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Unlike other parts of the world, mobility is sometimes possible within sub-castes, but not across caste lines. Farmers and artisans have been, claims Richter, distinct castes. Certain sub-castes are shunned more than others. For example, exogamy is rare for women born into families of woodcarvers. [78]
The Indian government officially recognises historically discriminated communities of India such as the untouchables under the designation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and certain economically backward Shudra castes as Other Backward Class. [259] The Scheduled Castes are sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature.
Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the caste system is largely unique to South Asia. [1] [2] [3] The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities in the Indian subcontinent who were considered "polluting".
The British institutionalised caste into the workings of the major government institutions within India. The main benefactors of this indirect rule were the upper castes or forward castes, which maintained their hegemony and monopoly of control and influence over government institutes long after independence from the British.
The first list of castes and tribes was created through two orders: The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, containing 821 castes and 296 tribes (overlapping nature), respectively, derived from colonial lists.
In India, anthropologists now more often speak of 'sub-castes' or Jatis, as the building blocks of society [rather than castes]. However, unless there is a strong element of political control or territoriality associated with such groups these too tend to disintegrate upon closer inspection as soon as essentially exogamous practices such as ...
The plan was meant to prevent the government from diverting funds meant for SCs and STs to other programs, which was historically the case. As of 2013, no equivalent national plan existed. [211] Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan funds are often diverted by state governments to other purposes. [212]
William Crooke's Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh (1896) [25] In 20th-century British India, several works included Muslim social groups in their descriptions of Indian castes. These included H. A. Rose's A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (1911). [26]