ISSUES OF CONCERN

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its chief architect, which was supposed to be the benefactor of the Dalits, has been their bane. The constitutional schema to preserve castes and religion and adoption of the FPTP election systems are the biggest hurdles in the path of annihilation of castes. The entire schema only produces and reproduces identity politics and identity movements which strengthen castes instead of weakening them. Can you give us some examples of initiatives that have reduced the menace of casteism? I do not think I have any examples to cite. However, it is my observation that the radical movements that mobilize all castes towards some goal dampen the consciousness of castes. I may cite Ambedkar’s own experiment during 1930s when he had launched the agitation against Khoti (a system of zamindari in Konkan region of Maharashtra) mobilizing tenants of all castes, Dalits and Kunabis, as an example. His experiment during the decade when he formed his first party, the Independent Labour Party (ILP), describing it as the party of working class and he as the workers’ leader, had shown promise. But later developments forced him to return to the caste politics. It can be verily seen that the Scheduled Caste Federation that succeeded the ILP did not get him much fruit. Whenever caste identities are dampened and the class unity is emphasized, it automatically dampened castes. Once caste is invoked, even innocuously, it tends to split anything. Caste is an identity unlike any; it only tends to split like amoeba. The inference is clear that the viable project of annihilation of castes could only be through the movement based on class unity of people. Dr B.R Ambedkar addressing a rally in Nasik, Maharashtra on 13 th October 1935 [40] 20 Issues Of <strong>CONCERN</strong> No. 7 February 2016
Regular Features Book is division of labour accompanied by this unnatural division of labourers into watertight compartments. The caste system is not merely a division of labourers - which is quite different from division of labour - it is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other." Photo Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Annihilation of Caste (1936) [41] is a speech prepared by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar for the annual conference of Jat - Pat - Todak Mandal of Lahore, but was not delivered. This was because, the reception committee cancelled the conference on the ground that the views expressed in this speech would be unbearable to the conference. An excerpt [42] from the speech - "It is a pity that caste even today has its defenders. The defences are many. It is defended on the ground that the caste system is but another name for division of labour; and if division of labour is a necessary feature of every civilised society, then it is argued that there is nothing wrong in the caste system. Now the first thing that is to be urged against this view is that the caste system is not merely a division of labour. It is also a division of labourers. Civilised society undoubtedly needs division of labour. But in no civilised society Artwork [24] by students of University of Hyderabad in solidarity with Rohit Vemula, drawing parallels to the character Eklavya from the Hindu religious text Mahabharatha February 2016 Issues Of <strong>CONCERN</strong> No. 7 21
Page 1 and 2: ISSUES OF CONCERN EDUCATE · AGITAT
Page 3 and 4: we spend time in and finally in the
Page 5 and 6: of Casteist discrimination & abuse
Page 7 and 8: sectors of economy enabled by new t
Page 9 and 10: caste famers. The Green Revolution,
Page 11 and 12: was a clear opportunity for the new
Page 13 and 14: caste marriages have happened; typi
Page 15 and 16: are covered under the broader socia
Page 17 and 18: their gains. It is not a moral prob
Page 19: excluded for centuries did not qual
Page 23 and 24: Documentary The Death of Merit [44]

ISSUES OF CONCERN

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