Reflections – A Village in a Million (December 2010 issue of The Economist)

  1. Overview
  1. Sarju
  1. Disposes of dead buffalos, cattle, and goats

a)Cures the skins and sells them to local traders

b)Working leather has been a ______profession for centuries

1)______has ordained it

  1. The family is of the chamar or tanning caste

a)Deemed an ______profession

1)This discrimination, suffered by ______in five Hindus, was ______shortly after independence in 1947

  1. But still ______in the countryside
  1. Sarju’s Wife

a)Is a midwife – considered another ______occupation

1)Because of contact with the ______

  1. The Village
  1. Arranged around ______
  2. People rarely ______across caste lines
  3. And they never ______
  4. The village ______as the former untouchables are called are often abused
  5. The chamars get the worst of it

a)But they are not the village’s ______people

  1. The worst dalit-bashers are said to be the patels

a)Typical bullies of a ______-caste peasant order

1)Just a rung or two ______up the caste ladder

2)______guardians of their perceived superiority

  1. Dalit Women

a)For a few ______or a handful of rice, men are said to demand and get sex with dalit women

  1. Thinkers and Activists
  1. B.R. Ambedkar

a)Architect of country’s ______and a dalit

b)“What is the village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism?”

  1. Mohandas K. Gandhi

a)Considered ______as the ideal social unit

b)Two-thirds of ______reside in countryside

c)But ______yields are stagnant and landholdings shrinking

  1. But in Shahabpur
  1. Village has rich alluvial soil, a gift of the ______
  2. Still agricultural ______is stunted
  1. But Changes
  1. Many village men currently pursue their traditional caste occupation but do not expect their ______to follow them

a)Either because they want ______for their children or because their hereditary skills are redundant

  1. Part of the Problem
  1. Fecundity of soil has led to ______
  1. Dalit Groups
  1. Dhobis of the Hindu ______caste
  2. The pasi community even more set apart

a)Swineherds

1)Unlike higher-order Hindus, they are ______-______

2)Brew ______from flowers

3)Reputation for ______

  1. Muslims in Village
  1. Known locally as ______
  2. Islam rejects ______divisions

a)But have their own ______

b)Qureshis, who claim origin in ______, are the clear winners

c)But also poorer Muslims who are said to be descended from lower-caste ______

d)These groups never ______

  1. Hindu-Muslim Relations

a)Are good

b)Even at a sensitive moment

1)A legal ruling was ______

2)Over a long-standing Hindu-Muslim ______

3)Concerned ownership of a medieval mosque-site in Ayodhya

  1. Had prompted Hindu-Muslim ______in 1992
  2. 2,000 ______

c)But Hindu-Muslim violence is largely an ______phenomenon

  1. The Government

a)Hopelessly ______

b)Politics is ______-______

c)The Bahujan Samaj Party is led by a ______woman

d)Poor performance of the ______Party (Nehru’s Party)

  1. The Changing Economy
  1. The Withering of ______skills
  2. Metal workers of the johar caste are increasingly switching to carpentry due to ______- tooled implements
  1. There is no typical Indian village
  1. India is too ______
  2. Its culture and ecology is too ______
  3. But millions of ______are leaving to find work in the cities
  4. And with sustained economic growth in the service sector, massive ______will continue to occur

Conclusions:

Primary Source: Writings of B.R. Ambedkar

“Under the rule of the Peshwas in the Maratha country, the untouchable was not allowed to use the public streets if a Hindu was coming along, lest he should pollute the Hindu by his shadow. The untouchable was required to have a black thread either on his wrist or around his neck, as a sign or a mark to prevent the Hindus from getting themselves polluted by his touch by mistake. In Poona, the capital of the Peshwa, the untouchable was required to carry, strung from his waist, a broom to sweep away from behind himself the dust he trod on, lest a Hindu walking on the same dust should be polluted. In Poona, the untouchable was required to carry an earthen pot hung around his neck wherever he went—for holding his spit, lest his spit falling on the earth should pollute a Hindu who might unknowingly happen to tread on it.”

List significant facts:

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“…Times of India reported that high-caste Hindus…of the villages of Kanaria, Bicholi-Hafsi, Bicholi-Mardana, and about 15 other villages in the Indore district (of the Indore State)—informed the Balais (an untouchable community) of their respective villages that if they wished to live among them, they must conform to the following rules:

  1. Balais must not wear gold-lace-bordered pugrees (turbans).
  2. They must not wear dhotis (a wrapped lower garment worn by men) with coloured or fancy borders.
  3. They must convey intimation [=information] of the death of any Hindu to relatives of the deceased—no matter how far away these relatives may be living.
  4. In all Hindu marriages, Balais must play music before the processions and during the marriage.
  5. Balai women must not wear gold or silver ornaments; they must not wear fancy gowns or jackets.
  6. Balai women must attend all cases of confinement [=childbirth] of Hindu women.
  7. Balais must render services without demanding remuneration, and must accept whatever a Hindu is pleased to give.
  8. If the Balais do not agree to abide by these terms, they must clear out of the villages.”

List significant facts:

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Additional Questions to Consider:

  1. Compare and contrast Hinduism and Buddhism.
  1. Explain the Hindu caste system (Origins and Impact)
  1. Discuss the challenges of creating India’s democracy.
  1. How does religiously justified inequality impact India’s democracy? How can a democratic nation address this issue?