Problematizing Exclusion: Issues of Theory and Policy.

Professor D L Sheth
National Fellow, IIAS

The political discourse on exclusion and the making of social policies in India are understandably, and rightly, centered around the issue of caste. But the perspective on caste that has so far shaped the terms of discourse as well as policies is increasingly proving to be of limited use, and in some respects counter productive, for grappling the issue of social exclusion in today’s India. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the established perspective on caste and, in the process, attempt to reformulate some propositions on caste in terms that can facilitate a more direct and precise understanding of the contemporary structures of social exclusion and inclusion in India.

In this context, I wish to flag two theoretically important, although common sensically obvious, points-which have prompted me to undertake this exercise of critiquing the established theory of caste. First, while many forms of exclusion are structurally integral to caste there also are, and have always been there, those unrelated to the hierarchical caste, as well as the ones representing the combination of the caste and non-caste elements. Second in making a social policy for combating exclusion it is crucial to take account of the historically changed political – cultural context of social exclusion, i.e modernity, nation – state, democracy and now glopbalization. Equally important for problematizing exclusion is to recognize the profound ideological and structural changes that have occurred in India’s stranficatory system such that it no longer could be described purely in terms of caste. My contention is that the predominance of the established ritual–hierarchical theory of caste has prevented policies from taking cognizance of new forms of exclusion even as the theory continues to obfuscate the terms of discourse on older forms of exclusion, such as untouchability and social and economic subjugation of sections of the savarna (non-dvija) communities.