Not possible for two to co-exist
About a year back, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCCI)’s founder chairman Milind Kamble was interviewed by a Delhi-based media house. During the interview, Kamble had said that “caste and capitalism can’t co-exist.” Since that day, many people have been debating on what Kamble had said. Different people have different views on the topic.
let us examine why people say that capitalism can’t succeed without crippling the caste order. To begin with, let us see how the two systems relate to two entirely different situations. look at the caste order. Caste and localism are inseparable. That’s why, caste system is able to thrive in villages. In local set ups, members of the society know each other and that’s how they know each other’s caste. The so called upper caste exercise their superiority over the lower caste.
In a city, people don’t know each other and therefore the rule of anonymity comes into force and the caste order looses it grip. The result — one can’t stop people from entering temples just because he belongs to the lower caste. Even knowing fully well that the guest in a restaurant is a Dalit, neither the owner and nor the other customers can ask the Dalit to leave the restaurant.
Capitalism on the other hand, thrives in cities. While thriving in cities, it also starts dismantling localism. Triggered by capitalistic force, cities expand and attract people from villages. Caste prefers agricultural economy. Agriculture needs fewer tools and most of the work is done by hands. Since rural life and its economy are based on the principle of self-reliance, every thing is produced locally.
The rural life is incomplete without cattle. Cattle like buffaloes are used to plough the fields instead of the modern-day machines like the tractor. Most villagers are self-reliant. They have cows that give the families milk and goat, sheep and pig gives them meat and hens give them eggs. All this requires very little technology. But all these things put together make up the caste order viable in a rural set up. This entire set-up is not conducive for development of technology.
Capitalism on the other hand relies on only on machines and technology. It also creates specialisation in a certain filed. For example, a car manufacturing company will need people who know about the industry. It requires specialisation. A person working in a candy store can’t work in a car manufacturing factory. Under capitalism everything is highly technical. Since the entire process involves the use of machines and sophisticated tools, no profession in a capitalistic setting is considered lowly.
The core value system in capitalism is profit. In order to make profit, the system becomes blind to colour, creed, race, gender and religion. In capitalism, a person doesn’t have any advantages just because he born to a certain class. A poor man can become a millionaire and a millionaire can become poor. The only thing that is permanent in capitalism is competition. People who are lazy have no future. People who don’t want to work will have no future.
In the caste order, things are fixed by birth. A Dalit can’t become a Brahmin and a Brahmin can’t become a Dalit. Everybody has a place in the system from the time he is born. To succeed, capitalism has to destroy caste order. Capitalism will create machines and use technology in all the occupations. This weakens the caste system. Capitalism will have to destroy rural economy and create cities that will weaken the caste system.
But that doesn’t mean that capitalism doesn’t create class, it does. It creates upper class, middle class and lower class. The good part is that this is not fixed. A person born in the lower class can become a person from the upper class and vice versa. People can enter a class and exit it as well. In caste, rank is fixed by birth. Therefore, capitalism to survive has to fight the caste order. Capitalism has to eliminate all the conditions that help the caste system to flourish. We are witness to an ongoing battle between caste and capitalism. In all cities across India, there is not a single restaurant where Dalits are prevented from entering. Already, DICCI members are employing non-Dalits.
Capitalism is also introducing many caste neutral occupations. Repairing computers or mobiles has no caste identity. Capitalism is also making many caste occupations caste neutral. Cleaning staff in hotels, malls, corporate offices are becoming caste neutral. By introducing mechanised cleaning kits and by giving uniforms to the workers, job as a house cleaner has gained respectability.
Sure enough, Caste is fighting a loosing battle because capitalism is taking roots in India. But, not without a caveat. The caste system that has been in practice for centuries can’t be expected to end in a decade or two. But the day India’s one-third economy turns capitalistic, caste order will have lost its grip in the country.