Chapter Five. Field work Findings: Similarities and Comparison between Ad-Dharmis and Mazhabhis

Transcription

1 257 Chapter Five Field work Findings: Similarities and Comparison between Ad-Dharmis and Mazhabhis Previous chapters illustrate in detail the social, economic conditions of the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis, together with their political preferences -and cultural symbols that suggests their identity in making. This chapter aims to study the similarities, differences and factors accounting for the differences as to the level of assertion between and within the Ad-Dhannis and Mazhabhis. While discussing important differences between both the communities the chapter concludes that historical differences, district composition, role of the dominant religion within a district, economic development, educational advancement, alternative competing ideology, and political factors are some of the identified factors that account for the differences in the level of assertion of two largest communities of the scheduled castes. The field survey in both the districts indicates two striking positive features with regard to the social discrimination and untouchability in Punjab. First, crude and blatant forms of social discrimination, at least in the public sphere, are practiced far less, although they have not certainly disappeared. Besides the self-assertion of the dalits, the following factors have contributed in less discrimination. Firstly, there is an overall principle of equality as a desirable norm, thanks to the penneation of the liberal and radical philosophical discourse of the ideas of Sikhism, Ravidas and Radahasaomi faiths, including the capitalist and technological advancement and changes in the society. Second, the capitalist development, following liberalization, though sluggish, has weakened the traditional functioning of the caste system. Though caste and caste based discrimination still remains, its fonn and content are different from what had prevailed in the feudal society. Caste is limiting rather than the detennining factor in the choice of the occupation. I For instance though leather tanning is considered a dis-respectable and I Kathleen Gough (1956) 'Brahman Kinship in a Tamil Vii/age' American Anthropologist, 58: Pg

2 258 arduous occupation, performance of this task on machines is relatively simpler, better paid and more skillful and more candidates from the general population are willing to find employment here and are likely to get employed as all big leather tanning units are owned by entrepreneurs from Khatri or Mahajan social groups, not scheduled castes? The field work also suggests that in Punjab there needs to be made distinction between the untouchability and the caste based discrimination. In the case of the practice of untouchability the principle of 'purity and pollution' is enforced in the form of commensual taboos- the touch of the person belonging to the impure caste can pollute the upper caste persons. On the other hand the caste discrimination is a consequence of both ideology of the caste hierarchy and the exercise of the power by the upper caste persons in various fields of the social and occupational life. The prevalence of the caste based discrimination is an indicator of the existence of the caste consciousness of the society. As a third factor, competitive politics within the Parliamentary framework among the selected groups for the study has created political consciousness that has brought them in direct conflict with the dominant castes. Being strategic to win the elections, the dominant castes have to relax to their strict attitudes with the respect to the scheduled caste groups that has overall changed the extent of discrimination and exclusion. Wherever the dalits have found alternatives to the Indian National congress they voted for that. In Punjab this is more evident in the case of the rural Talhan and rural Verka where both the Ad-Dharmis and Mazhabhis supported the alternatives to the Congressthe BSP in Talhan and SAD in Verka. Politically the rise and decline of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Punjab can be attributed to the definite voting pattern of the Ad-Dharmis. Second, a middle class within the community (at least in case of the Ad-Dharmis) has emerged that has triggered the process of the empowerment. The green revolution increased the investment in the agriculture and also increased employment opportunities in the farm employment, construction activities, brick kilns etc. and also provided for the 2 Bhupinder Yadav and Anand Mohan Shanna : Economic Uplift of the scheduled castes,unpublished Report, Institute for development and Communication.: Pg 37.

3 259 improved wages/salaries and therehy improving the economic situation of the Ad- Dharmis. Another important catalyst has been the education. (at least in the case of addharmis). A small urban elite has also arisen among the Chamars, in the postindependence period, who was first to gain education and reservation and take up business opportunities leading to a white collar activities and small time entrepreneurs. The leather industry at Boota Mandi is entirely made up of the Chamars who are mainly the Ad-Dharrnis. These changes created small and the educated core in the scheduled caste community who were vanguard of the Dalit assertion in the region. Together with this the reservation has played an important role. The economic development experienced during the Green revolution period also brought the villages closer to the city life and its economy. S.S. Gill had reported this process some twenty years back: "With the penetration of capitalist relations in agriculture, modem education has spread. Most of Punjab villages have schools and some even have colleges functioning in them. Some of the capitalist farmers are actually sending them to acquire better education. With this a large number of educated persons from the rural areas have been coming forward to take up jobs in government and semi-government institutions and departments. This has produced a distinct category of middle class intellectuals of rural origins. 3 Commenting on the decline of agriculture Lindberg argues 'agriculture and farming is no more an allencompassing way of life and identity... households are becoming increasingly pluriactive, standing between farming and other activities whether as seasonal laborers or small scale entrepreneurs in the local economy'. 4 What emerged from the interviews is that both Boota Mandi and Talhan are politically important as the Ad-Dharmis constitute major portions/percentage of the population of these constituencies. The data and interviews clearly reveal that at both the places subsequent percentage of the members have migrated abroad and Ad-Dharmis as compared to the other scheduled caste groups have merged as prosperous community. It's \ 3 Sucha Singh Gill 'Geneis of Punjab Problem' in Abida Saimuddin (1985) ed. The Punjab Crisis :Challenge and Response, MittalPublishers, Delhi 4 Staffan Lindberg (2005): 'Whom and what to fight'? : Notes and Queries on Indian Farmers Collective Action under Liberalization ad Globalization', Unpublished Seminar Paper,Punjab University Patiala

4 260 also very clear that although the caste discrimination although less severe to certain extent, has not disappeared as most illiterate, contract laborers continue to face discrimination. The better off the Ad-Dharmis face very less caste discrimination. In both the places the main reason behind the voting is that of the personal profile of the candidate for men and voting along the husband lines for women. The sarpanch of both the villages are the supporters of the Congress. Level of of political consciousness is high in both the places which clearly emerges out in the tables on BSP awareness, there opinions on Ambedkar and in terms of there membership of Ravidas Sabha. Guru Ravidas has been projected as the spiritual master of the Ad-Dharmis. They raise slogans "Ravidas Shakti Amar Rahe' during the Ravidas layantis. The figure of Ravidas in both Talhan and Boota Mandi, or for that matter for the rest of the Punjab has become a icon of dalit assertion in Punjab. Boota Mandi,nevertheless takes a lead in this regard. Ad- Dharmis of Both the places visit Dera Sach Khand Ballan,seven miles north of the city of lallundhur on the Patahankot. An equally famous Ravidas Dera is in village Chak Hakim,near the town of Phagwara. It is against this background of the dalit consciousness generated over a aperiod opf six decades in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab that caste violence in Talhan and its repercussions in Boota Mandi can be understood in the broader perspective. Despite these similarities the lines of differences are also clear. Boota Mandi is much better organized along the caste lines. This historical factor has to play an important role. The youths of Boota Mandi are organized into Rotary clubs, youth clubs and student unions whose main arch rival is that of Sikh student association. This kind of organization is absent in Talhan Village. The caste related consciousness in Talhan I would argue is much more recent. The percentage of the migrated members from Boota Mandi is much more suggesting that it is the better off Dalits who have migrated abroad. An important role has been played by the Municipal elections held in Boota Mandi and there identification with the leader Surinder Mahey. Since he is a Congressperson, it becomes an important additional factor for providing the leverage for the Congress in the state Assembly elections too. In Talhan on the other hand it is the Pawan Tinoo, BSP candidate who has made an important difference. The role of newspapers and presence

5 261 of Dalit intelligentsia class has played an important role for the additional caste consciousness of the Dalits of Boota Mandi rather than Talhan. My visit to the Boota Mandi and Talhan suggests that Inter-Caste relations in the rural Talhan are much more cordial but still they are much more harmonious than the Talhan Village. Less percentage of Interdining within and between Dalits and the non-dalits is an indication of this fact. Given the context, it can be said that Dalits living in the urban areas are lesser bound y the traditional structures of the caste ties. Urban areas also provide a certain degree of anonymity. They have been well integrated in the urban life and do not face the disabilities of the caste. On the similar lines we can discuss the similarities and differences between the Mazhabhis of Verka and Mazhabhis in Kot Khalsa. Discussing similarities, it can be argued that the literacy level of the Mazhabhis in both the rural (Verka) and urban {Kot Khalsa) are low. This is on account of their poverty that forces them to drop out their children to earn a living. Second reason can be the poor quality of education that leaves little room for the education Secondly, the quality of life of the Mazhabhis irrespective of the urban or rural as compared to the non-dalit groups or for that matter the Ad-Dharmis is not very good. They continue to live in poor and backward conditions in Kutcha and semi-kutcha houses. Economically both the communities report themselves to be poor. At both the places the Mazhabhis have not added to any income assets or any purchase of the property item that would add to their income or improve the economic situation. Virtually at the both the places there are no cultivators among the Mazhabhis and most of them continue to work as the daily wage or the contract laborers. The field works dearly indicates that the while Mazhabhis are much more prone to the cases of the untouchability, the Ad-Dharmis are discriminated against. The main reason for continued practice of untouchability against the Mazhabhis is low and inferior status resulting out of their "ascribed" occupation of scavenging. The discrimination against the Ad-Dharmis results due to their advanced economic status-to make them realize that although economically well off -yet they still are Chamars! The paradoxes related to the economic status corresponding the social status is not only a feature of Punjab but more

6 262 generally rest of India -and particularly the state of Tamil Nadu where new forms of untouchability have emerged following the prosperity of the scheduled castes of the state. The experience of Talhan for the dalits had larger meaning where the social mobility and growing aspirations have changed Ad-Dharmis from a subordinate caste group to an assertive and independent community. In order to commensurate their economic status when they ask for representation in the Management committee, the Jats were in no mood. to accommodate them that led to the conflict. It therefore suggests demanding equal rights and share in the resources material as well as symbolic, that belong commonly to the village and had so far been under exclusive control of the locally dominant castes. It was the social boycott of the Ad-dharmis that led to Ad-dharmis to protest against the dominant castes. To quote Lahori Ram BaIley, editor Bheem Patrika, "such things had not happened in Doaba in the near past.what has been the use of all our struggle, education and mobility if our people have to still face humiliation".6 It was this social boycott that led ad-dharmis to organize protest against the dominant castes. The field work indicates that as compared to the Mazhabhis the extent of the caste discrimination against the Ad-Dharmis is less severe and it is mainly the poor, illiterate and those working as the contract laborer to report the case of the caste discrimination. Although the discrimination and untouchability practice against the Mazhabhis is not as acute as in the states of Tamil Nadu, Haryana, yet as compared to the group of Ad- Dharmis they are more prone to the cases of the caste discrimination, as majority of the respondents argued that the caste discrimination 'does exist against them' and' at times'. With respect to the discrimination at the religious places, the field survey points out that although Punjabi gurudwaras are free from the discrimination that that Hindu temples enforces, yet they also observe caste based discrimination as. This can be concluded on the basis of field work conducted in Amritsar where majority of the Mazhabhi respondents argued that they were discriminated against, in gurudwaras during the 5 Surinder Jodhka (2004): Sikhism and the caste question: Dalits and their Politics in contemprory Punjab, Contributions to the Indian Sociology No 38 (I & 2) pg As quoted in Surinder Jodhka and Prakash Louis (2003): 'Caste Tensions in Punjab :Ta/han and Beyond' in July 12,2003, Economic and Political Weekly :Pg 2925

7 263 sittings in gurudwaras,. Even during the Kar seva the majority of the lats preferred to take food not from the Mazhabhis but from the kar sevaks of their own community. Such sort of discrimination against the Ad-Dharmis remained absent almost all the major respondents from the Boota Mandi and Talhan reported that there exists no caste discrimination with respect to their entry into gurudwaras or in serving of the food and other religious practices. This response by the Ad-Dharmis assumes significant importance in the context of the aftermath of the Talhan conflict suggesting that the conflict has been able to get the Ad-Dharmis their rightful share without introducing any set of discrimination against the Ad-Dharmis. The cordiality of the relations between the Ad-Dharmis and the non-scheduled castes is also manifested in the participation of the Ad-Dharmis and the non scheduled caste groups in the festivals and functions together. Besides this in lullundhar at least in most of the gurudwaras, even in the lat gurudwaras most of the Granthis were the Ad-Dharmis. The Jats visited the Ravidas gurudwaras with the same dedication as they visited their own gurudwaras. This remained absent in Amritsar where the communities remain confine to their own gurudwaras and non-scheduled caste groups rarely visit the Mazhabhis gurudwaras. The gurudwaras continue to remain exclusively the "Mazhabhis" gurudwaras and the cases of intermingling of the Mazhabhis with the non-scheduled caste groups remain absent. The Mazhabhis desire to be Sikhs make them proudly participate in au the Sikh cenetaries and functions, yet the non-scheduled caste population continue to discriminate against them on account of their low occupational profile. Besides this Ad-Dharmis have identified their own symbols as alternative to the Sikh gurus -The symbol of Ravidas; and a picture of Ambedkar. These phenomenon of Ambedkarism and Ravidas remained almost absent in case of the Mazhabhis, owing to their allegiances towards Sikhism. The alternative symbols are not only important but also determines not only the low level of assertion but also broader factors shaping the identity in making.

8 264 The growing importance of the education among the Ad-Dharmis for picking up better jobs, migration abroad, led the better of Ad-Dharmis, mainly from the business community, trading caste in the Talhan village to shifted their children from the government schools to the private schools on account of the poor quality education of the government schools Even these private schools have contributed to the identity formation and the assertion in region. Such schools are found in many villages and towns in lullundhur district and provide a meeting place for celebration of Dr Ambedkar's birthday, community meetings. Seminar on dalit problems or when a common problem occurs. For instance during the Talhan conflict many essay writing competition, peace campaigns were undertaken by the school students which enabled rapid mobilization of the scheduled castes and planning of demonstrations against the government. Besides this a football making centre in the Talhan village theta provide employment to the Ad- Dharmis women has become an important centre where the teachings of Ravidas and Ambedkar are preached that has further led to the mobilization of the Ad-Dharm women and also political consciousness as happenings of the politics are also discussed in the centre. The discrimination against the scheduled castes students in Punjab, more particularly among both the communities is not as visible, as compared to the other parts of India like that of Bihar, Rajasthan. As in the case of the gurudwaras the caste discrimination faced by the Mazhabhi students in the school is much more visible. In my opinion the nature of discrimination that the children of Mazhabhis face is not similar to the discrimination in other states but largely a result of lack of resources. First it is the poor economic status of the Mazhabhis that compel them to send their children to government schools for education.. Yet the students hardly face discrimination because of two factors. Firstly, most of the students are from the same community and at times same locality, second the teacher also belonged to the same caste. The only difference is that the Mazhabhi report high cases of dropouts on account of the poverty and the demand to get absorbed as a working force. But discriminatory cases of beating up of a dalit child, making them sit separately as commonly practiced in other parts of north India remain absent in case of the surveyed localities. The forms of discrimination vary from the general neglect on the part of the teacher towards the students and also lack of effective interaction with students of the other communities.

9 265 Another important variable from which we can discern the pattern of discrimination and intercaste relation with respect to the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis is the indicator of Interdining. The rules of commensality remain strict in relation to the Mazhabhis irrespective of the rural and urban constituency. The Interdining between the Mazhabhis and the non-scheduled caste groups remain absent. On the other hand the Interdining between the well off Ad-Dharmis and the Jats and other non-scheduled castes groups continue to exists yet the poor and backward Ad-Dharmis do not witness exchanges not only with non-scheduled caste groups but also the economically advanced Ad-Dharmis. This indicates the operation of the ideology of caste not only between but also within the castes. The field work also illustrates the differences at both the places and between both the communities with regard to the emergence and causes of the caste conflicts. In the case of the Ad-Dharmis, the major cause of the caste contlict are the inter-caste marriages The intensity of the caste contlict is more acute if the boy belongs to the ad-dharmis caste and the girl from the Jat caste. The field work therefore points out that the occurrences of the inter-caste marriages are rare and even if they occur they lead to tremendous reaction of not only the non-scheduled castes population but also by the Ad-Dharmi groups.. The interviews also clearly reveal that even within the Ad-Dharmis the pattern of most of the marriages is not different from other caste groups in the Punjabi community. It emerged very clear in the discussions that even the Ad-Dharmis prefer to marry within their own community because it helped in the adjustment of the spouses. One major problem of the inter-caste marriages that the interviewed respondents pointed out is that case of intercaste m.arriage was in symmetrical interaction among the relatives. The upper caste relatives did not regard dalit as equal. Even if the marriages take place they do not last long because of this superiority -inferiority status. Discrimination in access to the services has been another important cause of the caste contlict -for instance the ad-dhannis working as the contract laborer, daily wage laborer continued to face discrimination in being paid less that at times has been the sign of resentment, given the fact that the Doaba has been one of the most prosperous region, Similarly the main cause of the emergence of the caste conflicts in the case of the

10 266 Mazhabhis has been discrimination in the services. Infact the caste conflicts arising out of the occupational complexities of less wage exploitation of the workers, payment and nonwage payment have become such a regular phenomenon that they do not regard it as caste conflicts but everyday local conflicts; as they mainly arise out of occupational disputes. Apart from this the cause of the caste conflicts common to both the districts have been many. To summanes the overall picture on the social discrimination reveals despite considerably weakened structure of the caste domination and hierarchy, caste based discrimination still exists. It can be concluded that although occasional,untouchability and caste discrimination, has not disappeared from Punjab. When asked about the intercaste relations in the villages and towns of the village, a large majority of the dalits reported that they did not had any problems with the non-scheduled caste communities. But if one looks at the inter-caste interactions in terms of indicators related to Interdining and Inter-caste marriages, ones gets the real picture. The absence of the Interdining and intercaste marriages as the primary cause of the caste conflict, discrimination in access to the services brings home the reason to believe that caste and prejudices related to it continue to exists in Punjab. Under traditional framework of the caste system, the economic rights and the obligations of each caste are fixed and binding. 7.Keeping this as the background an attempt was made in the field trip to study important differences with regard to the economic conditions of the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis or how far these developments have contributed to the economic development of the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis. One common finding is that majority of the respondents from both the castes do not own any land. This could be partly due to the Land Alienation Act of 1901 that denied nonagriculturalists to own the land. Most of the cultivable land in the rural Punjab is owned by the dominant Jat and some other upper and middle level caste groups. Even though this act was revoked in 1952, very small proportions of the dalits have owned lands or 7 Thorat et al (2005) : Untouchability in Rural India, Sage Publications, New DelhiIThousand Oaks/London :Pg 92

11 267 have been cultivators. Those dalits who cultivated lands in the past invariably did so by leasing in the land. As the tenancy declined, the number of dalit cultivators also went down. It is significant to note that very few dalits in Punjab received ownership rights over the land during the land reforms. Moreover due to the non-implementation of the land reform policies, the dalits did not benefit from this scheme too. Though the social status of the dalits of Punjab is perhaps better than is the case with dalits elsewhere in the country, yet in some ways it emerged out in the field study that they seem to be economically vulnerable. This fact emerges very clearly in the field work where majority of the respondents from both the communities irrespective of the rural or urban did not owned any agricultural land and most of them did not practiced any cultivation. However despite their being landless, Dalits of the rural Punjab were actively involved with agriculture in the past, albeit as the landless laborers working with the cultivating farmers as attached or the casual laborers. First the percentage of the agricultural laborers to the total rural workers in Punjab experienced sharp experience after the qreen Revolution. As per the available statistics, their numbers went up from 8.95 percent in 1961 to percent in the It again went up to percent in 1981 and further to percent in Apart from increasing their earnings, agricultural labor also gave the local scheduled castes a little better status. The technological development in agriculture and growing commercial orientation of the farmers had led to the growth of closely spaced marketing and industrial towns almost all over the state. Such towns provided new avenues of the employment to the scheduled castes workers. 9 While some have permanently migrated to the urban areas, many others commuted for work to these new towns. \0 Over the last 8 B.L Abbi and Kesar Singh (1997) Post-Green Revolution Rural Punjab: Profile of Economic and Socio-Cultural Change ( ), Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh :Pg no. 9 R.P.S Gosal(1990): India's scheduled caste population: A spatial perspective, Unpublished Phd thesis, Punjab University, Chandigarh :pg K.C. Kaistha (1987): 'Out migration Patterns in Development transition of Rural areas' in Population Geography, Vol 9 (I and 2) : pp25-36

12 268 century or so, Punjab has also experienced migration to the western countries. Though their numbers among the emigrants has not been as high as that of the landowning Jats, the scheduled castes too have been migrating abroad that has considerably led to the improved economic status. More recently many of them have gone to gulf in search of the lucrative jobs. I I The field work suggests that though occupational shift has taken place with respect to both the castes and communities the shift is greater with respect to the Ad-Dharmis and limited to the Mazhabhis. The shift has been evident in number of other studies. The. studies shows that while 81 percent of the Ad-Dharmis were employed in jobs other than leather tanning. Similarly only four percent of the Mazhabhis were engaged in their traditional occupation of scavenging. 12 In some parts of the state, particularly in the enterprising Doaba region many of the scheduled castes were currently, in the process of moving away even from the agricultural labor. While they have moved away from the agricultural employment, there is no single occupation that they have gone into. Only a small proportion of them have been able to find a steady alternative employment. Infact a large proportion of them continue to function as a 'footloose laborers'. What are the alternative sources of employment outside agriculture/ village? - The most important source of the employment outside agriculture is working in the brick kilns. For instance few percent of the Mazhabhis reported themselves to be Raj mistries, and get an employment of days of month. Some of them have acquired technical skills and have opened small shops in the village or the towns -for instance the Ad-Dharmis repair fans, music system and other electronic devices. As has already been mentioned in the previous chapters Punjab has been at forefront of the economic changes which had considerable effect on the scheduled caste population. It II S.Mehta (] 990): Migration: A spatia] perspective ( a case study ofbist-doab), Rawat Publications, Jaipur; S Mehta and M.S. Gill ( ]984): Migration of the Scheduled caste population in the Rural Bi~t Doab, Population Geography, Volume 6 No.1 and 2:pp 26-38, 12 Bhupinder Yadav and Anand Mohan Shanna 'Economic Uplift of the Scheduled Castes', Unpublished Report, Institute For Development and Communication, Chandigarh

13 269 emerges clearly in the field work that the Mazhabhi section of the chuhras has been far less rriobile as compared to the Ad-Dharmis. Though some of the Mazhabhis have migrated to the urban centres they have mainly been employed in response to the growing demand of the scavengers in the municipality and middle class localities that has not been able to get them prosperity and status like that of Ad-Dhannis. Ad-Dhannis emerged to be the most progressive and enterprising of the scheduled castes. The study by Paramjit Singh Judge (2002) suggests that many of the Ad-Dhannis migrated to foreign countries such as England in the first half of the last century where they took up various types of occupations and sent back the earned income home further contributed to their economic well being. 13 The major entrepreneurial activities that the ad-dhannis have taken includes-leather Goods Industry, Shoe factory, raw hide merchant, property dealers, readymade gannents, tailoring, electrician readymade garments. Gurpreet Bal in her study identifies reasons for the shift to entrepreneurial activities. In her study Bal found out that 11 percent of the respondents considered their traditional occupation as stigmatized, while 7.81 percent find their traditional occupation not profitable and lost its demand. While 63 percent mentioned that their new work is linked with their caste occupation, therefore it is an extension of their traditional work, whereas 17 percent considered it be more profitable. 14 Being located in the prosperous area of Doaba the Ad-Dhannis have several different sources of employment outside the agriculture. For instance some of them have taken up the government jobs, few percent of them have emerged as the teacher trainers in the private schools due to their improved literacy rates, another few were seen interestingly diversifying in the banking jobs. A large number of their family members have also migrated abroad adding to the income of the family. Various factors contributed to shift from agricultural labor to non-agricultural occupations. First, the mechanization of the agriculture increased the demand for the labor in agriculture as the land under cultivation 13 Paramjit Singh Judge (2002) Punjabis in England :The Ad-Dhanni Experience in Economic and Political Weekly, August 3, Gurpreet Bal ( ): 'Dalit Empowennent through entrepreneurship: A case of Punjab', paper based on an empiricat study conducted under the major project awarded by UGC along with Professor Paramjit Singh Judge to study "Education, Empowennent, Emigration and Entrepreneurship: A Study of Social Mobility among the Scheduled Castes in Punjab",

14 270 expanded and fanners began to produce multiple crops. However by the 1980's agricultural began to stagnate and new labor saving mechanization began to get popular. First, the migrant labor from the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also had a great deal of effect on the local labor market. Farmers preferred employing the migrant laborers as they were willing to work for the longer hours. Second the scheduled castes also disliked working with the fanners, who were mainly 1ats, as the agricultural laborers. Working in agriculture was seen as accompanied by the experience of being dominated and abused and reminds them of the older structures of dependency and power, and of course of the caste and lastly the growing availability of the alternative sources of employment in the village. In the field work the self perception of the Mazhabhis with respect to their economic status, majority of the respondents regard themselves to be backward, poor and just able to manage their daily lives. As already mentioned above their low economic status is largely a result of the there low levels of literacy, there inability to take up skilled jobs other than scavenging and low scale migration on the part of Mazhabhis. On the other hand the self perception of the Ad-Dharmis on their economic status reflects that the community is prosperous and some of the influential economic personalities have emerged from this community. This can be partly explained on the account of early migration not only to the urban areas but also abroad that added to their economic prosperity, early shift from the low menial occupation to that of business. This economic status is also reflected their daily living conditions- the Ad-Dhannis have huge well-built Pucca houses. The houses are infact much more spacious, luxurious than the houses of the 1ats. lnfact one reason for the economic development of the Ad-Dharmis is that even though they do not have any business they have such big houses that they have given on the rent which gets. them regular monthly income. The Mazhabhis of both the rural and urban areas have Kutcha or semi-pucca houses. The facilities in the house are not upto the standards-most of them do not have access to toitets, safe drinking water, drainage outside there houses are not well equipped. In short most of them continue to live in the backward poor conditions. The Mazhabhis dalits

15 continue to be trapped into the most humiliating and socialiy despised occupationscavenging. The Mazhabhis negotiates some wages in cash or in kind, although these tend to be low and sometimes humiliating. The Mazhabhis are employed on a monthly salary by the local municipalities on the low salaries. Their inabilities to shift to other occupations have been one of the main causes of the discrimination. With their continuance on the unclean occupation they feel powerless to resist, and because alternative occupations are either not available or are not remunerative and secure. For instance most of the Mazhabhis have diversified as the fruit vendors or the vegetables vendors but the other communities do not purchase form them are negotiate lower price. On the other hand Ad-Dharmis have successfully shifted to alternative occupations and infact are the owners of the big show rooms, leather trade etc. and are politically influential. The survey also revealed that the distinction between the general living conditions of the two communities. An important point in case of Punjab is that as compared to the other untouchable communities in rest of the country, the living conditions of the Punjab untouchables are far much better than the other untouchable communities as compared to the rest of India. The survey findings suggest that economic and housing status of the Ad- Dharmis corresponds to that of the ordinary Jats in the village as well as the city. They have same living styles -own all the modem facilities-motorbikes, jeeps, refrigrators, air conditioners etc. The contract laborers belonging to Ad-Dhannis community also had better living conditions and housing facilities, if compared to the Mazhabhis. The Ad- Dharmis of Boota Mandi had well designed pucca houses with proper drainage facilities, properly constructed sewerage facilities and toilets. Some of them haq grand houses with proper parking areas suggesting the lavish lifestyles they adopted. The women from this community too were well-dressed up with all sort of ornaments that any other Jat women would have. Infact there existed a competition with respect to their dressing styles and the Ad-Dharmis demonstrated that they were no less than the Jats. This suggests the assertion on the part of the Ad-Dharmis and a trend toward to what M.N. Srinivas called Sanskritization in case of the Hindus, that could also be caned

16 171 Sikhization in case of the Ad-Dharmis. In fact many of the educated white collar scheduled caste employees try to hide their traditional caste identity by adopting the lifestyle of the caste hinduljat colleagues. The Ad-Dharmis of the Talhan village are also as. prosperous and have a very decent living standard. Some of the Ad-Dharmis had large houses while the houses of the contract laborers where small but they were also pucca houses with all the basic minimum facilities. The living styles of the of the Mazhabhi community suggest their backward position; although the houses were pucca houses but not properly constructed. In fact the sewerage facilities outside there home were not properly planned and during the rainy season the water entered their homes. The poorest of the Mazhabhis did not have access to the toilets facilities. The distinction between the Ad-Dharmis and Mazhabhis living style can be made on account of the availability of the new job opportunities.. Although different in their social, economic status, a similar pattern of operation could be explained with respect to Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis with respect to their mode of operation in the politics. Broadly three phases can be identified with regard to their operation in the electoral politics of Punjab. The first phase could be characterized as that of where the congress continued to command the allegiances of both the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis. While the support of the Ad-Dharmis to the Congress stemmed out of the fact that major Ad-Dharmi leaders were co-opted into the congress, the Mazhabhis support to the congress arose out of the corresponding mobilization of the middle castes in the mid 1960's by their leaders who entered into politics with the formation of the parties like BKD and the Akali Dal. Adding to it the congress continued to command the support of the Mazhabhis under the when under the chief-ministership of Giani Zail Singh the state government decided to introduce a classification among the Scheduled castes of Punjab of which percent were reserved for the Mazhabhis. The second phas.e could be regarded as the one where both the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis drifted apart from the Congress and voted for BSP and Akali Dal. Although by its populist policies the Congress was able to capture and integrate the Ad- Dharmis and the Mazhabhis within its patronage and protection system, yet due to the

17 dominant position of the backward castes cultivating peasantry, the benefits from these policies. to both the caste groups remained limited. Incidents of the atrocities committed on the dalits by the Jat landed peasantry in the absence of the strict implementation of the prevention of the scheduled caste atrocities act, the failure of the congress to fulfill the demand re-distribution of the village common land (shamlat land), continuing decline of the wages gradually led to the disillusionment among both the major groups from the congress leadership. Besides this economic and political changes had far reaching consequences/ implications for both the major groups. The introduction of the new farm technology and the transfonnation of the agrarian. social structure had far reaching implications for both the Ad-Dharmis and Mazhabhis. The impact of the Green revolution differed across three different regions of Punjab-the Doaba region and therefore Ad-Dhannis were foremost in this trend, followed by Majha region and only a part of the Malwa region. Increasing education and affinnative action led to the emergence of a small, privileged elite among the Ad-Dharmis who formed the vanguard of the new dalit assertion in the 1980's and the 1990s. It was during this period of rapid transformation and democratization of the political system that BSP emerged in It is in this context that Ad-Dharmis shifted their allegiances from the Congress to the BSP. The Mazhabhis being unskilled and belonging to the areas where the impact of the green revolution was limited where unable to reap the benefits to the same extent the Ad- Dharmis were able to. Yet the drift of the Mazhabhis from the Congress to the Akali Dal has to be seen in the context of the political happenings in Punjab during the 1980's leading to the development of the powerful secessionist movement. The congress party had been defamed particularly among the Sikhs during this period for prolonged phase of violence in Punjab. IS Politically this phase of prolonged violence led to the lost of the credibility on the part of every political formation with the common people of the state. The Mazhabhis who never supported the Punjabi Suba campaign, out of the fear of the Jats domination, were angry with the then dominant political fonnation, the Congress in the wake of its agitation at the centre against the Sikhs. The description provided above explains the decline of the Congress party among the two major caste groups. In the last 15 Surinder S. Jodhka (2005): <Return of the Region: Identities and Electoral Politics in Punjab' in Economic and Political Weekly, January 15,2005 pg 224.

18 274 and the continuing phase both the groups. either have decided to vote for the Akali Oal or the Congress. During the field work, majority of the Ad-Ohannis and the Mazhabhis reported Congress to be their major political choices. At both the places irrespective of the rural and urban distinction the Congress continues to be the main party preference over all the other parties. Another important conclusion that the field work pointed out is that in the rural areas the dalits exercised choices-for instance the BSP emerged as the main party choice among the respondents of the Verka few of the Mazhabhis preferred to vote for the Akali Oal (Mann). However it was in the rural areas in both the districts that the Ad -Oharmis remained divided between the Congress and BSP and the Mazhabhis remained divided between the Akali Oal and the Congress. Though the BSP claims to represent both the dalits and the backward castes its social base in Punjab has mostly been among the Ad-Oharmis. In fact the rise and decline of the BSP is clearly associated with the shifts in the voting pattern of the Ad-Oharmis. The BSP holds more importance in Talhan village among the categories of the females, illiterates and the contract laborers, suggesting it still remains the party of the poor against the widely held conception that BSP is the party of the rich or the emerging middle class. On the other hand in Boota Mandi, Ad-Oharmis initially supported the BSP, yet as a party it is completely routed out and Congress emerges to be there main preference. Although the party has not struck to its original goal and has made alliances with various political parties, nevertheless it has succeeded in raising the political consciousness of the Ad-Ohannis by making ideological use of caste as a medium of political propaganda. The party choice of the Mazhabhis varies in between the Congress and the Akali Oal. This is particularly true of the Mazhabhis in the Verka village while for the Mazhabhis in the Kot Khalsa the Congress continues to be there first preference. The main reasons for the continued support to the Mazhabhis towards the Akali Oal are their belief that they are Sikhs. Another point of difference emerges in respect to the causes of voting among

19 the different communities. The pattern of voting among the Ad-Dharmis suggests that the main reason for they vote along the lines of personal profile of the candidate. The main reason for this is the emergence of the charismatic leaders from the Ad-Dharm community and their affiliation to the Congress, proves to be one of the important factor that why Ad-Dharmis are still attached with the Congress. The disillusionment with regard to the party politics was much more with the Mazhabhis as their voting preferences were decided on account to whom for vote for. Unlike Ad-Dharmis they did not have many choices for the leaders. Apart from these focused cases of the case studies and of caste related conflicts and mobilizations in contemporary Punjab, we also asked our respondents questions about the political loyalties and the identification with the mainstream political parties at the regional and the national levels. This was undertaken to draw relation between the nature of the caste discrimination, extent of the caste conflict and the resulting political identification of the dalits. Just as the social identities influence the organizational forms of the political life, so do the political organization shape the forms of the social identifications. In Punjab, case one is first struck by the overlapping and the fluid dimensions of the social identities in the state. Though participation in democratic political processes has become a quite a regular. feature of the rural social life their identification with the existing political formations was found to be quite limited. As is evident in the field work most of the respondents, more particularly the Mazhabhis did not identify with any of the major political fomlations active in the state of Punjab. This section therefore attempts to study the differences with regard to the Ad-Dharmis and the Mazhabhis with respect to their political affiliations, what factors account for their party choices, what role does the identity of the candidates play in determining the choices of the candidates. Attitude of the urban dalits towards the mainstream political formations was also not very different from their rural counterparts. In the urban areas too a large majority of them did not identified with a political formation, the congress yet was far ahead of the any other political party. in terns of the second level of the reference, for the Chuhras it was Akali Dal. Thus even when ideologically caste had lost its "moral

20 basis" the subjugation of the dalits remains intact in the agrarian economy. It was only after the disintegration of the rural political economy as it happened in Punjab during the Green Revolution period that the dalits could acquire a certain degree of autonomy and begun to assert in the local politics. It was around this time that the mobilizations by the Bahujan Samaj Party began to pick up in this region. Some of the ad-dharmis leaders are important support makers for the Congress party. The Ad-dharmis in both the constituency are important in terms of attending the meetings, campaigns of the political parties. Politically the Mazhabhis are not very active in terms of attending the meetings. Those attending the meetings are only the poor, illiterate and the contract laborers-give the theory of the democratic upsurge by Y ogendra Yadav. Some of the Ad-dharmis in the Boota Mandi were also the party members and campaigned for the Congress party. This is not the case for the Mazhabhis of either the rural or the urban constituency. Whatever the differences in terms of the party choices or their status in terms of the party members or attending of the election meetings, its very clear from all the survey that party issues are no more important for the people. In fact the Ad-Dharmis caste the votes along the ethnic/ personal profile of the candidates while the Mazhabhis in there interviews did not singled out any such factor, rather casted there vote on account. The females had very little discretion in exercising there votes and mainly casted votes along the husband lines, that is voted in favor of the party that there husband voted for or asked them to vote for. Currently Punjab is home to the scores of the Oeras. A police count puts these at An important question that needs to be asked is the reasons as to the emergence of these Deras. The main reason that has been pointed out is the emergence of the caste divisions within Sikhism. In the spiritual matters, Dalits have been increasingly turning away from the established faith to new spiritual leaders who could articulate their aspirations and provide some kind of identity. This has led them to tum back to the deras. Plenty of these and with the large following like the Radahasaomi, Sacha Sauda or Bhaniarwala. A 16 Ram Ronki (2007): Social catastrophe in making :Religion, Deras and Dalits in Punjab, special article on June 11-12, 2007 posted on

21 277 number of Guru Panths already exists in Punjab. Some of the more well known ones include the Radhasaomi, the Namdhari, the Nirankaris, the Handalis, the Minas and the Ukases. These invoke far greater feelings of rejection of the Sikh ideology. Yet the pattern of the cultural assertion has also varied with across communities regions of Punjab. The cultural orientations of the Ad-Ohannis remain to be much more pronounced than the Mazhabhis. There exist various factors to this regard. First Mazhabhis embraced Sikhism in the hope of gaining social equality, but even in Sikhism the spectre of untouchability kept on haunting them. They were forbidden to enter the golden temple for worship; their offering of the Karah Prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them the access to public well and other utilities. Evidence of the untouchability against the dalit Sikhs were vividly reflected in a number of resolutions adopted by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak committee from They were also denied proportionate representation in the various religious and local social structures in the state. it is the Jats who hegemonized over all the sikh organizations: Gurudwaras, Sikh Oeras, SGPC and SAD. Caste divisions further get reinforced in the segregated lives that the dalits live in away from the mainstream villages. Their settlements are contemptuously called Thhattis or the Chamarlees. It is against this backdrop that a large number of the dalits have been veering away from the mainstream Sikh religion and enrolling themselves into the various Oeras in Punjab whose success partly lies in the "relationship between dalit resistance and religious rebellion"j7 (Ronki Ram ; 2007). At least among the Mazhabhis and the Ad-Ohannis a strand of though has began to emerge against the exclusionist and the reactionary tendencies that have continued to linger contrary to the mission and ideas of the gurus. Infact the Mazhabhis and the Ad-Oharmis constitute the core of the Bhaniarawala Phenomenon and the Talhan cnsls. Even in the case of the Oera Sacha Sauda it was the Mazhabhis who figured most in the crisis, although the Mazhabhis involved were mainly from the Malwa region yet the 17 Ronki Ram (2007): Social catastrophe in making :Religion, Deras and Dalits in Punjab, special article on June 11-12, 2007 posted on