Why Caste-based Reservation Refuses to Die? - Part II

                                                            Cultivator's Whipcord

Thank you to everyone who took time to read my previous blog "Why Caste-based Reservation Refuses to Die?"

 

Even after decades of independence, caste based reservation continues in India because social and economic inequality has not disappeared. One key reason is the failure of land reforms to break caste control over land and resources. Although laws changed, power largely remained with upper castes, leaving Dalits and Adivasis landless. This unfinished reform helps explain why reservation is still necessary today.

Land Reforms after Independence

 

After India got independence in 1947, one of the biggest problems the country faced was unequal land ownership. Most land was controlled by a small group of landlords, while farmers were tenants or landless labourers. This situation was created during British rule through systems like Zamindari, which focused on collecting revenue rather than helping farmers.

 

The then new Indian government believed that land reforms were necessary for economic development, social justice, and democracy, with the aim was to remove feudal systems and give land rights to those who worked on the land.

 

Zamindari System

 

The first big step was ending the Zamindari system. Between 1950 and 1956, many states passed laws to remove landlords and give land to farmers who worked on it. This helped some tenants become landowners and ended a very old system.

 

But the reform was not fully successful. Zamindars got compensation and used legal tricks to keep land. Many tenants were also removed before the laws were applied. So, even after the law, village power mostly stayed with the same rich people.

 

Land reforms were expected to help Dalits and Adivasis, who had been historically denied land ownership.

 

Most Dalits remained landless. Even when land was allotted, it was often infertile or under dispute. Land reforms failed to break caste-based control over land, which remains a major issue in rural India.

Pre Land reforms 19th Century

In his book Shetkaryacha Asud, July 1881, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule exposes how the revenue system under both Brahmin bureaucrats and British authorities entrapped farmers. He strongly criticised the caste based control of land in Indian society. He argued that land was historically taken away from Shudras and Ati-Shudras through religious authority, social customs, and violence.

 

According to Phule, Brahmins and upper castes used religion and tradition to justify land ownership while forcing lower castes to work as farmers and labourers without rights. He believed that the main problem of Indian agriculture was not lack of effort by farmers, but systematic exploitation by landlords, moneylenders, and priests.

 

Phule supported the idea, that those working on the land should own it. He opposed the zamindari system and criticised the British for protecting landlords instead of farmers.

 

Long before independence, His critique shows that land reform is not only an economic issue but also a social and caste issue. Without breaking caste dominance over land, Phule believed that true equality and justice were impossible.

 

Jyotirao Phule (19th Century) pioneered cooperative establishing mutual aid for farmers and workers (like his Shetkari Sahakari Mandali in 1883) to counter exploitation, laying foundational principles of collective strength and social justice that influenced the later movement. Even before India's cooperative credit system started formally with the Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904.

 

 

Contemporary India  

 

The land reforms after independence failed to bring complete social change. Land redistribution was limited, tenancy continued in hidden forms, and caste based inequality remained.

 

Land reform in India also shows that laws alone cannot create equality. Without strong political will and social reform, especially against caste hierarchy, land reforms remain incomplete. Even today, farmer distress and rural inequality prove that this issue is still unresolved.

A 2006 survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) showed that OBCs made up about 40.94% of India’s population, SCs 19.59%, and STs 8.63%. Together, this comes to around 69.16% of the total population.

This means nearly 70% of people fall under reservation categories. At the same time, around 800 million people depend on government support for basic food grains, receiving 5 kg per person. This clearly shows that a large section of the population especially economically weaker and backward groups is still struggling to meet basic needs like food, education, and livelihood. 

All this happeing in a counrty where 54.6% of the population engaged in agriculture and allied activities.

 

Ending this blog with a quote:

 

विद्या विना मती गेली,
मती विना नीती गेली,
नीती विना गती गेली,
गती विना वित्त गेले,
वित्त विना शूद्र खचले,
इतके अनर्थ एक अविद्येने केले.

-            महात्मा ज्योतिबा फुले

 

Without education, wisdom is lost.
Without wisdom, morality is lost.
Without morality, progress is lost.
Without progress, wealth is lost.
Without wealth, Shudras are crushed.
So many injustices are caused by lack of education alone.

-            Mahatma Jyotiba Phule