional occupational practices. Struggles for dignity and efforts to eradicate caste
inequality have become central concerns in the whole process of community
development.
The contribution of colonial sociology since from 1870s and 1930s has played an
influential role in conceptualizing traditional occupational perspectives. Nearly every Dalit
caste came to be associated with one traditional occupation as a way of explaining the
caste’s ritually impure status, their accounting for the stigma of untouchability. The Indian
census of 1901 and 1911, and the provincial castes and tribes volumes narrate that the
Dalit ‘jatis’ (castes) with the Bhramanic “myths of origin” described the caste’s polluted
status through the occupational stereotype that justifies “untouchables” employment, as
appropriate workers in the leather industry and in the sanitary departments of urban
municipalities. Since then, theoretical and analytical frameworks have remained largely
unchanged, while at the same time grassroots-level resistance has emerged in isolation.
The concept of urbanisation created a push factor in strengthening their resistance.
Occupation and dignity have been the prominent conceptual models for studying the
history and practice of untouchability in modern India. Dalit writers draw particular attention
to the experience of growing up untouchable in their jati, the most commonly used term
in everyday life, and brings out the reality of understating Indian social structure. The socio,
economic and political institutions have to be understood through ‘Jati’ as far as the Indian
society is concerned.
Writing histories of untouchability, need to engage with sources, Gopal Guru has urged
us to pay attention to “the role of space” because “space determines the emergence and
the efficacy of thought” for Ambedkar and Gandhi. Extending on the attention already
given to the themes of occupation and dignity, we also need to develop a more critical
model that takes into account the role of jati in the study of India (Rawat, 2013) The
political challenges and their collective alternative occupational-based social movement
to fight against the oppressive social system, claiming the dignified occupational identity
and the existing administrative nomenclature have become newer tenets.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
The social movements of India's deprived castes are based on three major tenets: firstly,
the social movement identifies the basis of exploitation by identifying two categories,
namely, the exploiter and the exploited subjects. The caste system which is based on
"pure and impure" births becomes the base for the above categorisation. Secondly, in the
struggle against the oppressive social system, the movement challenges the domination
of the oppressed in all the arenas of civilisation. Thirdly, the social movement imagines
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the alternative model that brings complete destruction of the brahminical system for a
better society. Ambedkar prioritised a society, which would be based on the values of
liberty, equality and fraternity, against the cherished varnashrama dharma of Gandhi.
Thus, a self-conscious dignified social identity, committed to ending the oppressive social
order and hope for the establishment of an equal and libertarian society, has become the
basic tenet of the social movements in India.
Social movements are built on identities and they are populated by people who identify
with collectivism and initiate movement. Identity is thus simultaneously a characteristic of
collectivities and people. Sociologists tend to study identity at the collective level on the
supply side of contentious politics, while social psychologists typically focus on the
individual level of social identity and group identification at the demand side of politics.
Scholars, like Stekelenburg (2013), have increasingly emphasized the significance of
collective identity as a factor in stimulating protest participation. Similarly, Taylor & Whittier
(1992) argued that the generation of a collective identity is crucial for a movement to
emerge as a new distinctiveness in the social status. Collective identity is conceived as
an emergent group phenomenon. According to Melucci (1989) “Collective identity is an
interactive, shared definition of the field of opportunities and constraints offered to
collective action produced by several individuals that must be conceived as a process
because it is constructed and negotiated by repeated activation of the relationships that
link individuals to groups.” Hence, identity is not a given fact; identity is a practical
accomplishment, a process. Identifying ourselves or others is a matter of meaning, and
meaning always involves interaction: agreement and disagreement, convention and
innovation, communication and negotiation (Jenkins, 2004).
Empirically, the theory of Collective identity has been validated and become prominent in
contemporary movements. It has encouraged social scientists to assess its role in all
movements, new and old. Focusing on identity seemed a way to explain how interests
emerged rather than rationally justifying. By examining the formation of collective
identities, we would be able to shed light on the macro-historical context within which
movements emerge. Sumathi’s (2001) empirical grassroots-level study points out that the
Shanar community (Southern Tamil Nadu) signifies the social upliftment movement by
changing their traditional occupation of toddy tapping to traders and changing the
administrative nomenclature from Scheduled Caste (SC) to Backward Class (BC) for their
collective identity from Shanar to ‘Nadar’ and also Gramminy to indicate the higher social
status after becoming traders. The late-19th century and 20th century of India saw
momentous continuities of development through the new forms of socio-political and
socio-economic movements with historical context. Exploring the intellectual formation,
which can be called caste radicalism, and the contexts in which it arose, we find that Dalit
critique initially allied with radical anti-Brahmanism separated from it in the first decades
of the 20th century, later, Dalit pursued its own trajectory of distinctive analysis joined to
activism from socio-political perspective. In these processes, some castes seized the
opportunity for horizontal integration, bringing about pan-India caste unification. This
process, eulogized by some sociologists as ethnicisation, basically transcended the
‘classical’ caste boundaries and brought the collective to bear a new ‘ethnic’ identity. It
represented a fusion of castes and thus expanded endogamy. Scholars saw in this
ethnicisation of caste a potential to bring about positive social change, since it imparted a
new identity, which apparently ignored caste differentiation and grouped them into larger
units, albeit based on caste. Hardgrave also (1968) observed the process of fission and
fusion that broke down castes into new endogamous sub-units and at the same time
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amalgamation of analogous castes for the acquisition of social and political influence.
Various levels of segmentation within caste are meaningful for different purposes and
activities and the basis of segmentation itself varies greatly from one unit to another. The
prominence of class segments within the caste provides for much greater mobility than
the earlier sub-castes.
CASE STUDY
The present case study of Tamil Nadu followed the same trajectory, exploring positive
social change which has brought about newer identity by interpreting their traditional
occupation and mobilizing the sub-communities integration through collective protest. In
Southern India, Dalits are known as Adi Dravida, Adi Karnataka, and Adi Andhra. This
practice began around 1917 when the Adi prefix was appropriated by Dalit leaders in
these regions. It embodies a theory that they were the original inhabitants of India,
although this is dubious. These terms are used in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, respectively, to identify people of "untouchable" castes in official
documents. India’s National Commission for Scheduled Castes considers the official use
of dalit as a label to be "unconstitutional” because modern legislation prefers Scheduled
Castes; however, some sources say that Dalit has encompassed more communities than
the official term of Scheduled Castes and is sometimes used to refer to all of India's
oppressed peoples. It is proved by Yengde (2019:99) by establishing that there were 1200
Dalit sub-castes and approximately 4000 “sub-sub-caste.
The community in the case study is the Pallan community of Tamil Nadu, it falls into the
category of Scheduled Caste (SC) list; the traditional occupation of Pallans includes
agriculture and allied agricultural activities. The majority of them are small and medium
farmers for decades and are known for their technical/scientific knowledge in Vayal,
Vayalsaarntha Velai (agriculture-oriented activities). In pre-Independent India, the
farmlands were mostly perceived as common property resources and land
documentations were not established administratively. The lands were attached with the
village temples; the upper and other dominant communities had a socio-political spread
over the resources as representatives of the village administration.
In the jajmani system, the high caste landowning families are rendered services and
products by the lower castes. The serving castes are called kamins, whereas the served
castes are known as jajmans. The kamins are paid in cash or kind for their services. The
Jajmans involved decision-making process and the resource were under the control of
Zamindar.
The land ceiling Act in India, 1961, created certain implications and encourage capitalist
farming. Though, the policy might be effective in curbing the large Zamindari type of
holdings, encouraged and transformed agriculture as a business. They thus leave totally
untouched the power relations within the village, and hence also the distribution of land.
Many land documents were created then and continued to benefit the dominant and
upper caste and not the marginalized or the real producers. The policy facilitated few
landless households that gained from the distribution of some government land without
registration or record of rights poromboke land, but even part of that somehow tends to
find its way into the hands of the medium-size farmers who are relatives or allies of the
wealthy (Mencher, 1974).
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The minimum tail end of the agricultural/farmland as well as their homestead land (1 acre
to maximum of 25 acres) is owned by every household of the community and landless
Pallan is hardly found. The landless household members work as farm coolies (laborer)
for the dominant community who own large farms and sometimes the Pallans also work
as exchange laborers within the community. The major crop cultivated by Pallans is
Paddy. The role sharing of the work is gender-specific (sense of being male or female)
and their indigenous knowledge system is meticulously transmitted as a culture from one
generation to the other. Traditionally, the Pallan community claims that they were
providers and distributed grains to other non-agricultural-dependent communities like
Aasaari, Kuyavan, Goldsmith, Pandaram, etc. known as service caste groups and so fall
into the nomencluture of Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The empirical study of the community validated their established indigenous knowledge
in water resource management both for irrigation as well consumption of equitable use.
The age-old water management practice, known as Eri (reservoir) system of Tamil Nadu,
initiated by the traditional communities, is still widely used in the state and controlled by
the government departments. Eris act as flood-control systems, prevent soil erosion and
wastage of runoff during periods of heavy rainfall, and also recharge the groundwater. In
Tamil Nadu, the Pallan community initiated an innovative movement by mobilizing their
sub-communities namely Kudumban, Pannadi, Kadayan, Kaladi, Vathiriyaan, Pallan
and Devendra Kulathan. ‘Madai Kudumban’ the sub-community of Pallan had holistic
knowledge of these activities and ensured perennial availability of water. The traditional
irrigation system could be the major activity of these communities for livelihood security.
Knowledge about traditional water management was very extensive and has been
handed over from generation to generation. Collective action and role specification in
livelihood activities were maintained by the local community and established as a social
structure which ensured ecology.
All sub-communities have similar cultural practices and traditionally endogamy was
practiced. The consanguineal and affinial patterns of kinship are strongly visible among
the sub-communities. This kinship determines the roles and status based on the belief
system and well-established customs in everyday life and social interrelations exist
among the sub-communities. Agriculture is practiced by all sub-communities, and there
is no visible difference in their economic condition. Members of the sub-community
believed the term "Pallan" had an unfavourable connotation and was used derogatorily
by "others." Though the community moved upward in the economic ladder by utilizing
Positive Discrimination Policy, the social status remains the same in the society they lived
and humiliated by ‘others’ and thus the point of reference was alternative social cohesion.
The community also has archaeological and literary evidences to prove their elite social
status as agriculturists and it has been protesting to replace the community name from
‘Pallan’ to Devendrakula Velalar’. The community has been fighting against the
discrimination for past five decades in different forms and realised that they should be
aiming for social empowerment and not just economic empowerment and initiated
alternative trajectory, through collective mobility in achieving their goal.
CONCLUSION
The community perceived that the nomenclature of ‘Scheduled Caste’ and the
communities listed out within the category generically allied with the cognition of
untouchability, impure, oppressed, subjugated, not skilled, and so on. Hence, the Pallan
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community has worked tirelessly to eradicate the way in which ‘others’ including the
administration, in an organised manner, undermine their traditional occupation and the
socio-political status. The protective discrimination policy provides the right to a world of
work for the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities and contemporary India’s goal is to
make it truly inclusive and future-ready. Such empowerment process provides space for
the community to collectively protest and gain sociopolitical identity through innovative
mobilization. The case study empirically substantiates the emerging alternative collective
social movements of a community trying to reinterpret its social status through traditional
occupation, knowledge system and resisting its wrong inclusion in the administrative
community list in the existing nomenclature and change of community name.
As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in India, the convention 190 (c190)
establishes that everyone has the right to a world of work along with recommendation 206
(R206) that makes it truly inclusive and future-ready. These interventions at the national
level do create an impact at the grassroots-level communities to fight against the existing
system with more specified goals. Violence, humiliation and harassment in work cannot
be demarcated in the name of caste, creed and religion keeping the so-called coherent
and tangible national approach; rather it needs to have an alternative outlook depending
on the contemporary context. The collective community movements should ratify the
campaign needs to be rooted with all the stakeholders, lobbying with the government to
utilise the opportunity for administrative reforms to achieve alternative socio, economic
and political identity.
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Data da submissão: 23/03/2021
Data da aprovação: 28/03/2022