Politics of Exclusion: The Case of Scheduled Castes in the Panchayats of Karnataka

Abstract

People belonging to the Scheduled Castes have had a long history of being discriminated against, exploited and placed at the bottom of caste society. After the enactment of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, measures such as quota within ordinary seats in the Panchayats as well as among the office-bearers have been introduced to overcome indignities endured through history by members of the Scheduled Castes. Notwithstanding these reservations, there is still strong resistance among those of higher castes (just above that of the Scheduled Castes in many cases), who have not been enthusiastic about reservations of the post of Panchayat president for Scheduled Caste people. What needs to be seen is whether the people of Scheduled Castes are able to participate, or whether they have been prevented from doing so, by the castes that are higher to them, as well as those that are dominant in the area of the Grama Panchayats. This article discusses certain issues that are related to the participation of Scheduled Castes in the Panchayats of Karnataka.

Marginalized Women in Grama Panchayat Governance (An Empirical Study on Elected Women Representatives in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh)

“…Panchayat are somewhat lacking legitimacy because it excluded some groups from participating in the functioning of the panchayats. (N. Sivanna, 2014) (6) In a highly ranked society, women belonging to the lower castes have lesser access to public sphere, which is compounded by their gender. This omission makes it difficult for these women to represent and coherent the voices of their constituencies and their demands are often ignored or subsumed by the dominant sections of the society.…”

“…6 andFigure 1indicate the respondent's information relating to annual income. It clearly shows that an overwhelming majority 80.55 percentages of women leaders are under below poverty line and covered income group of Rs 20001 to 50000.…”

Cultures of Caste and Rural Development in the Social Network of a South Indian Village

“…Although caste domination may have weakened in some villages, Dalits and other lower castes may continue to be excluded from participating in actual GP-led governance, except in villages where they are numerically dominant (Ananth Pur & Moore, 2010). And in villages where the president of the council is stipulated to be a Dalit (woman), upper castes either attempt to get a “pliable” Dalit elected as the president or they may militate against her authority, often restricting her governance powers to token signatures on official documents (Sivanna, 2014). Even in Kerala which is hailed worldwide as a model of inclusive development, and where it was claimed that caste hierarchies had been overcome as a result of land reforms and other progressive policies of the ruling communist party since the 1960s, caste’s culture of inequality continues to hold sway in many villages and material deprivation is rife among the lower castes (Devika, 2013), as is their exclusion from processes of local governance beyond passive attendance when invited (Williams, Thampi, Narayana, Nandigama, & Bhattacharyya, 2012).…”