Caste Transformation

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Caste Transformation

• WINNERS AND LOSERS

Priya Deshingkar, Usha Kulkarni, Laxman Rao and
Srinivas Rao
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Why is caste important?

• Agrarian relations based on caste
• New relations may also be based on caste -
  market transactions, relations with govt
  officials, relations with banks
• Lower castes remain trapped in low-return
  occupations
• Upper castes have been able to exploit new
  opportunities
• Caste based discrimination and exclusion may be
  less severe in urban locations
• Important to understand who has broken away and
  how

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1950s 1970s

• Cultivating castes such as the Reddy, Kamma and
  Kapu benefited through large scale transfers of
  land from the upper castes through land reforms
• These new landlords became politically and
  socially influential

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Newly Upwardly mobile castes
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Upwardly mobile castes