Reservations in India

Understanding the relation of caste and electoral outcomes merely in terms of arithmetic runs is fundamentally fallacious. It fails to factor in the element of mutual repulsion among castes and the multiplicity of hierarchies. Shift from caste as a system to caste as an identity makes caste-arithmetic explanations of election results all the more questionable.

Intermediate caste groups like the Marathas in Maharashtra, Patidars in Gujarat, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh, and Jats in Haryana have been up in arms against the state for not being inclusive enough and demanding Other Backward Class status, reservations in jobs, education, and politics, adequate financial allocations to respective caste corporations, and other economic incentives. It is important to understand the dynamics of intermediate castes in its specific context to explain the current moment of its mobilisation, militancy, and political positioning. The intricacies of an intermediate caste called Kapus in Andhra Pradesh are analysed based on several years of field research and doctoral work.

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Fresh demands for reservation should also include the demand for more job creation.

Looking at the class and caste differences in access to agricultural credit in India, it is seen that large proportions of farmers are still outside the fold of formal credit. Farmers from smaller farm-size class and socially marginalised castes face difficulty in accessing credit due to lower asset valuations, compounded by social discrimination. There is a need for asset creation and reorientation of the present agricultural credit policy for greater inclusiveness.