Which of the following is NOT an example of 'Dominant Caste'?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → Brahmans of Karnataka

Option (4) Brahmans of Karnataka — Not a dominant caste (Correct). The dominant castes are the intermediate castes that had a large population and were granted land rights by the land reforms after Independence; land and numbers gave them economic and political power in the countryside. The land reforms took rights away from the upper castes who were absentee landlords, and in most areas the Brahmins are not major landowners. The dominant caste named for Karnataka is the Vokkaligas, not the Brahmans.

NCERT (2025-26): “Caste in the Present … ‘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.”

“Social Change and Development in India — Chapter 4, 4.1 Agrarian Structure: Caste and Class in Rural India: … In rural areas, there is a complex relationship between caste and class. This relationship is not always straightforward. We might expect that the higher castes have more land and higher incomes. And that there is a correspondence between caste and class as one moves down the hierarchy. In many areas this is broadly true but not exactly. For instance, in most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society.…”