Members Of Castes Research Articles

Genomic analyses of the southern and eastern yellowjacket wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) reveal evolutionary signatures of social life

Abstract Insects have evolved remarkably complex social systems. Social wasps are particularly noteworthy because they display gradations in social behaviors. Here, we sequence the genomes of two highly diverged Vespula wasps, V. squamosa and V. maculifrons Buysson (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), to gain greater insight into the evolution of sociality. Both V. squamosa and V. maculifrons are social wasps that live in large colonies characterized by distinct queen and worker castes. However, V. squamosa is a facultative social parasite, and V. maculifrons is its frequent host. We found that the genomes of both species were ~200 Mbp in size, similar to the genome sizes of congeneric species. Analyses of gene expression from members of different castes and developmental stages revealed similarities in expression patterns among immature life stages. We also found evidence of DNA methylation within the genome of both species by directly analyzing DNA sequence reads. Moreover, genes that were highly and uniformly expressed were also relatively highly methylated. We further uncovered evidence of differences in patterns of molecular evolution in the two taxa, consistent with V. squamosa exhibiting alterations in evolutionary pressures associated with its facultatively parasitic or polygyne life history. Finally, rates of gene evolution were correlated with variation in gene expression between castes and developmental stages, as expected if more highly expressed genes were subject to stronger levels of selection. Overall, this study expands our understanding of how social behavior relates to genome evolution in insects.

Health Beliefs and Practices Among Subaltern Women: An Ethnographic Account From Rural Telangana, India

Apart from biological factors, social determinants play a major role in shaping health beliefs and paving the way for various behaviours. Subaltern women, being the lowest strata of the caste hierarchy, have additional barriers to accessing modern healthcare and may be more likely to experience poor health outcomes due to a combination of social, economic and cultural factors. Structural violence represents a dynamic process that impedes an individual’s social, economic and biological potential, affecting both socially excluded, economically disadvantaged and historically marginalized subaltern communities. Social justice significantly influences individuals’ life prospects and health outcomes, with health disparities stemming from social disadvantage and inequality. Addressing disparities in health, the Health Gap underscores the importance of acknowledging the role of social determinants of health. Health equity entails enhancing the well-being of marginalized social groups and tackling the broader social determinants of health. The current qualitative study was conducted in three villages in the Nalgonda district of Telangana, India. In addition to focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews, the ethnography method was employed to capture subaltern women’s health beliefs and practices regarding food habits, puberty, menstruation, sexuality and sexual life, childbearing and childbirth, breastfeeding and the role of primary healthcare centres in promoting healthcare. Subaltern women experience double discrimination as members of a lower caste and a weaker gender, and access to healthcare, like other fundamental human rights, is a recurring issue. Many of them are impoverished and unable to afford contemporary medical care, forcing them to rely on the more cost-effective traditional model of healthcare. Despite being forbidden from accomplishing many things owing to a range of societal and age-old customary sanctions, modernization and state-owned institutional mechanisms are bringing about a good shift towards better health.

The ‘wall’: reflections on youth aspiration, education and social mobility in India

ABSTRACT The paper examines whether India’s rapid economic growth and improving access to education has enabled young people to realise their aspirations and achieve social mobility. It critically evaluates the findings of various comparative studies on youth social mobility in India and elsewhere to understand the ‘wall’ or the barriers on movement into the upper levels of the labour market. It particularly notes the role of caste in reproducing class inequalities and enabling the hoarding of opportunity among the very few at the top in the urban economy. Upper caste membership enables educational, social and cultural capital that is used to claim merit and the castlessness of those that enjoy such caste privilege. It concludes by reflecting on how youth would respond to the ‘wall’, reflected in the limited nature of social mobility, and the possible ways in which they would cope with these challenges.

Labor Pains: Work-Related Barriers to Access to Health Care for People Living with HIV in Hyderabad, India.

To explore themes regarding work-related barriers to access to health care, we conducted 32 interviews, 16 with third gender people and 16 with cisgender women, all of whom were all living with HIV in Hyderabad, India. Most respondents were members of Dalit castes and had been living with HIV for several years at the time of the interview. Using thematic content analysis, interviews were coded by two researchers using a social determinants of health conceptual framework. Themes highlighted in this study include the burden of taking time off from work, the loss of pay associated with missing work, and the interruption of gendered care work responsibilities that respondents faced when seeking treatment. Findings from this study support the claim that equitable work policies and practices for marginalized laborers can increase access to medical care for people living with HIV.

Contours of Sexuality in Roy’s The God of Small Things

This study aims at analyzing the contours of sexuality, obscenity and incest in Arundhati Roy’s debut novel, The God of Small Things to mark how the novelist deconstructs the naturalized and normalized social, ethical, and cultural values in the Indian society. The illicit relationship between the central character of the novel and a divorced woman, Ammu and the servant of her family, Velutha, the incest between Estha and Rahel, an incident where an old man forces Estha to masturbate, and the sensual affair of Baby Kochamma with Father Mulligan are some of the highly charged obscene details in the novel that invite a keen rationale for the research. The research utilizes the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis and radical feminism that deal with sexuality, feminine sexuality, and sibling incest to observe Roy’s motive for emphasizing on pornographic drives. Both Freudian psychoanalysts and radical feminists deal with the sex overtly taking it as the basic human instinct. The research finding is that Roy emphasizes the graphic description of sexual acts among members of family and different castes to cherish beauty found in ‘small things’, to mystify the mundane, to examine the issues of unethical sex in revolutionary South-Asian societies. It is expected that people interested in researching libidinal issues in Roy in particular, and South-Asian literature in general, can take the paper as a reference.

Understanding trimester-specific miscarriage risk in Indian women: insights from the calendar data of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21

BackgroundThe primary public health issue, especially in low- and middle-income countries, is early pregnancy loss driven by miscarriage. Understanding early pregnancy losses and the characteristics of mothers who have miscarriages is essential to creating effective reproductive health strategies. Thus, this study’s primary goal is to delve into the factors which impact miscarriages that take place prior to and following the first 12 weeks of gestation.MethodsThe bivariate analysis was employed to determine the frequency of miscarriages. The factors associated with miscarriages in the first (≤12 weeks) and second & above (> 12 weeks) trimesters of pregnancy were then examined using a generalised linear regression model, with 95% confidence intervals. Finally, we use ArcGIS to illustrate the prevalence of miscarriage in the districts of India.ResultsOur result shows that miscarriages occur often in India (4.9%), with 23% of cases occurring in the first trimester (≤12 weeks). In our bivariate analysis, we identified several factors associated with a higher prevalence of miscarriages in India. It was found that mothers aged thirty years or older, residing in urban areas, with less than ten years of education, belonging to the richest wealth quantile, expressing a desire for more children, having no demand for contraception, and possessing no parity experienced a higher prevalence of miscarriage in total pregnancies in India. On the other hand, the generalised linear model’s findings show that mothers who are thirty years of age or older, practise other religions, live in urban areas, are members of other castes, want more children, marry before the age of eighteen, and meet their contraceptive needs are more likely to have miscarriages in total pregnancy. However, there is a larger likelihood of miscarriage in the first trimester (≤12 weeks) for mothers who follow other religions, live in urban areas, are from Other Backward Class (OBC), get married before the age of eighteen, and fall into the middle and upper wealth quantiles. A mother is more likely to miscarriage in the second & above (> 12 weeks) trimesters if she is older than thirty, from other castes, wants more children, has moderate media exposure, marries before turning eighteen, meets her contraceptive needs, and does not feel the need for contraception. After accounting for socioeconomic characteristics, all results were statistically significant.ConclusionsGiven the substantial number of miscarriages in India, police need to improve planning and guidance in order to lower pregnancy loss due to miscarriage. Miscarriage rates may be significantly decreased by enhancing the availability and quality of reproductive health care infrastructure, particularly in rural areas.

An introduction to the basic elements of the caste system of India.

Oppression, systemic bias, and racism have unfortunately long been part of the human experience. This paper is a review of basic elements of the Indian caste system, understanding its impact on the daily lives of different caste members, the role of colonialism in perpetuating the caste system, the Indian reservation system for mitigating disadvantages created by the caste system, and how categorization and labels can affect individual identity. This paper then discusses the global relevance of the caste system and its impact on mental health and psychological functioning. In India, the caste system is a comprehensive, systematized, and institutionalized form of oppression of members of the lower castes, particularly the Dalits. Formalized during the British colonial period, the caste system brings together two related Indian concepts of varna and jāti to create four social orders and multiple subunits. Sitting outside the traditional four orders are the Dalits, who experience social, economic, and religious discrimination due to an inherited status related to traditionally polluting occupations. Since the caste system extends beyond India to other South Asian countries, as well as to communities around the world that are home to the Indian diaspora, the inequities created by the caste system are a global issue. India's affirmative action system provides important insights to policy makers, as well as researchers in the social sciences for how to counteract the effects of systematized oppression. Collectively, this can aid in a better understanding of the effects of discrimination and oppression on identity, self-esteem, and mental health, and how we can develop more targeted policies and procedures in our own local contexts.

Social mobility and politicisation of caste among the Rayeens of Uttar Pradesh

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of caste organisations in the process of social mobility of a marginalised Muslim birādarī, focusing specifically on the Rayeen (vegetable sellers) caste. The article maps the caste panchāyat, association, and Foundation, highlighting their respective role and function in the process of social mobility and political representation. I show that the various organisations complement each other in the overall process. Caste panchāyat relies on the traditional authority of the head of the caste group (the chaudharī) to regulate the internal affairs of birādarī members. The caste association attempts to consolidate the group’s collective identity and foster unity to exert influence in the electoral process. Finally, caste members also run organisations at the local level, such as the Rayeen Foundation, trying to expand the reach of their activities beyond the birādarī, appealing to universal principles. Collectively these organisations strive to claim a higher status for the Rayeens. The article’s contribution is to highlight the interactions between the multiple caste organisations in facilitating the transformation of group identity and the process of social mobility experienced by a marginalised Muslim caste group.

Childbearing Trajectories in a West African Setting: A Sequence Analysis Approach

The lagging fertility transition in West Africa has important repercussions for global population growth but remains poorly understood. Inspired by Caldwell and colleagues' fertility transition framework, as well as by subsequent research, we examine diversity in women's holistic childbearing trajectories in Niakhar, Senegal, between the early 1960s and 2018 using a sequence analysis approach. We evaluate the prevalence of different trajectories, their contribution to overall fertility levels, and their association with women's socioeconomic and cultural characteristics. Four trajectories were observed: “high fertility,” “delayed entry,” “truncated,” and “short.” While the high fertility trajectory was most prevalent across cohorts, delayed entry grew in importance. The high fertility trajectory was more common among women born between 1960 and 1969 and was followed less often by divorced women and those from polygynous households. Women with primary education and those from higher status groups were more likely to experience delayed entry. The truncated trajectory was associated with lack of economic wealth, polygynous households, and caste membership. A short trajectory was related to lack of agropastoral wealth, divorce, and possibly secondary sterility. Our study advances knowledge on fertility transitions in Niakhar—and Sahelian West African contexts more generally—by showing the diversity of childbearing trajectories within high fertility regional contexts.

Life of a Dalit magistrate: Ideologies and politics in Dalit life in North India, 1920–1954

AbstractThis article discusses Chaudhari Mulkiram (April 1910–August 1954) and the contesting ideologies, memories, histories, and socio-political conditions surrounding his career from the 1920s to the mid-1950s. Mulkiram belonged to the Dhangar, a sub-caste of the Khatik caste in Meerut. He was the first Dalit of the United Provinces (UP) who qualified for the Public Service Commission in 1939. This article shows his socio-religious and socio-political relations and responses to the Arya Samaj, Congress, and Scheduled Caste Federation. It reveals how the representatives of these agencies portrayed his life and work. This article also discusses how his relations and responses helped and influenced his caste members in the western UP. It argues that the Arya Samaj, Harijan Sevak Sangh, and Congress used the first generation of Dalit civil servants like Mulkiram to cultivate local leaders and to mobilize local Dalits, peasants, labourers, and villagers to act in their political interests against Ambedkar’s movement. Hence, in the 1940s and early 1950s, Mulkiram presented himself as a Gandhi bhakt, Jan Neta (public leader), and Sanyasi (household monk and socio-religious reformer).

Guest Editor’s Introduction: Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race

Guest Editor’s Introduction: Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race

Disrupting Caste Hegemony in Punjab: A Reading of the Punjabi Dalit Poetry of the Pre-Independence Period

The idea of caste has always been debatable, contested and controversial. Since the time of its inception, it has been prevalent throughout India. Any Indian cannot define his or her identity without referring to his or her caste. However, it also became and still is a reason behind the marginalization and exploitation of millions of people. Various activists, scholars, thinkers, political leaders and literary writers have tried to fight against the stigmatization of a particular caste. However, the experience of caste discrimination is not the same in all the states of India. Though the basic problems and concerns of Dalits such as untouchability and exploitation are the same, their degree and intensity vary from one state to another. Various cultural, social and economic moorings impact the way caste-based discrimination is practised in a particular society. Various critics from Punjab such as Ronki Ram, Harish Puri and Paramjit Judge argue that the experience of Dalits in Punjab is comparatively different than those in other parts of India because in Punjab casteism was practised not on the basis of purity/pollution syndrome but as a divide between the landless and the land-owning communities, so they have studied the material aspect of caste. It is observed that the literary writings by Dalits from Punjab highlight instances of untouchability and caste-based discrimination in the pre- and post-independence periods. They resisted and protested against the caste system and also claimed to overthrow it. Therefore, the article seeks to evaluate the notion of casteless in Punjab. It takes into account the poetry of Gurdas Ram Alam, Charan Das Nidharak and Pritam Ramdaspuri. Through the qualitative content analysis using theories of Dalit aesthetics, the article explores the major thrust areas of Punjabi Dalit poets and highlights how these poets express their caste identity and try to raise the consciousness of their fellow caste members and protest against the discriminatory practices of the dominant Punjabi society and culture. It also, in a way, makes these poets (and those communities to which they belong) a subcultural phenomenon that runs parallel to the dominant Jatt culture of Punjab.

Caste and COVID-19: Psychosocial disparities amongst rural Indian women during the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting mental health disparities. In India, marginalization based on caste membership, gender, and rural residence are critical determinants of inequity across the lifespan. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of minority stress and intersectionality, this study examined caste‐based disparities in fear of coronavirus (FOC), mental health symptoms, and perceived loneliness amongst rural women in north India during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participants (N = 316) completed self‐report measures and were classified into three groups based on their responses: General caste (GC, n = 124), other backward castes (OBC, n = 122), and scheduled caste or tribe (SC/ST, n = 71). Using a three‐way ANOVA and Tukey t‐tests, women in SC/ST and OBC groups reported greater FOC (OBC d = .37; SC/ST d = .40) and greater mental health symptoms (OBC d = .58; SC/ST d = .43) relative to the GC group. OBC, but not SC/ST, group also reported higher perceived loneliness (d = .32). The results were consistent after adjusting for demographic variables such as wealth and highlight caste as an important social determinant for well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic amongst rural Indian women.

Design Application for Balinese Songket Weaving Motif

Songket weaving is an Indonesian cultural heritage that has been passed down from generation to generation. Every region in Indonesia has its own Songket weaving, depending on the region’s characteristics. Bali island is one well-known region in Indonesia for Songket weaving. In the past, Songket weaving in Bali was only made for caste members and the royal family. At that time, only people in the royal family were able to make Songket weaving. The songket weaving process in Bali was mainly performed using a weaving tool called cagcag. The songket weaving pattern (motif) was made using a sungkit technique—interlace between threads to create a motif. The making of the songket motif begins with arranging the thread according to the desired motif before the weaving process. Information about the motif was spread in Guun. In general, songket weaving in Bali island has tens to hundreds of Guun. The skills to break the desired motif into the Guun is quite a complicated process. Therefore, not many weavers master the process of making songket motifs. Most of the motif makers continue or imitate existing motifs. Currently, a motif maker who can make a motif from scratch is rare. In order to help break motifs into Guun, an in-depth understanding of the calculation of making songket motifs is required. Then, this understanding is transformed into an application that can help motif makers to visualize motifs into Guum. The design application will provide multiple benefits for the motif makers and serve as an effort of culture preservation by introducing a design application to make songket motifs for younger generations. Therefore, they are expected to contribute to making songket weaving motifs.

Adverse childhood experiences and maternal self-efficacy: Examining the mediating role of intimate partner violence and the moderating role of caste membership in rural India.

Maternal self-efficacy (MSE) is associated with healthy functioning in mothers and children globally. Maternal exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to negatively impact MSE in high-income countries; however, the association has not been examined in low-and-middle-income countries, such as India, which face socioeconomic risks including poverty, illiteracy, and discrimination based on caste membership. The present study examines the mediating role of IPV in the association between ACEs (specifically-emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and discrimination) and MSE and tests caste membership as a moderator. A community-based, cross-sectional survey was performed with 316 mothers with at least one child between 0 and 24 months in a rural area in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. A structural equation framework was used to test the moderated-mediation model. Results from the moderated-mediation model indicate that greater ACEs exposure was associated with lower MSE and this association was mediated by IPV exposure for low-caste but not high-caste mothers, even after controlling for wealth and literacy. These findings add to existing evidence on ACEs exposure as a significant burden for rural Indian mothers, negatively impacting parenting outcomes such as MSE. The critical role of caste membership is also highlighted, providing implications for future research.

The Principles And Rationale For Determining The Creamy Layer For The Other Backward Classes In India

The exemption of the creamy layer from quota benefits is a constitutional obligation that must be adhered to by the government. “The Mandal Committee was founded by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s administration with the remit to “recognize the socially or educationally disadvantaged.” It was chaired by legislator Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal and was charged with examining the issue of seat reservations and quotas for people to remedy caste prejudice. The commission's report affirmed the affirmative action practice established under Indian law, under which members of lower castes (referred to as “Other Backward Classes” and “Scheduled Castes and Tribes”) were granted preferential access to a certain percentage of public service jobs and admission to state colleges, and suggested raising these quotas by twenty seven to forty nine point five percent, but leaving the creamy layer out of the review of reservations would be contradictory to deny the legitimacy of the “creamy layer” concept in other domains of application after its validity has been established in the provision of the constitution as well as many judicial decisions. As a result, putting the appeal of this principle to the test becomes crucial.

A Preliminary Account of the Northern Toussian Balafon Surrogate Language

Northern Toussian is a language spoken in southwest Burkina Faso. Like many of the ethnicities in the region, members of the musical caste, the griots, have developed a musical surrogate language which is played on the balafon. This article is a preliminary documentation of the Northern Toussian balafon surrogate language, describing its cultural usage, analyzing how the tones of the spoken language are encoded in the surrogate language and comparing the Northern Toussian surrogate language with the neighboring Sambla surrogate language. It was found that the Northern Toussian surrogate language encodes significantly more post-lexical features of the spoken language than the Sambla surrogate language, such as downdrift.

On the structure of the political party system in Indian states, 1957–2018

We develop and test an equilibrium model of party structure to account for the large and ever-changing number of political parties that contest Indian state elections. The analysis finds that the number of parties increases with the voting density of state constituencies, the heterogeneity of the state’s electorate, state per capita income and literacy levels, falls with average age while responding to a set of constitutional and legislative rules designed to affect party and electoral performance. The model is also applied to entry and exit, allowing the empirics to highlight those factors that affect party turnover rather than aggregate party numbers. The model explains better the number of parties than ENP, the effective (vote share weighted) number of parties, implying that the variability in the fringe of smaller parties has not substantially affected the vote shares received by the larger more established parties. Affirmative action, primarily in the form of increases in the proportion of seats reserved for members of special castes is associated with a reduction in both party numbers and ENP consistent with speeding the integration of scheduled castes into broader based political parties.

Visualizing COVID Restrictions: Activity Patterns Before, During, and After COVID-19 Lockdowns in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Globally, restrictions implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19 have highlighted deeply rooted social divisions, raising concerns about differential impacts on members of different groups. Inequalities among households of different castes are ubiquitous in certain regions of India. Drawing on a novel data set of 8,564 households in Uttar Pradesh, the authors use radar plots to examine differences between castes in rates of activity for several typical behaviors before, during, and upon lifting strict lockdown restrictions. The visualization reveals that members of all castes experienced comparable reductions in activity rates during lockdown and recovery rates following it. Nonetheless, members of less privileged castes procure water outside the household more often than their more privileged peers, highlighting an avenue of improvement for future public health efforts.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCHEDULED CASTES: NEEDS AND CHALLENGES

Education is an important parameter of socio- economic development. However, several factors act as impediments in realizing the goal of education. Caste is one of them. There have been continuous efforts by the state and non state actors to bring the disadvantaged castes closer to schooling and learning. But the results are far from satisfactory. There’s a gamut of factors that determines their access and motivation to learning. The paper tries to explore the situation. It looks at the everyday struggle of Dom and Musahar caste within the context of rural setup where caste identities dominate the social structure. It tries to examine the articulations of the caste members towards the available educational facilities as well as their everyday instantiations and negotiations. The objective of the paper is not to discuss the availability of school or teachers but the lacunae that fail to develop knowledge and learning in them through education. In order to bring about a change, the need is to transform the approach towards education of these most marginalized castes. The data and discussion of this paper is based on the ICSSR sponsored research entitled “Social Psychology of Marginalization and Exclusion: A Study of Dom and Musahar Communities of Bihar” (2016-18).