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Abstract
About 70 per cent of the Indian population live in the villages where the caste-based social structure is very strong. The primary source of income of the people in the villages is land. Those who own land dominate the rural social structure. In most of the cases land is traditionally monopolized by the forward castes. In some areas the traditional backward castes, which have attained upward mobility, also own land. These upper backward castes are also called Kulak class. The land owning caste is the dominant caste and the members of other castes work as agricultural labourers. The dependent castes have to depend on the dominant caste for their livelihood and survival. In the study area of Bihar where five villages have been taken for intensive study, the dominant caste system as enunciated by M.N. Srinivas is clearly evident. The dominant caste has dominance in the areas of land ownership, education, occupation and in the rural political power structure. The study shows that caste-class congruence is apparent in the rural social and political power structure. Economic power coupled with numerical strength and power of coercion are important for establishing dominance in the villages. Here, the dominant caste system perpetuates class oppression and exploitation of the weaker sections in the rural areas.
Keywords
dominant caste, caste-class congruence, land ownership
Introduction
The concept of dominant caste has been found very useful in understanding the power structure in rural India. Dominant castes have been controlling social, economic and political power in rural India, especially in the villages (Singh 1983: 158). A caste may be considered to be dominant in a village or region when it preponderates numerically over the other castes and when it also wields preponderance in economic and political power. A large and powerful caste group can more easily be dominant if its position in the local caste hierarchy is not low (Srinivas, 1962). The criteria of numerical strength and the preponderant economic power only constitute the core components of the concept of dominant caste and the other criteria are actually derivatives from the first two (Nicholas, 1968:273).
According to M.N. Srinivas (1994) four factors contribute towards caste dominance: 1) land ownership 2) numerical strength 3) political power and 4) high ritual status...