Caste Classification of India
Dr Rajeev Ranjan Shrivastava
Department of Geography
St Xavier’s College,Ranchi
• India’s present caste system owes its origin to the Chaur Varna which
divided the population in to four classes
[Link],Kshatriyas,Vaishyas and Sudras.
• Today India has more than 3000 [Link] the sake of convenience
the caste of the country can be divided in to three groups:
(i) High Caste:Brahmins,Kshatriyas and Vaishyas:Which includes
Saryupanies of Awadh,Namboodris of Kerala,Chitpowans of
Maharashtra,Chattopadhyayas of WB,Iyengars of TN
(ii) Middle Caste(Cultivating Castes):Jats of Punjab and
Haryana,Bhumihars of Bihar,Reddys of Andhra Pradesh,Vellalas of
Karnataka.
(iii) Low Caste(Harijans or Scheduled Caste):Chamars of UP,Balais of
WB,Megh of Gujarat,Mahars of Maharashtra,Malls of
AP,Adi-Dravidians of Tamil Nadu.
• Brahmanas:Brahmanas are at the top in the verna [Link]
constitute a prominent land owning and money lending [Link]
services of Brahmins is constantly in demand by other caste for major
ritual functions such as births,marraiges,deaths [Link] and larhe
Brahmins are better educated than other caste groups.
• Kshatriyas:Next to Brahmanas the Kshatriyas in verna [Link]
are traditionally warriors and play a major role in [Link] are
several examples of Rajput Villages(Rajasthan),Jat
Villages(Haryana,UP),Thakur Villages(Himalayan Region) and Nair
Villages(Kerala).
• Vaishyas:It falls within Kshatriyas but fall within the ambit of high
[Link] are basically engaged in farming and retail trade.
• Shudras:They belong to lowermost class in varna [Link] are
basically engaged in farming,cultivation,carpentry,metal work,basket
weaving etc and they are debarred from several ritual works.
• Scheduled Caste: At the bottom of the caste system they are basically
called excluded or exterior caste and officially known as scheduled
castes.
• To the upper caste they are [Link] practice of
untouchability starts with their original unclean occupations and
physical contact with upper castes was [Link] are forced to
live in segregation particularly in rural [Link] Caste is a
heterogeneous group consisting of 542 [Link] of them are
poor,live in rural areas and are engaged in agriculture.
• Distribution pattern of Scheduled Caste: Uttar Pradesh has the
largest number of 41.35 million Scheduled Caste as per 2011
[Link] was followed by West Bengal 21.46 [Link] two
states accounts for 1/3 of the Scheduled Caste population of the
Country.
• Other States with large size of Schduled Caste Population are
Bihar(16.5 million),Tamil Nadu (14.4 million),Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana(13.8 million),Maharashtra(13.2 million),Rajasthan(12.2
million),MP(11.3 million),Karnataka(10.4 million),Punjab(8.8
million),Odhisa(7.2 million).
• States with low concentration of Scheduled Caste population are
Sikkim,Manipur,Meghalaya,Goa etc.
• No Scheduled Castes have been reported in the states of Arunachal
Pradesh,Nagaland and Union Territories of Lakshadweep and
Andaman Nicobar Islands.
• It is clear that higher concentration of Scheduled Caste is found in the
alluvial plains of North India because they find ready employment as
agricultural [Link] are also found in large no on the delta
plains of South India.
• In terms of the percentage of Scheduled Caste population to the total
population Punjab with 31.94% tops the
[Link](25.19%),WB(23.51%),UP(20.69%)
• Between 15-20% group in descending order
Uttarakhand,Chandigarh,Rajasthan,Tripura,Karnataka,Odhisa,Delhi,A
ndhra Pradesh,TN,MP etc
• Between 10-15% Kerala,J and K Gujarat,Assam,Sikkim
• Between 5-10% Daman and Diu,Manipur,Dadra and Nagar
Haveli,Goa.
• No Caste have been Scheduled Caste in Arunachal
Pradesh,Nagaland,Lakshadweep and Andman Nicobar Islands.
• Keeping in mind the concentration of Scheduled Caste Population
there are two Zones of high concentration :
• The Indo Gangetic Plains:This region is composed of rich alluvial
soils,water supply,suitable climate and weather conditions provide
opportunities for agricultural labourers to settle in the alluvial
[Link],the Indo-Gangetic plains are the zones of high
concentration of Scheduled castes who are primarily agricultural
labourers.
• The East Coastal Plains: The East Coastal plains provide identical
opportunities for the settlement of agricultural communities as they
are available in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of the [Link]
Scheduled Castes are found concentrated on eastern Coasts
particularly in the Coastal Plains of TN,Andhra Pradesh,Odisha etc.