Why is caste identity in India both static and fluid?

Q19. Why is caste identity in India both static and fluid? (15m)- Society

भारत में जातीय अस्मिता गतिशील और स्थिर दोनों ही क्यों है?

Introduction: 

Caste are social groupings or segments the membership of which is acquired and fixed by birth.

Identity refers to the fact of being who a person is. Caste identity make a person to identify herself based on her caste.

Caste identity in India is static due to: 

• Segmental division of society:  Caste is a social grouping, the identity of which is acquired and fixed by birth.

1. 1. • Ex.- Kshatriya as a caste identity.

• Hierarchy: Hierarchy is a scheme of arranging castes in terms of so-called superior and inferior positions in relation to each other.

1. 1. • Ex.- Ayyengar Brahmins consider themselves superior to Ayyer Brahmins in Tamil Nadu.

• Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse: Based on caste identity, Dalit cooks often are boycotted for Mid Day Meal programs by so-called caste custodians.

1. 1. • Ex-  A woman Dalit cook was reinstated to service by District Magistrate Kanwal Tanuj in MH.

• Civil and religious disabilities and privileges of different sections: So-called upper castes invariably never face discrimination while renting a home in any part of India. 

• Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation: Bezwada Wilson complains that Dalits would involuntarily find themselves engaged in the night soil scavenging work.

• Restrictions on marriage: Caste-identity-based endogamous marriages are still the norm.

1. • Ex.- Sunday Matrimonial advertisements in The Hindu.

Caste identity in India is increasingly becoming fluid due to:

• Sanskritization: The so-called lower castes have adopted the rites, rituals, customs, and way of living of the so-called upper castes.

1. 1. • Ex.- Dalit capitalism.

• Dissociation between caste and occupation: No longer one can deduce a person’s caste by her occupation.

• Ex.- A person working in a shoe shop may not be a cobbler by caste.

• Changes in caste identity: From ascriptive to achieved. Today, individuals identify themselves on the basis of Educational qualification, occupational position, income etc. 

• Weakening of rules of purity and pollution: Seen in the inter-caste marriages taking place.

1. 1. • Ex.- MP government promoting Inter-caste marriages.

• Emergence of caste organizations: Dominant castes like Jats and Patidars claiming OBC status.

• Process of democratization: Political organizations catering to multiple castes/sections of society. 

• Ex.- BAMCEF and BSP.

Conclusion:

Thus, the caste identities are static as well as fluid for the gratification of contemporary needs

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