REGIONALISM

Of course, regionalism has always been present in India in one form or the other but

never has it attained such magnitude as it possesses today and neither was it ever as

detrimental to any national interest as it is in the present context. When there are sd many

states in the country it was not harmful to have regionalism in them but when the entire

country is one nation regionalism poses a serious threat to national unity and integration.

What is Regionalism?

Regionalism is the sense of affection and attachment for people belonging to one's own

region and hatred for those who belong to some other region. As a result of this, people

of one region in India have started looking at people from some other part of the country

in the same light in which they are prone to regard foreigners.

Causes of Regionalism

There are many causes at the root of this regionalism in the country, the major ones being the

following:

1) Geographical causes - The main cause of regionalism is geographical. There is some

essential difference between the food habits, language, life, etc. of every region and the

people who live there. By virtue of these differences they come to regard each other as

foreigners and they acquire an attitude of fear and hatred for each other.

2) Historical Cause - As has been indicated earlier, there are some historical causes also

at the root of regionalism. For example, there have been some differences between the

people of the north and south and ever since the time of the Aryans it has continued.

Many of the kings of the north have won over the south while there have been a few

kingdoms in the south which have extended to the northern part of India as separated

from southern India.

3) Political cause - But if the situation is carefully and minutely observed, it will be seen

that the main cause as to the root of regionalism present in the country is of a political

nature. In different regions some people have demanded the formation of regional

governments and in this they have been inspired by regional interests and by aims of

gaining power. In this direction, a major part has been played by the revolutionary Naga

part guided by Phizo, the Akali party of Punjab, the D.M.K. party of the south and other

political parties. The truth is that the leaders of these political parties are responsible for

having propagated regionalism in their respective areas. Not only this, but even some

representatives of different areas who are members of political parties give prime

importance to the interests of their own regions even in the face of national interests

which are disregarded by them.

4) Psychological causes - Finally, the psychological causes have contributed no less to

the development and stability of regionalism. It is the wish of most of the persons that it

be their area that progress as the most. This idea in itself in neither bad nor detestable but

when they disregard the national interest and those of other regions for the attainment of

this, this feeling takes on the form of regionalism. Besides this, there are many

individuals encouraging regionalism who express the hatred, jealousy, fear, anger and

other feelings contained in them in this manner.

5) Other causes - There are some other causes besides those-Retention above that

promote regionalism. For example, it is only rarely that one comes across married

couples among whom one belongs to Bengal and the other to Punjab or to Rajasthan or to

Tamil Nadu for that matter. As a general rule, people belonging to different regions do

not marry and hence the occasion for close contract between the two does not arise. In

addition to these there are some economic causes of regional tension. In the country there

are some regions that are backward in comparison with some other regions. As a result,

they are often seen to be particularly successful in some vocations. For example, in India,

the most successful businessmen are seen to belong to Marwar, Gujarat and Punjab, and

in this sphere they have a practical monopoly. In this too they are hated by some people

who try to turn them out from their own regions.

Means for the Abolition of Regionalism

The following means can help to end regionalism or at least to dilute it to some extent:

1)Encouragement to transport and communication - If regionalism is to be c1iminated,

the people should be encouraged to indulge in travel and to increase contact with people

belonging to different regions of the country. Recently, a train of religions hermits toured

the country and similarly many farmers belonging to Rajasthan traveled all over the

country. In India, the tradition whereby people are induced to visit places of religious

importance is a good one in as much as it helps people to travel all over the country and

meet different people. In going to different corners of the country the people realize that

India is a large country by encouraging transport and communication in the country.

2)Propaganda of the National history - The history of the nation should be propagated

all over the country so that the people may clearly realize that the history of the

individual regions of the country is only a part of the history of the nation to which all the

regions have made an important contribution. The propagation of the national history will

help to eradicate the sense of regionalism.

3) Prevention of regional political parties - It is essential for national unity and

integration that the political parties propagating regionalism and regional interest should

be prevented from doing so. If they indulge in unrestricted campaigns for promoting

regional interests they should be declared illegal. Although in a democracy every

individual has the right to form a political organization in order to express his views yet if

it tends to liarm the interests of the nation this right should be curbed.

4)Propagation of the national sentiment - Finally, in order to remove the psychological

causes at the root of regionalism an effort should be made to propagate the sentiment of

nationalism in the country. It is necessary to resort to all the various media of propaganda

to obtain results in this direction. Efforts should be made to remove the regionalistic

tendencies from all spheres such as government services, educational institutions, etc. and

the sentiment of nationality should be encouraged.

Regionalism is a complex problem. If it is to be solved it must be attacked from all sides

and furthermore such a task requires co-operation from the government and the people.

Only then can this problem be solved.

CASTEISM

Caste ism is a social problem associated with the caste system. Just as the caste system is

exercising its influence in all the fields of social life casteism too has become all

pervasive.

What is Casteism? Meaning of Casteism

Casterism is understood as a partial or one-sided loyalty in favour of any particular caste.

It makes members of the caste to become conscious of their membership of the caste and

look at everything from the standpoint of the caste.

1. According to D.N. Prasad, " Casteism is loyalty to the caste translated into politics."

2. According to Kaka Kalelkar, "Casteism is an over-riding, blind and supreme

group loyalty that ignores the healthy social standards of justice, fairplay, equity

and universal brotherhood.

It is clear from the above that casterism is a blind group loyalty towards one's own caste

or sub-caste which does nor care for the interests of other castes and their members.

Cause of Casteism

Casteism which exercises a negative influence on the network of social relations is caused

by several factors of which the following may be noted.

1) Endogamous Nature of the Caste - Casteism is often the result of restrictions

imposed on the marriage that takes place in the Hindu society. Each caste and sub-caste is

endogomous in nature. It means that member of a caste or sub-caste has to marry within

his or her own caste or subcaste. Because of this rule of endogamy, marital relations are

confined to a small circle/section of the people. Individuals are more prone to develop

their loyalties and admirations to their own caste or sub-caste people. This practice of

endogamy makes the people to become somewhat narrow-minded.

2) Strong Desire to Enhance Caste Prestige - People belonging to a particular caste or

subcaste have the tendency of developing loyalty to their caste or sub-caste and to

become more conscious of its relative prestige in society. Every member thus tries his

level best to see that his caste prestige is safeguarded and enhanced. This type of loyalty

towards the caste makes the members of the caste to favour their own members of the

caste wherever they get the opportunity. Excessive caste loyalty tends to keep other caste

people at a distance.

3) Improvement in the Means of Transport and Communication Leading to a Better

Organization of Caste - Advancement that has taken place in the field of transport and

communications has helped the members of the caste to be in touch with one another

regularly. It has also helped them to strengthen their caste organization and conduct

activities on caste lines. Caste organization and caste-get-togethers are on the increase

now.

4) Urbanization Indirectly Favouring Casteism -Industrialization and urbanization

have been attracting people in a large number towards the cities. When the rural people

go to the cities they naturally search for their nearer and dearer ones on the basis of the

caste. They consider their own caste people as their potential

friends and well-wishers. Hence the-city atmosphere has also contributed to the

strengthening of caste feelings and caste-mindedness.

5) Powerful Hold of the Caste Over the Members - Caste is a strong cohesive group. It

has a powerful hold over is members. Members of the caste also look to the caste to

obtain the needed help and assistance in times of crises, difficulties and emergencies.

Dependence of the members on the caste in this way has further added to the problem of

casteism.

Consequences of Casteism

Though casteism has certain benefits to the members of the caste on the individual basis,

it has several harmful effects on the society as a whole. Some of the major harmful

consequences of caste ism can be noted here.

1) Hindrance to the Development of National Feeling - Members of the caste imbued

with the spirit of caste ism are more prone to show their loyalty to the caste rather than to

the community at large. Casteism divides people in the name of caste and encourages

intolerance, jealousy, rivalry and conflicts among members of the caste. Caste clashes

and tensions that arise in society for one reason or another wrecks the unity of society and

damages social harmony.

2) Dangerous to Democracy - Strictly speaking, caste and democracy cannot go together.

Caste is based on inequality, whereas democracy assures equality and equal opportunities

to one and all. Since democracy and caste system are co-existing in India clashes between

them are inevitable. Indian politics has become very much complicated because of the

caste interference. Caste plays its role in the processes of selection of candidates to the

election, electioneering, formation of cabinet distribution of portfolios, and so on. It

means at every stage in politics caste creates tensions, misunderstandings, infights,

rivalries, etc. It is in this way national interests are undermined and national unity is

underscored.

3) Encourages Moral Degeneration - Caste ism contributes to the moral fall. It

encourages nepotism. It makes one go out of the way to help and favour people of one's

own caste. People of the same caste also look to the caste leaders to favour them in all the

situations. This kind of favour damages the moral values and encourages corruption.

4) Casteism Leads to the Negligence of Talents and Efficiency - If candidates are

selected and appointments are made on the basis of caste, it definitely damages talents,

abilities and efficiencies of the people. When unwanted and inefficient people are

selected for high offices in the name of caste, honesty, efficiency and duty consciousness

become the first casualty.

5) Casteism may even Lead to Brain-Drain - It is has been observed that some of the

most efficient and talented persons have left India and gone abroad for the simple reason

that their merits and talents are not properly recognized. Casteism which comes in the

way of the recognition of merit and efficiency indirectly promotes brain-drain.

It is clear from the above that caste ism has dangerous effects on the society. Though

people know casteism is bad they have become the victims of that. Even those who

condemn it in public are practicing it privately. Prof. M.N. Srinivas has rightly said that

the caste "is so tacitly and so completely accepted by all including most vocal elements in

condemning it, that it is everywhere the unit of social action."

More than the common people, politicians seem to be contributing much to the survival

of casteism. "Political leaders belonging to different castes seem to secure political and

other advantages for themselves

at the expense of others, and to this end they utilize the caste sillltiment. Caste

consciousness and caste prejudices which exist among the masses are thus turned by

politicians into caste passions.

One of the seasoned politicians of India by name Namboodiripad himself has stated "The

existence of caste consciousness creates prejudices, discontent on the basis of caste

inequalities-all these are impediments in the way of the development of the country as a

whole, and therefore, of the development of "lower" and "backward" castes themselves.

Caste separatism, therefore hinders rather than helps the advancement of the "lower"

castes themselves."

Solutions of the Problem of Casteism

Casteism is no doubt a social evil that has to be counteracted and removed. Some have

even gone to the extent of telling that even caste system is to be wiped out. But removal

of caste and casteism is not an easy thing. Caste has very strong roots in our social set up

and hence it cannot be uprooted from our society. It is the need of the hour that the ugly

face of the caste, that is casteism, is to be wiped out. We can suggest some solutions in

this regard to counteract the problem of casteism.

1) Education - Education seems to be the most ideal solution to the problem of casteism.

People must be properly educated about the dangers of practicing casteism. Parents,

teachers, elderly people, political leaders should take precautions against contaminating

the young minds with casteism.

2) Encouragement to Intercaste Marriages - Marital relations represent the most

intimate relations between men and women. Encouragement and promotion of intercaste

marriages will help young men and women of different castes to coma closer and to

develop healthy relations among them.

3) Minimum use of the term "Caste" - Necessary precautions must be taken to see that

the word "caste" is used only in limited context. The young generations must be

encouraged to give the least importance to it. This is possible only when we make lesser

and lesser use of the term "caste."

4) Promotion of Economic Equality - Wide economic gap is found between the upper

caste people and the lower caste people. This economic gap widens the social distance

and contributes to the development of caste prejudices. Hence, efforts must be made to

provide equal economic opportunities for the lower caste people to attain economic

prosperity.

SOCIAL MOVEMENT

The social behaviour is one of the major forms of collective behaviour. A social

movement is informally defined as "a collective acting with some continuity to promote

or resist change in the society or group of which it is a part.

Turner & Killins state "Less formally, a social movement is a collective effort to promote

or resist change in the society or group of which it is a part."

The term" social movement" is being used to denote a wide variety of collective attempts

to bring about a change in certain social institutions or to create an entirely new order.

Social movements are an essential part of societies. While in some societies they are

more pronounced and apparent, in others they are latent. The study of social movements

is primarily a study of the social or cultural change on a social movement which is an

organized attempt on the part of a section of society to bring about either partial or total

change in society through collective mobilization based on ideology.

The term "Social Movement" is being used to denote a wide variety of collective attempts

to bring about a change in certain social institutions or to create on entirely new order.

Sometimes the term is used in distinction from religions or political movements and from

movements among particular groups e.g. the women's movement or youth's movement.

As all of these movements occur in society and tend to affect the social order it would be

permissible to apply the term social movement to all of them.

The main featur es of social movement

1)Group consciousness and a sense of belonging is essential for a social

movement. This consciousness is generated through active participation.

2) The classic concept of social movement implies the creation of an entirely new social

economic and political order, especially as it concerns the institutions of property and the

distribution of power.

3) All major social movements undoubtedly develop more or less consistent set of

ideas which its members must accept.

4) Social movement tends to spread beyond the boundaries of states or national societies.

5)A social movement undoubtedly involves collective action as distinct from individual

action. However only when the collective action is somewhat sustained as distinct from

sporadic occurrence, does it take the form of movement. This collective action however,

need not be formally organized but should be able to create an interest and awakening in

a sufficiently large number of people. Hence a social movement essentially involves

sustained collective mobilization through organization, either informal or formal.

6)A social movement is generally oriented towards bringing about change, either partial

or total in the existing system of relationships, values and norms, although there are

efforts which are oriented towards resisting change and maintaining the status quo. The

latter are more in the nature of counter attempts which are defensive and restorative. They

are organized efforts of an already established and reutilized order to maintain itself.

Emergence of social movement - If all members in a society feel satisfied about every

thing there is no possibility of a movement emerging. That is, emergence of a movement

is indicative of the dissatisfaction people have about an unintegrated or ill-integrated

society. Deprivation in itself may not lead to the emergence of movements. Only when

people believe that these deprivations are man made which can be effectively tackled

through collective actions would social movements emerge.

According to Herbert Blumer (1951)- Social movement involves after-stages in its formation.

1) The preliminary stage- This stage can also be called "the unrest stage". In this stage

we find some confusion or discontentment among people. Hence they are restless. In fact

as N.J. Smelser has pointed out, "All social movements begin with some feeling of

discontent with the existing social order. Discontent is always a product of a relationship

between objective conditions and ideas about those conditions."

2) Popular stage - In the popular stage the movement begins to rally around a figure or a

leader who promises to alleviate the sufferings of the people. This leader may be a

diplomatic leader with some extra ordinary qualities who is capable of giving a leadership

to the movement. He may speak of reform, revolution, resistance or express himself in

such a way that the followers are made to feel that he will do some thing or the other to

find solution to their problem. If the message of the leader is appropriate and very much

appealing people would definitely rally around him.

3) The formation stage - (The stage of formal organization) This is the stage in which

programmes are developed alliances are forged and organizations and tactics are

developed. In this stage, a party, organization or group of individuals may put toward an

alternative vision, world view or ideology, to undersign, analyse and solve a prevailing

crisis. Once the ideology gains acceptance among people, efforts must be made to

translate it into a programme which calls for collective action. This leads to the birth of

the movement.

4) The stage of institutionalization of the movement - If the movement becomes

successful, then it destroys itself in its last stage of development when it becomes an

institution. "At this point it is no longer collective behaviour, because it is organized,

follows accepted norms of society and has replaced its emotional base with the

assumption that change will take time." (Wallace and Wallace). When once, it assumes

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this stage of the institution it begins to bring down the wrath of the people and assures

them that things would become normal in the course of time and the active life of the

movement may come to an end.

In the stage of institutionalization as Horton and Hunt have pointed out the movement

almost becomes rationalized. They have said that in an institutionalization stage "as

organization take over from early leaders, bureaucracy is entertained and ideology and

programme become crystallized after ending the action life of the movement."

5) The Dissolution stage - Horton and Hunt have spopen of the last stage of social

movement, "the dissolution stage". When the movement becomes an enduring

organization (like the Indian National Congress or the YM.C.A.) it fades away, possibily

to be received sometimes later, it can be said to have enclosed this last stage of

dissolution.

Types of Social movements in India

Religious movement in India can be broadly divided into three in term of their response

to and consequences for Hinduism.

(1) Movement which started essentially as protests against Hinduism and came to be

established as independent religions such as Jainism and Buddhism (2) Bhakti

movements which attempted to purify Hinduism of it "evils" and fought against the

tyranny of caste system but subsequently emerged as sects such as Veerasaivism, Arya

Samaj etc. and got absorbed into the rubric of Hinduism. (3) Movements oriented to

opting out of the Hindu fold through conversion to other religions.

The emergence of Jainism and Buddhism in 6th Century B.C. challenging the authority

of Brahaminism is

reckoned as the first major religious protest movement in India. Jainism denied the

authority of the Vedas and revolted against Vedic sacrifices. Buddhism while accepting

the essential teaching of the Upanishads joined hands with Jainism in denouncing Vedic

sacrifices and Brahaminism and nonvedic Jainism, in

propagating religious ideas. Both Jainism and Buddhism followed the same path,

orienting it to the cause of the common people, asserting the common spiritual right of all

men, acknowledging comparison and love for all life, preaching in the language of the

common people and rejecting the authority of the arrogant 'Brahamin.

The second major religious protest movements, vaishanavism and Shaivism, sought to

abolish the intermediary between men and God, the Brahamins. The movements initiated

by Kabir and Chaitanya represent this trend. Although sectarian movements started as

protest movements against idol worship, untouchability etc. they also succumbed finally

to the same evils decried by them. These movements underwent a process of

institutionalization leading to the emergence of a codified ideology, hierarchical

organization and religious bureaucracy.

Caste Movements - Protests against Brahaminical supremacy and the tendency to opt out

of the mainstream of Hinduism either through the formation of new religions and sects or

through conversion to other religions were known in India since early times. However, by

the turn of the 19th century, a qualitatively different type of movement, the backward

classes movement emerged in different parts of India among the various depressed caste

groups.

The critical difference between the current caste movements and the erstwhile religious

movements is that while the latter attacked or opposed Hinduism and wanted its

adherents to opt out of the Hindu fold, the former beckons its followers to adapt to

Hinduism and seek solutions to their problems within its frame- work, without rejecting

their religion. We can differentiate between three types of caste movements based on

their good orientation. They may be designated as (a) status mobility movement (b) caste

unity movements (c) caste welfare movements. However, a particular movement may

69

shift its goal over a period of time either because the critical goal is achieved or because

it has become redundant or because the goal can not be achieved.

The central tendency in social behaviour in India has been that the caste Hindus take to

certain innovative behaviour and others follow "Suit. But it seems for once the backward

castes have offered a model of collective action to the forward castes, informing the

caste association which formed the core of their

mobilizational activities. But the problems of the forward castes were different and most

of the associations formed by them were oriented towards social reforms-opposing child

marriage, approving widow remarriage, encouraging women's education, promoting

occupational diversification and modern education, breaking the social barriers between

numbers, Jatis etc. That is, caste unity or consolidation for political or social purposes

was the objective of the associations formed by upper castes. Several social scientists

have called attention to these movements of Jusion of sub castes, several of the upper

caste movements ended up by establishing a series of voluntary associations for the

welfare of their clients or got limited into caste federations which provided them a

platform for political consolidation or acted as bridges between tradition and moderating.

It seems that most of these caste associations could provide their clientele with

instrumental payoff but emotional unity has scarcely been achieved through them. The

introduction of the policy of protective discrimination, the welfare of scheduled castes

which recognized ritual inferiority as the criteria for entering economic and political

benefits to them, changes the character and the strategy of mobilization. Instead of census

appeals and sanskritization they are getting organized politically (a) for getting enlisted as

scheduled caste/backward classes (b) to wrest as much benefits from the state as possible

(c) to insist that the constitutional guarantees are extended for a longer time period and

implemented faithfully. The upper caste response to these movements is not always

favourable and occasionally hostile as revealed by anti-reservation mobilizations in same

states.

Tribal Movement - Tribal movements in India have two main geographical and political

anchorages, movements among the encysted tribes of central and eastern India have been

making oriented to their betterment within the Indian union and movements among some

of the tribes of Northern Eastern frontier have shown secessionist tendencies. The tribal

movement among the encysted tribes may be broadly divided into two types. Those

which emphasize the socio-religious aspects and those which turn on the political,

political-separatist orientation. The studies on said religions movements suggest that local

tribal leader-initiative movements for revitalization, reform or status mobility and a

number of factors are in operation for their success or failure. Jharkhand movement is the

arch type of the political-separatist movement among the encysted interests in

Dihotangpur region and others.

The main elements of the distinctiveness of the region and the people are:- (1) The

historical/physical isolation of the people till the British conquest, the official colonial

policy of non-interference with the society and culture of the people, the ambivalent

policy pursued by the Government of India in perpetuating a sense of isolation and

autonomy among the people along with the policy of drawing them into the mainstream

of national life (2) the location of the region on the international frontiers Burma, former

Pakistan and present Bangladesh. China which facilitates the acquisition of foreign arms

and ammunition, helps in military training programme, extending protection to insurgents

by permitting and encouraging the crossing over the national boundaries etc. (3) The

nature of the physical terrain which facilitates guerrilla warfare (4) the ethnic difference

between the people of North East and the plains (5) the difference in religion between the

people of the region and the rest of India.

Agrarian Movement - Although India is predominantly an agrarian country it has been

argued by some (e.g. Barrington Moore) that the tradition of peasant movement is weak

in India. The man reasons listed for this are (1) the caste system (which hinders

mobilization of class categories) and (2) the pacifying influence of nationalist leadership

particularly Gandhiji, on peasantry; as against this Kathleen Gough argues that India has

had a long tradition of peasant movement. Moore seems to focus on the different

dimensions of movements. The main focus on the question of who are the participants

and taking peasants as an occupational/class category, he excludes those movements in

which the mobilization of participants is attached invoking their identities based on

religion, caste, region etc. Inevitably he finds that the number of peasant movements in

India has been too few considering her vast rural population. In contrast, Gough asks the

question, why do people participate in movements? Having found that most mobilizations

were against exactions of landlords, bureaucrats, merchants, moneylenders, the police

and the military. She concludes

that these are "peasant" movements, although their mobilizations were initiated by

c1arislimatic heroes and rebellious prophets involing the participants, regions, caste and

similar sentiments, symbols and idioms. Admittedly, Gough finds ample evidence to

conclude that India has had a long tradition of peasant rebellions. Two authors arrive at

diametrically opposed conclusions.

It is important to recognize that three identities are basic to all movement participants.

Primordial/ ascriptive, a class/occupational and political/ideological. The frequent

tendency on the part of analysis to ignore this multiple identity of participants (as Moore

seems to do)and emphasize only one or another of these, has cluttered our understanding

of the real character of social movements. Secondly, it is not that the goal orientations of

movements are always unlinear as Gough seems to imply, after it is multi pronged. To

emphasize just one of these goals to the neglect of all others is to do violence to the

nature of social reality.

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