Which of the following statements about the concept of the 'dominant caste' are correct?

A. The term refers to castes with a large population that benefited from land reforms after Independence.
B. Dominant castes acquired both economic and political power after obtaining land rights.
C. Dominant castes mainly consisted of absentee landlords belonging to the upper castes.

Only A and B

The correct answer is Option 1: Only A and B.

Statement A: The term refers to castes with a large population that benefited from land reforms after Independence. Correct. Dominant castes were those with a large population that gained land rights through partial land reforms after Independence.

Statement B: Dominant castes acquired both economic and political power after obtaining land rights. Correct. Ownership of land gave them economic strength, while their large population gave them political influence in the era of universal adult franchise.

Statement C: Dominant castes mainly consisted of absentee landlords belonging to the upper castes. Incorrect. Absentee landlords from the upper castes lost their land rights after the reforms. Dominant castes emerged mainly from the intermediate castes.

NCERT: "‘Dominant caste’ is a term used to refer to those castes which had a large population and were granted landrights by the partial land reforms effected after Independence. The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were ‘absentee landlords’ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming their rent. They frequently did not live in the village either, but were based in towns and cities. These land rights now came to be vested in the next layer of claimants, those who were involved in the management of agriculture but were not themselves the cultivators. These intermediate castes in turn depended on the labour of the lower castes including specially the ‘untouchable’ castes for tilling and tending the land. However, once they got land rights, they acquired considerable economic power. Their large numbers also gave them political power in the era of electoral democracy based on universal adult franchise. Thus, these intermediate castes became the ‘dominant’ castes in the country side and played a decisive role in regional politics and the agrarian economy. Examples of such dominant castes include the Yadavs of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Vokkaligas of Karnataka, the Reddys and Khammas of Andhra Pradesh, the Marathas of Maharashtra, the Jats of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and the Patidars of Gujarat. "