What is meant by a 'dominant caste'?

Middle castes with large populations that benefited from partial land reforms after Independence and emerged as strong social and political forces in their regions.

The correct answer is Option 1: Middle castes with large populations that benefited from partial land reforms after Independence and emerged as strong social and political forces in their regions.

The concept of the dominant caste refers to castes that gained social, economic and political influence because of their large numerical strength, ownership of land and benefits from partial land reforms after Independence. Their dominance is based on regional power and influence rather than merely ritual status.

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.