Economic liberalization since the 1990s has helped Dalits in Uttar Pradesh (UP) overcome caste inequalities, according to a research paper that argues against the view that reforms have exacerbated such disparities.
The study by Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and Shyam Babu titled “Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era”, and excerpted last week in the Economic and Political Weekly, finds significant changes in patterns of consumption, agriculture and occupation among Dalits since the 1990s, reflective of a higher social status for the community.
The study, conducted in two blocks of UP—Bilaria Ganj in Azamgarh district in eastern UP and Khurja in Bulandshahar district in western UP—reflects two significant changes in economic activity: More and more Dalits are working as sharecroppers on farm land rather than as labourers, and fewer among them are handling animal corpses, traditionally an occupation limited to the community.
“Dalits are now becoming sharecroppers because upper-caste landlords won’t find labourers in the village. Earlier, all they would get to till the land was a small share of the cereals,” said Prasad, a Dalit writer and one of the co-authors of the report.
In three-quarters of the villages in the western block in 1990, only Dalits disposed of dead animals belonging to non-Dalits. By 2007, the study says, this was only true of 5% of villages. Around four-fifths of the Dalit households in the two blocks surveyed had at least one family member, and sometimes more, who was a migrant worker by 2007. They would be working as tailors, masons and drivers or be running a grocery or paan shop.
“Migration is key to this change. Economic growth has led to opportunities in the urban informal sector, driving enhanced migration, which has meant more money flow into rural Dalit households,” said Prasad.
The percentage of houses with at least one sharecropper stood at 31% in Bilaria Ganj and 11.4% in Khurja in 2007.
Among other things, important shifts in consumption and social behaviour have also been noticed. Almost none of the respondents in the study recalls using shampoos, toothpastes and oils in 1990, while today, over half the people in both blocks surveyed report someone in the household using each of the two.
“There was a time when Dalits only ate cereals and couldn’t afford rice and pulses. They were seated separately in weddings and even upper-caste men wouldn’t accept food in their homes. Caste for Dalits has traditionally limited their choices in food, social and occupational activities,” said Prasad.
The study also documents changes in ownership of basic goods such as cellphones and television sets among Dalits as a means to assert their social aspirations. “The market provides a space to Dalits to assert themselves. For them, this rise in social status is more important than the money they might be making,” said Prasad.
However, not everything has changed, said Surinder Jodhka, professor of sociology at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “This is something that has happened but where do they go from here? Is everything open for them? I would say: yes and no.”
In his paper titled “Dalits in Business: Self-employed Schedule Castes in Northwest India”, Jodhka found that most Dalit entrepreneurs ventured into basic businesses such as small shop-keeping, contracts and dealerships, and skilled services, but hardly 1-2% entered more capital-intensive enterprises such as hotels, factories and educational institutions due to discrimination.