Read the passage and answer the following questions.
'Dominant caste' is a term used to refer to those castes which had a large population and were granted land rights by the partial land reforms effected after independence.
Examples of such dominant caste include 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 Patidars of Gujrat.
One of the most significant yet paradoxical changes in the caste system in the contemporary period is that it has tended to become 'invisible' for the upper caste, urban middle and upper classes. For these groups, who have benefitted the most from the developmental policies of the post colonial era, caste has appeared to decline in significance precisely because has done its job so well. Their caste status had been crucial in ensuring that these groups had the......
Which among these is not a part of the benefits given to upper castes:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Reservation
Option (1) Subsidised public education — A benefit they received (Incorrect). The upper caste elite were able to benefit from subsidised public education, since their caste status had already given them the resources to use it.
Option (2) Professional education — A benefit they received (Incorrect). Their gains were specially in professional education in science, technology, medicine and management.
Option (3) Reservation — Not a benefit given to them (Correct). Reservation and other forms of protective discrimination are policies for the scheduled castes and tribes and the backward castes, who have no inherited educational and social capital. They serve as lifelines for those groups, not for the upper castes.
Option (4) Management education — A benefit they received (Incorrect). Management is one of the professional courses named along with science, technology and medicine.
NCERT (2025-26): “Caste in the Present … One of the most significant yet paradoxical changes in the caste system in the contemporary period is that it has tended to become ‘invisible’ for the upper caste, urban middle and upper classes. For these groups, who have benefited the most from the developmental policies of the post-colonial era, caste has appeared to decline in significance precisely because it has done its job so well. Their caste status had been crucial in ensuring that these groups had the necessary economic and educational resources to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by rapid development. In particular, the upper caste elite were able to benefit from subsidised public education, specially professional education in science, technology, medicine and management. At the same time, they were also able to take advantage of the expansion of public sector jobs in the early decades after independence. In this initial period, their lead over the rest of society (in terms of education) ensured that they did not face any serious competition. As their privileged status got consolidated in the second and third generations, these groups began to believe that their advancement had little to do with caste. Certainly for the third generations from these groups their economic and educational capital alone is quite sufficient to ensure that they will continue to get the best in terms of life chances. For this group, it now seems that caste plays no part in their public lives, being limited to the personal sphere of religious practice or marriage and kinship. However, a further complication is introduced by the fact that this is a differentiated group. Although the privileged as a group are overwhelmingly upper caste, not all upper caste people are privileged, some being poor.…” “…For the scheduled castes and tribes and the backward castes – the opposite has happened. For them, caste has become all too visible, indeed their caste has tended to eclipse the other dimensions of their identities. Because they have no inherited educational and social capital, and because they must compete with an already entrenched upper caste group, they cannot afford to abandon their caste identity for it is one of the few collective assets they have. Moreover, they continue to suffer from discrimination of various kinds. The policies of reservation and other forms of protective discrimination instituted by the state in response to political pressure serve as their lifelines.…” |