“Casteism, communalism, regionalism : Detrimental to India’s development”

“… A baby was born on 15th August 1947, to proud parents who were waiting eagerly for her birth. But the unkind destiny had something else in store for her. She was suffering from the disease of casteism even before her birth.
A part of her body was infected with communalism, that had to be amputated, and if that was not enough, she developed another chronic disease of regionalism. This is not the end of the story.
The cancer of casteism, communalism, and regionalism has started to hurt, walking on the path to secure her rightful place in the world with the message of ‘universal humanity’.
In this essay, we are trying to first understand what are the challenges of casteism, communalism, and regionalism, how India got plagued by them, and how these are affecting her development. And finally, what can be done?
Casteism, Communalism, and Regionalism: A re-look
Unheard was the word ‘caste’ to the people of the ‘early Vedic era’. The society was divided into ‘varnas’ e.g. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. In this system, each individual had perfect liberty to choose the occupation of his ability and needs.
But, the social structure of the early Vedic stage changed with the onset of the later-Vedic phase, and castes were born out of varnas, where the membership was ascriptive, social mobility was restricted, and an endogamous strata of society started emerging.
These caste boundaries were strengthened and made more rigid with Gupta age, medieval era, and the modern times. Tentacles of this monster are now deeply entrenched in Indian society.
However, ‘Communalism’ as a challenge is relatively a newer phenomenon. Its beginning in Indian socio-political awareness started dawning during the 18th century – an era marked by the consolidation of European powers in India.
Historians divide this communalism into various stages: Firstly, the National communalism when secular interests of different religions were deemed to be similar and independent of religious interests. Secondly, the ‘Liberal communalism’ where misidentification of both interests started which subsequently got concretized in the third stage of ‘extreme communalism’.
Specifically when religious beliefs harm and attitude is colored and exploited for political gains, it takes the form of communalism.
Lastly, REGIONALISM started posing a threat to India ever since the Idea of ‘Union of India’ in article 1 and 2 of the Indian constitution was conceived. The underlying cause for this is – ‘a feeling of endangered regional identities’ among masses.
Because “India is new. States are old,” these three challenges are the cold reality of contemporary India. Irrespective of when they emerged, our current growth and prosperity are indeed affected by them.
The Ominous Signals to India’s development
Looking at the questions of casteism, communalism, and regionalism in silos will provide an incomplete picture. These issues are intricately linked and exert a combined detrimental effect on India’s development.
The scar of untouchability, which is an offspring of casteism, still cases violence against them, and the worst sufferers are women, children, and the elderly among them. From the 19th century itself, several reform movements were initiated but this malady is persisting.
Not only in social spheres but also in the political sphere, their impact is reverberating across time and space. Caste-based politics, vote-bank, quota demand, division of votes based on communal lines and not on the question of development has become frequent.
Such socio-political turmoil not only robs an individual of their modern morality but also ignites a wildfire of violence and riots. Valuable human resources of our country are diverted and wasted on these issues. The loss of individual unfulfilled potential is a nation’s loss. India’s growth on the global stage is stagnated and seen with an eye of suspicion due to its inner struggles e.g. USA’s report on religious freedom is a case in point here.
Apart from sociopolitical effects, it is affecting our economic growth and development too. Per capita human output is decreased due to communalistic riots which would have otherwise added to the GDP.
On regionalism, besides the above fissures, the fault lines on this question indicate a growing trust deficit between regional and national identities of individuals. How can a divided India realize its dream of becoming a $5 Trillion economy by 2024-25?
Ongoing efforts and learning from past
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Gandhi are some of our prominent leaders who urged a war against caste discrimination. Gandhiji devised a name ‘Harijan’ for the depressed classes and Ambedkar along with constitution makers gave them constitutional rights.
Not only this, India was made into an ‘indestructible union of destructible states’ to ensure autonomy to regional aspirations of people without undermining the solidarity of India.
Besides past efforts, the government has recently overhauled and changed various bodies and programs to realign towards a more bottom-up approach. NITI Aayog functioning with a spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism is a case in point.
For addressing the challenge of SCs and STs, the government has enacted – The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention from Atrocities) Act. Untouchability (under Article 17 of the constitution) is a punishable offense.
But only legislations, rules, and laws will not be enough; an attitudinal shift is the need of the hour. People are suffering from ‘relative deprivation’. It is their tendencies that manifest into social evils at a broader stage.
Better education, health opportunities, access to clean drinking water, sanitation dwelling places, electricity etc., is focused on by the government through schemes like ‘Her Gharbhjali’, Swachh Bharat Mission, RTE Act 2009 etc.
‘Vision’ of an India beyond these perils.
To ensure that the problems we inherited e.g. casteism, communalism, and regionalism are not passed down to our future generations, we need to act now.
Education from the primary stage itself should inculcate ethos of tolerance and respect for interpersonal differences. At individual, family, and societal levels. Such a change will bring a sense of unity – that is above caste, above religion, and above region.”