Competing Inequalities: The Scheduled Tribes and the Reservations System in India's Jharkhand Author(s): Stuart Corbridge Source:

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CompetingInequalities:The ScheduledTribesand the in Reservations System India's Jharkhand

STUART CORBRIDGE

Introduction
This paper reportson the economic and political consequencesof reserving and members theScheduled of government public-sector for jobs Tribesin theIndian State of Bihar. It also contributes a more general debate on the systemof to that discrimination has existedin India sincethe 1940s, and whichwas compensatory made tangibleformiddle class Indians by the decisionof the government V. P. of of Singh (1989-90) to adopt some of the recommendations the Second Backward B. Classes Commission(1979-80: chairman P. Mandal). The Mandal Commission of be advisedthata system reserved could usefully report jobs in central government from ScheduledCastesand TribesofIndia (roughly and 7.5 percent extended the 15 of the population,respectively) embrace a broadercollectionof Socially and to to Economically BackwardClasses.' In August 1990 V. P. Singhfoundit expedient of at Stuart is of Studies theUniversityMiami, Corbridge ProfessorInternational Florida, of Sussex U.K. to Ashutosh U.S.A.,anda Fellow Sidney College, Cambridge, He wishes thank for and for comments a version the on of Varshney hisencouragement, PaulBrass hisdetailed that readat the50thAnnual of was for paper Meeting theAssociation AsianStudies (Washington D.C., March1998). He is also grateful CraigJeffrey, to Sanjay Kumar, Manoj and Srivastava their for and for helpful advice, totheanonymous readers theJAS their for comments andsuggestions. on of was in 'Legislation behalf India'sScheduled Castes first enacted 1943; similar legfor in of islation theScheduled Tribes passed 1950.A system compensatory was discrimination wasmeant lastuntil1960 andno longer. that to of By time, so thefounders Independent or Indiasupposed, economic the "uplift" thecountry's of poorest most"backward" and communities A the be wouldbe complete. nation sovereign of individuals equalbefore lawwould fused modernizationtraditional of India.Butthisis nothowthings together theplanned by turned The accommodative out. a landscapes Indian of politics havenotencouragedtransfer ofprivate assets theScheduled to on communities, these and communities putpressure have to a The successive of discrimination. enabling governmentsrenew frameworkpositive legiswas at lation duly reenacted theendofthe1950s,1960s,1970s, 1980s, part, doubt, and in no because India'smajor were keento corner political parties (andnotleasttheCongress Party) thevotes theScheduled of communities. TheJournalAsian Studies no. 1 (February of 59, 2000):62-85. (? 2000 bytheAssociation AsianStudies, for Inc.
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act uponMandal'ssuggestion thatup to 49.5 percent all jobs in central of government services and public undertakings should be reserved the ScheduledCastes (SCs), for Scheduled Tribes(STs), and OtherBackward Classes(OBCs).2 Singh's Janata party Dal gained votesdisproportionately the 3,743 castes,tribesor communities from (52.4 percent the Indian population)thatthe Mandal Commission of Reportidentified as Backward (Sivarammaya 1996, 222; see also Brass 1994). The furyunleashedby varioushigh-castecommunities the wake of V. P. in Singh'sdecisionwas quite predictable. Public-sector jobs in India are much sought after areregarded manyhigh-caste and by men,and somewomen, a bulwark as against the uncertainties can be inducedby economicdevelopment. that Public-sector steel plants,forexample,have long providedtheirworkers withdearness sick allowances, pay,and guaranteed holidaysin additionto quite reasonable wages (Joshiand Little 1994). As onerespondent theanthropologist told whenhe hasworking Jonathan Parry at Bhilai steelplantin MadhyaPradesh, there was "no mother father it" (Parry or like 1996). Much the same can be said ofIndia's banks,whichwerenationalized Mrs. by Gandhi in 1971. The proposalsof Mandal and V. P. Singh threatened high-caste Indians with increased competitionfor jobs and universityplaces, and this than the ScheduledCastes or competition came frommore powerful communities Tribes.Violentresponses werepar forthe course. But whatof the initialreservations system and its supposedbeneficiaries? What lessonscan be learnedfrom studyof its functioning, a both in terms theworkings of of local labor markets and the formation politicalattitudes? of Has the reservations systemempowered membersof the scheduledcommunities termsof livelihood in or strategies accessto government of agencies,and can it be linkedto the formation the interestsof particularscheduled political groupings that seek to further Kanchan Chandra(this volume) arguesthat the rise of the Bahujan communities? of Samaj Party(BSP) in Punjab and UttarPradeshis linkedto the emergence a class of government officers drawnfromthe ranksof the ScheduledCastes. Affirmative a actionhashelpedto pavethewayto politicalempowerment. paperoffersfurther This perspective on present concerns by reviewing the system of compensatory as discrimination it has applied to India's ScheduledTribes. The paper takes shape along threeaxes. At the core of the paper thereis an of thatofeducational of extent empirical study thesystem reserved (and to a lesser jobs in support)thathas operatedon behalfof ST communities southBihar.This study is linkedto an accountofthechanging in positionoftribalcommunities independent India. The Government India maintainsthat tribal societyis egalitarianand of undifferentiated.offers It discrimination STs on thisbasis.I dispute to compensatory this view. I critiquethe ideologyof tribaleconomyand societyupon which this
20f all such jobs, 22.5 percent werealreadyreserved members the Scheduledcomof for munities.Singh'sproposalwas fora further percenttranche reserved 27 of jobs formembers of the OtherBackwardClasses. Among Hindu OBCs, caste,orjati (subcaste),defines membershipof a "class" grouping,and most Hindu OBCs come fromruralSudra communities. India's politicallandscapesweretransformed the 1980s and 1990s by the riseto powerof in politicalpartiesrepresenting OBCs. The phenomenon mostapparent northern the is in States like UttarPradeshand Bihar,but it is not confined India's Hindi-speaking to heartland: see Brass 1994, Chandra(thisvolume);Jaffrelot volume);Yadav 1997. See also Shah 1991. (this In SouthIndia,substantial reservations BCs in stategovernment for services havebeencommon sincethe 1960s. It is also worthnotingthat:"Educationalconcessions [but notreserved postsj for Other BackwardClasses began in U.P. in 1948" (Galanter 1991, 161), and that the Government Bihar issueda list of BackwardClasses as earlyas 1951. of

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how and whythe formation a tribalmiddle class suggestion rests, and I consider of has been encouraged (but not initiated) the reservations by system. thirdstrand A of thepaperreflects moregenerally accounts development antidevelopment on of and in India,particularly theseapplyto tribalcommunities. as Although disputestaticand I in stereotypical accountsof "tribalness" India, I do not accept that the category of tribeis entirely fictive a simpleby-product official or of categories. Nor do I accept in thatstate-sponsored development India has workedentirely exclusively the or to of The evidencefrom Biharsuggeststhatmanypoor disadvantage tribalhouseholds. tribalshave accessedjobs in the public sectorand have amassedculturalcapital on thatbasis. In addition,it seemsclearthatthe reservations in system Biharhas served as an important fortheproduction a tribalelite or pettybourgeoisie. site of The paperis organized follows. as The first withwhatMarc sectionis concerned Galanter described a system "competing has as of equalities"(Galanter1991), orwhat we mightdescribe, India following Foucault,as attempts thestatein independent by to createa new class of "modern(ex)-Backwards" virtueof economicand legal by interventions apparentlydesigned to repositionIndia's troublesome"marginal" groups(SCs and STs). It sets the sceneforthe empirical analysisthatfollows. also I commenton work by Ronald Inden which suggeststhat the normalizing voice in "modernIndia" is a unitaryvoice, and damaging to many of India's marginal communities a result(Inden 1995). The thirdstrand thepapercan be readas a as of withInden'swork. critical engagement The next section of the paper mines a more empiricalvein. On the basis of fieldwork collected data the through 1980s and 1990s in tribalSouthBihar(theBihar I Jharkhand), seek to answertwo sets of questions.First,what evidenceis thereto of of service public-sector has and suggestthata system reservations government jobs workedto the advantageof ScheduledTribal households? such an advantagehas If of been secured,to whom has it accruedand by what means?Have the benefits a reservations beenmonopolized particular the system by groupswithin ST community? "ST" and thestate'sideology If so, whatimplications the mightthishold for category tribal economyand society?Second, what, if any, are the of an undifferentiated political consequencesof the reservations system,in terms of "tribal" political and Is Bateshasarguedrecently identities, aspirations, activities? it thecase,as Crispin (Bates 1994), verymuch in line withInden,thatIndia's so-calledoriginalor adivasi wereinvented suchactsofclassification/reservation, and thatthis (ST) populations by has harmedthosecommunities called into existence supplicants the state? as of The broadconclusions thepaperare set out in the final of section.I suggestthat the reservations in in the system Biharhas been captured partby well-to-do tribals, vast majority whomare male and manyof whom now residein urbanareas.But of this is not becauseof the reservations itself. The reservations has system system not broughta tribal middle class into existence;ratherit has been captured by a of of tribalelite,the existence whichthe framers the Constitution chose preexisting not to acknowledge. This elite is buildingits stockof cultural(or social) capital in and through efforts access(funded)places in stateeducationalinstitutions.3 its A to tribalelite is also using its success in the educationalarena to access positionsof economicand politicalpowerin Jharkhand. (relative) 3The reference cultural to is to of Bourdieu capital indebted thework Pierre (1984); the referencesocialcapital to refers specificallythebuilding ofnetworks interaction more to up of with trust government nongovernment and in and agencies.

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But it is not only membersof a preexisting tribal elite who are using state patronage theirown ends,norare these"ends" entirely for private. The reservations system served expandthesize ofthetribalmiddleclass,particularly has to where jobs arelinkedto educational qualifications rather thansocialbackground. hasalso forced It officers pay more than just lip-service the idea of compensatory to government to discrimination instituting, example,roster for of by systems job advertisement and allocationsuchthateach service has a serialnumber job and an indication whether of it is reserved a particular for community.4 reservations The system evenhelpedto has crystallizea conception of adivasi identity that recognizes the exploitation/ marginalization manytribalcommunities, whichdemandscompensation of and from the authorities. the extentthat this identity be mobilizedby advocatesof a To can Jharkhand separate will State,it mayyetbe thatcompensatory discrimination have if positive, unintended, effects upon the broader target populationof STs. The sting in the tail is that these positive effects depend upon the ST populationsof the Jharkhand refusing various of normalization programs politicaland cultural proposed on theirbehalfby the framers the Constitution. of Their strength in exploiting lies thepoliticsof difference/protection,thepoliticsof sameness/normalization. not

the of Normalizing "Other"?The Constitution 1950 and India's Scheduled Communities

In a perceptive recent of paper,RonaldIndenhasarguedthatthediscourse nationbuilding that India committeditselfto in the 1950s was a discourseof high its modernism whichfailedto register similarities earlierconceptions imperial to of and religiousprocession progress (Inden 1995; see also Inden 1990, ch. 5).5 Inden takes up a commonobservation to after about India's commitment "development" it. and subverts Indenagreesthata keyto understanding Independence carefully postof India is the idea (or imperative) modernization. India in the 1950s Independence thathad beenpushedtowards itself anewas theopposite thesociety of soughtto invent famineand Partition/parturition yearsearlier.Strength ten would be foundin the of new founding and myths socialism,secularism, federalism, democracy (Corbridge and Harriss2000). India would throwoffthe shacklesof tradition and imperialism and would embrace reason and the agencies of modernization(including timediscipline, industrialization, and education, urbanization, family planning). All thisis well known.But Inden subverts thisaccountby insisting thatReason in and Planninghave takenthe place of Religion and ImperialProgress the "new thatdevelopment modern in India" onlyto end up imitating them.Inden contends
of does not ensurethat all jobs are filled;the 4Notification a job by means of a roster employer can invokethe criterion efficiency block the employment a memberof a of to of Scheduledor Notifiedcommunity. Notwithstanding provision, serialnumberof the this the job is not lost (at least not forgovernment jobs in Bihar). The post remains open,ostensibly to be filledby a suitablecandidateat a laterdate. The act of notification may also caution Stateofficers of thatnow againstvisiblyunfair hiringpractices becauseofthe threat litigation hangs overthem.It could reasonably arguedthatthe macroeconomic be efficiency Bihar's of " labor markets-public and private-is not helped by such "tentative bureaucratisation'(a phrasemuch loved by a bureaucrat friend mine), but thatis not my concernhere.I will of in comment the market reserved on jobs laterin the paper. 50n high modernism, Scott 1998. see

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India has beenestablished courtesy a concept Reason-embodied in planning, by of of the PlanningCommission, in Nehruhimself-thatis every as transcendental and bit as the religiousprogresses that endowed the medieval king of kings with the "luminouswill" ofVishnu(Inden 1995, 271). In each case,particular pilgrimages or progresses small-scale (or developments) sublimated are intoa grander idea ofProgress a or Modernity, grander idea thatturns back on thelivesand wishesofa majority its ofIndianswho are expectedto heed theirmaster's voice and respond dutifully. The conclusion all thatIndendrawsfrom thisis a controversial and one that one, I shareonly in part. The luminouswill that standsbehindInden is Foucault,and Inden shares(the early)Foucault'stasteforseeingpoweras damagingrather thanas disabling-and-enabling. Inden wants to celebrate the voices of thosehe believesto have been damagedby India's imperious marchtowards Development.He wantsto resist the idea that development as representedby large dams and heavy industrialization development a deepersense.For Inden,as forEscobar(Escobar is in 1995), it is a shamdevelopment shouldbe and is resisted thelesstranscendent that by processions thepoorand marginalized; gheraos blockades, andolans of or by by (protest like Chipko, and even by Hindu nationalism political projectthat movements) (a the refuses mythof secularism: also Kaviraj 1991, and Hansen 1999). see But thereare problemswith this view. Even as Inden highlightsone set of in contradictions the discourseof modernization, failsto noticeanother.6 he Inden choosesnot to acknowledge that manyof India's "marginal"groups,its Scheduled Castesand Tribes,mightwelcomesomeaspectsoftheneworder Development of and thejobs and educationit bringswithit; he choosesnot to see thatdevelopment with a capital D can be reshapedand reclaimedby "marginal/Other" groups without or ditchingthe idea in its entirety the claims that can be made on the state in its that in name.Indenis also inattentive thecontradictions he himself to highlights the state's attitudetowardsdissentingvoices. It is true that: "Political leaders have and as monitored marginalized policed,banned, patrolled, regulated, processions best themand even theycan" (Inden 1995, 273), but so also has thestate"had to tolerate them"(273), as it did withthe Chipkoandolan. sum,thediscourse In of appropriate that thanhe later modernization Inden rightly was alwaysmorefractured spotlights and Nowherewas thismoretruethanin thestate'sdebatewithitself, with suggests. some concerned and isolationas two possible community leaders,over integration meansofdealingwithIndia's Scheduledpopulations after Independence. of The Constitution India followedon froma four-year period when various out groupsinvolvedin the makingof a modernIndia thought loud about whatthat India should look like. The ConstituentAssemblydebates of 1946-49 give a remarkable insightinto the foundingof a postcolonialpolity,as indeed does the Constitution proposedforadoptionby the Assemblyon "this twenty-sixth of day commitIndia to a November,1949." The Fundamental Rightsof the Constitution a Western modelofsocietalrelations, resolves democratic whereby sovereign republic to secureforall its citizensJustice,Liberty, Article 15 Equality,and Fraternity.7 that"The Stateshall not discriminate maintains againstanycitizenon grounds only
60n thedangers essentialism of withintheanti-orpostdevelopment paradigm, Berger see but 1995, Cowen and Shenton 1996 and Corbridge1998. For two verydifferent, equally or of illuminating accountsof the dilemmasof development, the Faustiantragedy modernization,see Toye 1993 and Berman1982. 70n the Indian Constitution and nation-building, Austin 1993, Jalal 1995, Phadnis see in 1989, Sudarshan1994, and Vanaik 1990. On constitutional conventions comparative persee spective, Spillman1996.

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ofreligion, race,caste,sex,place ofbirthor anyofthem."New Indianbodieswill be producedthatare notscarred theprimordial by markings casteand communalism. of Educationand the law will see to it. Untouchability, indeed,"is abolishedand its practicein any formis forbidden." additionto these Fundamental In Rights,the makers modern of India provided variousnonjusticiable DirectivePrinciples State of Policywhichcutagainstthegrainofequal treatment all bythestate.The Directive for Principles embodya Fabian conception the stateas redeemer/provider. of Economic or and socialgroupsunableto look after themselves, whichmightbe thought suffer to fromresidualformsof exploitation/discrimination as the old India withersaway, for for shouldqualify activestatesupport/protection a limitedperiod. The keyArticles the Constitution of thisview are as follows: embodying 1. Article "The Stateshallpromote 46: withspecialcaretheeducational economic and oftheweakersections thepeople,and, in particular, the Scheduled of of interests Castes and ScheduledTribes,and shall protect themfrom social injusticeand all forms exploitation"; of 2. Articles for Seatsfor Scheduled Castesand Tribes 330, 332, 334: provide Reserved in the House of the People for ten years (since extendedby Constitutional Amendment Acts in 1959, 1969, 1980, and 1990); of Castesand theScheduled 3. Article 335: "The claimsofthemembers theScheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, with the maintenance consistently of in of to and posts efficiency administration, the makingof appointments services in connection withthe affairs the Union or of a State"; of 4. Article 338: "There shall be a Special Officer[later Commissioner]for the ScheduledCastesand ScheduledTribesto be appointedby the President"; to the 5. Articles341 and 342: allow the President, public notification, specify by whichshall forthepurposes theConstitution deemed of be castes,races,or tribes withtheGovernor a Statewhere of to be Scheduled CastesorTribes,and to consult the Scheduleis to applyat a State-level. It would be folly to assume that these provisionswere not welcomed by of Castesand Scheduled Tribes.Evidenceto thecontrary representatives theScheduled in can be found theConstituent debates.Speaking Assembly againstGandhiannotions the ofvillageself-rule, Untouchable leaderDr. Ambedkar denounced Indianvillages as "densofignorance, narrow-mindedness communalism" and (Constituent Assembly Debates [CAD], 1946-49, 6: 39). As Galanterpoints out, Ambedkar"ardently machinetechnology whichwould provideleisure,culturaladvancement, supported and finally Gandhi'sideal oftrusteeship the equality.To thesame end,he rejected by of whichwouldpromote richin favor a kindofstatesocialism rapidindustrialisation. And in spiteof his suspicionthatIndia mightrequirebenevolent he autocracy, was a supporter centralized of rather thanofvillageautonomy. parliamentary government In all ofthisAmbedkar thaneither stoodcloserto theleftwingoftheCongress stood to Gandhi" (1991, 39; see also Ambedkar1945). In contemporary we terms, might of say that Ambedkarwas not an advocateof alternative development, a model of that as and (anti-)development he wouldhavedismissed romantic likelyto be captured of by the forces reaction. Nor was it the case thatIndia's elitegroupswerealwaysimpressed themodel by of of compensatory discrimination embodiedin theDirectivePrinciples StatePolicy. Masani warnedin December 1946 that: "Eitherthe nationabsorbstheseminorities or, in courseof time,it breaksup" (CAD 1: 91). Likewise,Sharmadeclaredthat"it is in theinterests thetribalclassesnotto be toldagain and again thatbecausethey of

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are inferior people,becausetheyare weakerpeople,therefore and suchfacilities such are provided for them" (CAD 8: 515-16). I would also cite the more forceful complaints Assembly of MembersB. R. Singh from Bihar and B. Das from Orissa. in Accordingto Singh,"it must be painingeverybody this country findthatwe to have begun to do thingsnow againstwhichwe have so long protested duringthe British rule"(CAD 9: 984-85; thatis, Scheduling Castes,Tribes,and Areasfor special treatment). Das: "Thoughit has beenthought And wisdomfor overa century keep to these tribal people and these Scheduled Areas as museums for purposes of and the in demonstration exhibition before worldto justify their[British)existence India,whatis thepurposetodayto perpetuate evil? ... I mustfrankly this statethat in I am notat all happyforthewayin whichwe havebeenproceeding, copying most cases important portions the Act of 1935" (CAD 9: 994). of Das's complaint was not withoutmerit.The Constitution 1950 did replicate of to many of the provisions the (imperial)Act of 1935, and his reference tribal of and exhibitions to that museums spokedirectly a policyofisolationism manycolonial of officers pursuedwithout question.The arrogance thisviewwas perfectly expressed Debates of 1935. "The by a ColonelWedgwood,speakingin theU.K. Parliamentary a only chanceforthese[tribal]people," said Wedgwood, "is to protectthemfrom civilisation whichwill destroy themand forthatpurpose,I believe,directBritish of controlis the best. . . . Unless you have our experience the last fifty even one or hundred and fifty yearsin dealingwiththisproblem, is impossible saythatany it to other raceon earthcan look after themso well" (Government theUnitedKingdom of 1935, 299 House of CommonsDebates, 5s, cols. 1548-49). It is hardlysurprising that many Congressmen-and members of the RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh (R.S.S.)8-resisted this "isolationism" and demanded the assimilation into thatG. S. Ghuryereferred as "degraded to mainstream Indian lifeof communities as Hindus" or "so-calledaborigines"(Ghurye1980). Modernization normalization in and The had manysupporters theIndian nationalist social scientific communities. Otherhad to be tied into the bodypoliticof the new nation. (post)-colonial refuses this bluntview,urgingthatthe Intriguingly, though,the Constitution of integration India's Depressedor BackwardClasseshas to be workedforby a state if that in the short-run have to recognize will differences, onlyto erasethemlater. in to was further This attitude complicated relation theScheduledTribesbyNehru's to to owngenius"(Nehru tribalclaimsto "developaccording their willingness respect it as 1955). The tribalOtherwas exoticized well as patronized; demanded protection the as well as development Elwin 1960; and see also Guha 1999). In thisrespect, (see In makersof modernIndia treatedthe SCs and the STs differently. the case of the and low ScheduledCastes,the state has taken the view that economicdeprivation and actionson both fronts rapidly can ritualstatusare interlinked, thatgovernment of speed the integration SCs into a modernpolityorganizedaroundclass and merit thancasteand status(see Beteille1965). The maindifficulty statehas faced the rather of The of in regardto the SCs is in the matter notification. framers theConstitution and as discovered, theSimonCommission the 1931 CensusCommissioner, Hutton, J. means different had discovered earlier,that "untouchability" thingsin South and North India, so much so that Untouchablesin one State might not be treatedas
whereit enjoys to 8The Hindu nationalist R.S.S. continues be veryactivein Jharkhand, and health-care facilities. R.S.S. highqualityeducational a formidable reputation providing for of JanataParty members also helped to lay the foundations the riseto powerof the Bharatiya (BJP) in the regionin the 1990s.

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in as untouchable a neighboring State.The notification communities SC has been of a controversial, heavilylitigated,issue in Indian political life since 1950 (see and Galanter1991, ch. 5 fora discussion; also Fuller 1996). see a But not so the ScheduledTribes. Notwithstanding tautologicaldefinition of just who the tribals are-in 1951 the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and as "tribalorigin, ScheduledTribesproposed commonelements primitive wayoflife, in remote habitation generalbackwardness all respects"-the statehas facedfew and legal challenges its listsofScheduledTribes.Since 1950, India's Scheduled to Tribes have been the recipients a rangeof governmental that have been both of programs in protective and developmental inspiration (Galanter1991, 153). These programs haveat onceclaimedto respect cultural geographical the and distinctiveness India's of STs while at the same time providingScheduled Tribals with opportunities for "advancement" through educationalscholarships, reserved jobs (in Centreand State since the lategovernment positionssince 1950, and in public sectorenterprises 1960s), and reserved seats in Parliamentand LegislativeAssemblies.It is to the rhetoric and reality theseclaims on behalfof "tribal(protective) of modernization" thatI now turn.

Mining the Seams of Compensatory Discrimination

A commoncomplaint of againstforms positivediscrimination/affirmative action/ discrimination that the benefitson offerfrom the state are is compensatory monopolizedby elite groups within the targetconstituencies (what is called the "creamylayer" in India).9 It is further are suggestedthat culturesof dependency created by such actions. Set against these claims, proponentsof compensatory discrimination India have pointedto the rangeof existingdiscriminations in faced thatsuch compensation is on as by vulnerable (target) groups;theyhavealso insisted offer shouldbe fora limitedperiodonly.Proponents reservations respect the of in of Scheduled Tribesfurther maintain thatelitegroupsareunlikely capture benefits the to of compensatory discrimination because elite groups do not exist in India's tribal This point is important I will return it later.The Indian state communities. and to claims to treatScheduledTribal communities and areas on the basis that theyare outsidethecastesystem in keyrespects undivided and are and unaffected processes by of economicmodernization. This is whya system reservations to be balanced of has thatprotects by legislation tribalcommunities from land sales and moneycontracts thatseekto exploittheir or ignorance innocence. India'sScheduled Castes,bycontrast, are not assumedto be landowners, the statehas no interest maintaining and in their cultural and economic advancement changearenecessary desirable and traditions; and forthesecommunities. I have shownelsewhere thatIndia's ideologyof tribaleconomy and societyhas of long been at odds with the realities triballifein partsof central India (Corbridge of 1988). The discovery coal and iron ore and othermineralsin Jharkhand the in and nineteenth early-twentieth thatthis"unspoilt"tribalhomeland centuries ensured would be spoiled soon enough to meet the demandsof industry and forprofit a in
90n affirmative actionin theU.S., see Skrentny 1995; in India, see Mitra 1990 and Shah 1996. For moregeneralreflections, Sen 1992. see

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slowly modernizingIndia (see Figure 1). Outsiders,or dikus, poured into the Jharkhand fromnorthBihar and easternUttar Pradeshin the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, in theprocess changing ethniccomposition theregion the of (Sengupta1982). At thesametime,many"aborigines" and "semi-aborigines," theBritish as styled the tribalsof this regionbeforethe 1930s, were inductedinto the mines' labor-forces (Bahl 1995; Simmons1976). Althoughhundreds tribalsdied in the mines,many of thousands moreearnedincomesfarin excessof anything theycould have earnedin theirvillages.By the 1940s a tribalmiddle class was apparentin ruralareas of the Jharkhand, miningor ex-mining as tribalfamilies acquiredland from less fortunate tribalfamilies(Corbridge1993). Such land transactions were not outlawedby the Chota Nagpur TenancyAct of 1908, whichassumedthatlandedtribalsneededonly land transfers nontribals. Another to be protected againstunregulated to middleclass of sortswas emergingin the 1940s among educatedChristian tribalcommunities, in some of whomwerealreadyresident townslike Ranchi and Chaibasa (Lal 1983). In sum,a tribal in elitewas already place whena system reserved in government of jobs in was introduced "tribalJharkhand" 1950. Its rankshad swollenfurther in service by the timethissystem reservation extendedto public-sector of was jobs in the late in 1960s. A certainamountof "elite capture"of reserved jobs was inevitable many the rhetoric government of claims to the parts of "tribal" centralIndia, whatever contrary. But how muchcapture there has for been,and how damagingis suchcapture the state's ideologies of compensatory discrimination and tribal unity? Most of the information we have on this topic comes from the Annual Reports of the of Commissioner ScheduledCastesand Tribesand variousReports theCommittee for on the Welfareof the ScheduledCastes and ScheduledTribes (CWSCST). In both becameless assuredin the 1980s thanit was previously, much so cases,publication so thatthedatasetswe havearenowhideously datedand incomplete. (Thereis another to of storyto be told here,about the willingness Government collect and publish thatwill haveto but information certain for purposesbut not forothers, it is a story be told elsewhere.) What emerges from thesereports a tale ofpromises is unfulfilled in In and ofgovernment Tribalsfailed duplicity. Bihar,as elsewhere India, Scheduled formanyyearsto filltheircomplements government of service jobs, and mostofthe of jobs theyfilledwerein Class III and (moreso) Class IV. The failure STs to gain in of Class I and Class II jobs is explained awaybytheGovernment terms itsstatutory The obligationto balancethe claimsof compensation againstthoseof "efficiency."'" made by theMinistry Financeon behalf the StateBank of of of following statement, India, is thusby no meansexceptional: "The Bank statedthatit is not in a position
'0The situationin the 1990s is probablynot as bleak as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, and at least not in Bihar. The data I have collectedin Jharkhand, which I discuss shortly, round(although suggest:(a) that most Class II jobs forSTs are now being filledin the first recently low, notwithstanding is the numberof such reserved posts thathas been advertised to of the factthat seniorgovernment personnelstill refer a shortage suitablecandidatesfor higherlevel reserved posts); (b) that manyholdersof Class II jobs are proceedingto Class I thanpeople in nonreserved jobs in due course(and much earlierin theircareers posts:given the "shortage"of candidatesforClass I jobs, it is not uncommonforthe civil surgeonin a surgeonwherethe former not but District,forexample,to be younger thana civil assistant category);and (c) that more STs are the latterhas gained employment within a reserved Service, Indian Police Serpresenting themselves Class I (includingIndian Administrative for have vice, and Indian ForestServiceposts)and Class II postsas schoolingand collegesystems in be improvedlocally. It should further noted that in Centralpublic sectorundertakings Bihar,ClassesI-IV of employment listedas GroupsA-D. are

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72

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to adopt the recommendation reservation] view of the factthathavingregard in [of to the need to preserve certainminimumstandards efficiency in view of the of and factthattheclerksin theStateBank ofIndia are considered promotion officers for as at earlystagesin their career, waivingoftheminimum the qualifying standard the in written testwill not be in the interest the institution" of (CWSCST, 18th Report, 1973, 1). Beyondthisofficial data we havesurprisingly littleevidenceon local patterns of in In uptakeof job reservations tribalcommunities. part,thisreflects difficulties the in a inherent designing studythatwould investigate suchpatterns. One wayofgoing a about the task is to visit the workplaceto interview representative sample of ScheduledTribalswho have achievedtheirjobs by meansof the reservations system. and Thus, one mightvisit,as I did in 1980, 1983, and 1993, government offices basedin Ranchi-Hatia, publicsector companies Chaibasa,Noamundi,Gua, Dhanbad, and Jamshedpur, questiontribalrespondents wages earned, and on bonusesallowed, social and geographical and qualifications offered, background, politicalaffiliations, so on. (In 1980 and 1983 thequestionnaire administered thecourseofa much in was broaderprojectthat was concernedto understand the dynamicsof economicand the political change in India's Jharkhand; data I collectedin 1993 were gathered whileI was employed a projectconcerned on withforestry migration principally and in the region.) This approachcommends itself becauseit is easyto make contactwithSTs who havegainedjobs via thereservations I menand women system. was able to interview in who workedin variousgovernment departments, "service,"and forcompanies including the Indian Iron and Steel Company(as was), Indian Railways,Indian Airlines, State Bank of India, and the Heavy EngineeringCorporation.I also tribalsworkingforprivatesectorcompanieslike Tata Iron and Steel interviewed Companyand Bata Shoes,but thiswas forcomparative purposesthatare not always relevanthere. Interviews with STs in the workplace(or in tea shops and nearby also of the and residences) provedusefulforassessing politicalaspirations affiliations conductedin this respondents. Overall,I have collecteddata from132 interviews in manner. Most wereconducted 1980 and 1993, but in thetablesthatfollowI have the reasons to do so."1 not aggregated data exceptwherethereare compelling I have also approached matter data collection of from source-of-respondent a the The main drawbackof the workplace-based is perspective. questionnaire that it is it difficult assessthe "initialsocial standing"of a respondent. to Specifically, is hard that reserved to test the proposition jobs are capturedby elite groupswithinthe Scheduledcommunities. Respondents mightbe persuadedto say how manyacresof land theirfamily owns in a villagewheretheymayor maynot maintain residence, a but the reliability theiranswers open to question(even if one assumesthatthe of is a Similardifficulties arisewhen one is interviewing tribal questionis meaningful). If worker who comes froman urbanbackground. one is properly test the "elite to in monopolization thesis,"one needs to conducta certainamountof fieldwork the hail. But this is easiersaid than from villages/mohallas/chowks which respondents it from respondent's a done. For obviousreasons, is notpracticalto movebackwards havethetimeorinclination to will workplace his or herresidence. Respondents rarely forsuch journeys, even if ten willing respondents be foundthe interviewer and can
"Disaggregationof the data sets will be necessary a planned second stage of this for research project,whichwill focusrather moreon employment histories and thepossibleconof into reserved version educational qualifications jobs and positionsofpoliticalinfluence.

COMPETING

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would likelybe draggedback to ten different villagesor urbanareas.The fieldwork must somehow has, then,to be approached the otherway around.The interviewer withinwhoseranksmen and women gain familiarity witha sampleofvillagesfrom emerge whohavegainedreserved posts.Suchmenand womencan thenbe interviewed in situ or at theirworkplace, and some quite robustdata can be collectedon the in host family's economicand social standing the (stratified) community. careersince 1979 has allowed me to live As chancewould have it, my research forlong periodsin three"tribal" villages in Singhbhumand Ranchi Districtsof Bihar-three villages dominated by members of the Ho, Munda, and Oraon communities-and I have visited a large numberof villages close-byforvarious In "control" purposes. thecourseoftheseextended periodsofresidence (mostnotably in 1980, 1983, and 1993), I was able to collect data on the compensatory in for discrimination/reservations havingbecomeinterested it whenresearching issue, a doctoraldissertation the "tribal question" and the movement a separate on for Jharkhand State.Less extended research tripsin 1981, 1986, 1994, 1996, and 1997 haveallowedme to add to mycoredata sets,so thatI now haveinformation relating to 72 menand womenfrom morethana dozenstudysiteswho are,orwho havebeen, in reserved jobs or who have gained jobs in the public sectorhavingfirst received specialeducational assistance from state. the In thediscussion thatfollows drawupon a totalof204 interviews. shouldbe I It notedstraight away thata totalof 204 interviews not the same as a total of 204 is households. The 204 interviewees Of came from185 households. thesehouseholds, fifteen in contained two members who had at one timebeen employed jobs reserved forScheduledTribals,and two households who had been containedthreemembers I in to successful gainingpublic sectoremployment. According the criteria develop tribalelite. below, 13 of these 17 "multiple"households belongedto a recognizable Of these,eightwerealso firmly in urban-based, the sense thatfamily members did not at any time in the calendaryearcontribute labor to farms thatmightor might not be maintainedin an ancestral village. To put this in context, only 31 of the sense remaining168 householdscan be describedas "urban" in this restricted in (althoughmorethanhalfof the samplepopulationis urban-based the moreusual in or senseofworking being ordinarily resident a townor city). I will argue shortly that a good manyreserved jobs in tribalSouth Bihar have been capturedby members the tribalmiddle class or pettybourgeoisie, not so of if as But some clarification is disproportionately to invitethe word "monopolization." in orderbeforethis argumentis broached.Proponents what I have called the of in ideologyoftribaleconomy and society India maintain thattribalcommunities are undivided almost by definition. Tribal communitiesreside in the remotehilly of interiors India (or at its northeastern frontiers) surviveby meansof shifting and thatcombinespaddy cultivation cultivation a primitive or with plough agriculture Tribal communities local forest dependency. have theirown languagesand dialects and are unusedto the waysof the modern world.Theirsurvival dependsupon their actions on their behalf.More continuingisolation,aided by carefulgovernment in "Thereis no functional as differentiationthetribalcommunity yeteven generally, in relation such basic aspectslike thereligious, and political.The to social,economic tribal is not yet used to the sectoralizedapproach which is the distinguishing of For characteristic modernadvancedcommunities. example,he cannotdistinguish a between loan forconsumption for or production purposes" (Sharma1978, 531). Or, again, in the words of two noted Americancommentators: speak of levels of "to functions tribalorganization hardlypossible because of pervasive in is egalitarian

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patterns" (Schermerhorn 1978, 71); "In triballifethe principallinksforthe whole society based on kinship.Individualequalityas kinsman assumed;dependency are is and subordination amongmen are minimized. Agnaticbondsform fundamental the web, affinal ties are of lessersignificance. Lineages or clans tend to be the chief the unitsforland ownership, defense, for corporate units;theyare often principal for Each man considers himself economic production consumption. and entitled equal to rights withevery other"(Mandelbaum1970, 576). maintains that whilst "Tribesmen are not averse to Mandelbaum further accumulating foodstores, deferring to consumption productivity [andl to maximizing feel . . . theycharacteristically that theseworthy pursuitsshould not be pressedso of hardas to interfere theprompt with prospect pleasure"(1970, 581). In short, tribal thattribal is and society different (Myron Weinersuggested people look different are: "A distinctive are racialtype"[Weiner 1980, 1551). Its dominant cultural principles in in an towards life reflected its economicorganization waysthatemphasize attitude as and thefuture whichis extremely contingent whichmaybe described "exotic." and On this reading,the essenceof triballifeis its all-nightdances and its dhumkarias As [youth dormitories:. the 1962 (Dhebar) Report of the Scheduled Castes and in ScheduledTribes Commission puts it: "It is difficult the drypages of an official to to the in report convey the reader zestforlifeexpressed tribalpoetry dancing, and theinstinct colourandpattern . for . .[nevertheless} aboveall things, tribal the people are intensely lovableand havefascinated mostof thosewho havehad anything do to withthem"(Dhebar 1962, 20). A fascination things "tribal" may or may not be worthwhile, for but this at of construction "thetribal"is radically odds withthelife-stories manyScheduled of Tribals in centralIndia. AndreBeteille hintedat this in the mid-1970s,when he wroteof his first fieldvisit to an Oraon village in Ranchi District,Bihar: "I clearly in remember initialdisappointment discovering my that,althoughwe had come to the us no investigate propertribals, people who confronted wereoutwardly different in fromthe poorervillagersone mightfindanywhere ruralBihar or West Bengal" (Beteille 1974, 64; see also Baviskar1995). I will take issue lateron with the idea that "tribalness" merely is conventional but attributed (and so unimportant uninstructive), manyofthequalitiesroutinely or In to theScheduled Jharkhand tribal TribesofBihararefictional. villagesthroughout men and womensurvive peasantsand even as agricultural as laborers. Not all tribal is own land inJharkhand, mostdo, and private families although property everywhere the norm.Some tribalfamiliesown and operatequite large landholdings (by the standards of dryland central India); others own and operate much smaller In I landholdings. each of the three villageswhereI have lived forextended periods, a was able to detectand report triballandedelite.In thewestern of fringes Singhbhum in District, thereis evidenceto suggestthata landedelite had emerged partbecause in had gained remunerative ironmines some tribalfamilies employment the region's in havesweatedhardin in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Manytribals theJharkhand the region'sminesand quarries, views to the contrary. notwithstanding sterotypical Most tribals are also mobile. Tribal men and women migrateto surviveor to withnontribals a dailybasis;indeed,it is rare on accumulate. Theycomeintocontact that to find tribal.The adivasisare notlivingin villagesin Jharkhand areexclusively a splendidor primitive the isolation.Moreover, rangeof tribalcontactswith "the rhetoric about the need to outside world" is fastexpanding.Despite government protect tribalpeople from corrupting a (anti)-civilization, truth thatthe push the is fordevelopment since 1950 has brought factories, roads,and outsiders Jharkhand to

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Table 1. Scheduled Tribalsin Reserved Jobs,By Class and Origin

Source-Based Elite Nonelite Nil Returns Total 40 26 6 72 Work-Based 29 29 74 132 Total 69 55 80 204

author interviews. Source: in huge numbers (Das 1992). Tribalpeople havetriedto get a slice oftheaction,and tribalsociety doubtlesschangedin the process-not thatit was evertimeless has in thewaythatit is sometimes portrayed theideologyoftribaleconomy society. in and a In short, tribalmiddleclassexistsinJharkhand. is nota unitary It middleclass In and it takeson different colorsin different ofJharkhand. rural areasofRanchi parts land and service District, occupations the best indicators class. In RanchiCity are of levelsof incomeand educationmaybe better indicators, along withreligion.When I refer a tribalmiddle class in this studyI refer a diversegroup of men and to to women who share a lifestyle markedlysuperiorto the majorityof Jharkhandis and (nontribal tribal),and who veryoften employothers laborers. as I Looking,then,at theevidence havecollectedfrom Jharkhand (whichsuffers no doubtfrom overa long periodoftime,and in thelee ofother research beingcollected I projects), wouldmakethefollowing observations. First, there a significant is number of nil returns Table 1). This is becausereliableinformation "class" was more on (see from source-based the thanit was from the readily obtained sampleof72 respondents work-based for sample of 132. Second, 69 of the 124 respondents whom data is available can be defined belongingto a tribalmiddle class (55.6 percent).This as witha tribalmiddleclass thatI would put at 10 to 15 percent thetribal of compares Districts. Middle classSTs aregainingreserved populationin Ranchiand Singhbhum for better jobs disproportionately two reasons.On the one hand, theyare generally At educatedand qualified thanothertribals. the same time,middleclass tribals also have the contacts and social skills(and sometimes money)thatare requiredto gain in access to reserved Several employment, particularly public sectorundertakings. told me how they had acquired reserved respondents jobs throughextendedkin or networks by forged and outright paperwork bribery. Althoughreserved jobs in Bihar have to be advertised meansof a notification by order, thisinformation not is Word of mouthand personalcontacts matter readilyavailableto ruralJharkhandis. and not least forClass III jobs such as office and greatly, clerks,foresters, assistant of subinspectors police.12
has 12CraigJeffrey uncovered bribesofup to 60,000 rupeesfor Class III jobs in thereserved category MeerutDistrict,UttarPradesh;personalcommunication Jeffrey in and 1999. I have yetto hearof bribesin excessof 15,000 rupeesin Jharkhand, I have not pressedon this but issue as carefully as insistently Jeffrey. is clear that thereis an active "market"in or as It Reserved Jobs in Jharkhand. is also clear that the returns holdersof Reserved to Jobs(for It for example,forest guardsor police constables) warrant can sizeableinitialpayments accessto the society reserved of jobs. I cannotestimate withanydegreeofaccuracy whatpercentage of Reserved Jobs are allocated through systemwhichJamesScott once describedas "market a corruption," I would notethatnot all jobs are allocatedon thisbasis. AlthoughI did not but on push all or even mostof my respondents how theygained theirposts,and while it is true thatone would need to treatanyreplieswithcaution(will people admitto offering bribe?), a

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Third,this imbalancein respect class is even moremarkedwhenit comesto of werewomen(17.6 percent). gender.Only 36 of my 204 ST respondents This is an interesting worrying and finding. Evidencefrom three"tribal"villagessuggeststhat of the percentage ST girlsgoing to college is onlyslightly less thanthe percentage of ST boysgoing to college (12 percent versus15 percent). College Principals have this in The also confirmed broadpicture interviews. bias againsttribalwomenwould seem to emanateless fromtribalsociety(which is oftenless male-dominated than casteHindu society gatekeepers thesociety to [Kelkarand Nathan 19911),thanfrom of reserved jobs."3 Fourth, capture reserved the of jobs bymiddleclassSTs has notbeenso pervasive that less affluent tribalshave no hope of landing a reserved job. To the contrary: almosthalfthejobs availableseemto be goingto lessaffluent tribal men(and women), and my interviews suggest that for such individuals success in education and examinations thekey.Severalinformants me thattheyhad gained is told competitive of been the beneficiaries quite well-paid and securegovernment jobs having first in postmatriculation scholarships local colleges.Manyoftheseinformants started had life in ruralareas and had since moved to townsand cities forworkor permanent residence. Most of them owed their success to a state-sponsored system of compensatorydiscrimination that was and is working reasonably well, notwithstanding existence a tribalmiddle class whereno such elite grouping the of was supposedto exist. Indeed, and perhapssurprisingly, poorerbut well-educated tribals from are in amongstmysamplepopulations relatively morerepresented Class II jobs thanin Class IV jobs. Given small sample sizes it is perhapsunwiseto read too muchinto thisfinding, thequalitative but data I have collectedseem to confirm theview thatmembers middleclass tribalfamilies moreeasilyplaced in Class are of IV jobs (constables, and forest guards,drivers, sweepers, gardeners, the like) thanin Class II jobs (Block Development head ofa policestation) where educational Officers, achievements morecloselyscrutinized. the(limited)extent are thatchildren from To can or poor ST (and SC [Nambissan19961) families accessgovernment (morerarely) so private/mission-sponsored education, also can they hopeto gainaccessto reasonably well-paidgovernment in lateryears.14 jobs
severalof my respondents insistedthat theyhad not had to pay a bribe or commission to acquire a post in government service, moreespecially, a public sectorundertaking. or, in In this regard, least,my findings suspicions)tallywiththoseofJonathan at (or in Parry respect ofhis studyofreserved jobs in Bhilai,MadhyaPradesh.Parry reports that,whileit would "be rash to deny that retailcorruption grownover the past thirty has years,I am nevertheless struckby a certaindisjunctionbetweenthe beliefin, and the actual evidencefor,its allpervasiveness. Even whereit is reputedly mostrampant there thosewho resist and even are it; thoughit is an article faith of thatyoucannotget a job withthelargest public sector employer in the area withoutpayingforit, thereis reasonto supposethatmostofthosewho have such jobs did not do so" (Parry1999, 28). further "3Again, research neededhere.It mightbe arguedthatthehighlevelsofgender is thattribalsocieties less "tribal" equalityassociated withST communities a myth, is and/or are than theyhave commonly been portrayed. observedgenderimbalancein the societyof An It reserved mightthenreflect jobs significant shifts within tribal society. mightbe,for example, that a tribalmiddle class is keen to promotethe marriageability not employability and of femalesas a way of boostinghouseholdstatus.But I doubt this is the case. What evidenceI have suggeststhattribalwomenare better represented Class III jobs thanin Class IV jobs. in This reflects factthat Class IV jobs-gardeners, cooks,clerks,peons, and the like-are the still coded as "male" jobs; ironically, are perhaps,jobs demandingmorequalifications coded as moregender-neutral. Tribalwomencertainly it hardto get their on theemployment find feet ladder.

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from state The suggestion that some (mainly male) STs have benefitted of some observers "tribal"India. In policieswill surprise or educational employment thatbegan with the workof Beteille the years, critiqueof tribalessentialism recent Bates like historians Crispin by has and others beentakenmuchfurther contemporary not (1994) and Ajay Skaria(1992). Bates contends so muchthattribalcommunities by of mechanisms counting/Scheduling dividedor subjectto different are internally term that but thestate, rather thenineteenth-century tribaland thetwentieth-century term adivasi are each recent inventions. These words created "aboriginal"/ ... thathave "overthegenerations fictions as populations convenient "indigenous" (Bates 1994, for remade[Indial in the image invented it by Europeancolonialists" of reworking some 104). Less opaquely,we are facedin Bates'sworkwitha powerful the of the same ideas mobilizedby Ronald Inden. Justas Inden refuses suggestion India, so does Bates in real development independent that the state has sponsored to the suggestionthat India's tribalpopulationscorrespond some authentic refuse populationsthat were later displaced fromthe plains by the Aryan autochtonous lives, the of Batesarguesthat:"In reality majority adivasislivedcomfortable invaders. armies, overlargeareasofland,having havingcontrol at leastuntilthecolonialperiod, (1994, 109). of and an aristocracy, collection, judicialsystems one sortor another" tax there nothing is creation; is populations thusa recent The modern of poverty tribal of or about the backwardness manytribalpopulations.It then primordial primitive are tribal communities inattentive to for follows, Bates,thatpost-1950attempts uplift socialand over of to theebb and flow tribalfortunes timeand acrossspace. Particular get economiccommunities listed as "tribal" because theyare poor, and a seriesof shaped is to are stockcharacteristics attributed themso thata tribalidentity created, by the stateand set in aspic. Bates concludesby makingtwo keypoints.He argues, (as at discrimination withmost'instrumental' that first, thestate'sattempts "positive the aggregated problemof at have not solved but merely efforts social engineering) Bates withinIndian society" (1994, 106). Second,and moregenerally, ... prejudice arguesthatthecasualuse ofwordslike tribeand adivasi:"would notbe [of}anyharm associatedwith the and misconceptions but forthe factthatmanyof the prejudices "It as have persisted well." Further, is arguablethatadivasi originsof the term[sJ leaders and ideologues are not innocentof this, and that the veryformof their rather of and identification the trajectory theirpolitical struggleserveto reinforce againstthem"(103). the directed thancontradict prejudices These are powerfulargumentsand they bear directlyon the issues under that tribal to discussionhere.Bates is rightto directour attention the possibility the and shouldseekempowerment deconstructing disavowing by politicalmovements in patternsof categoriesof tribal and adivasi that are instrumental reproducing This act of deconstruction/disavowal discrimination against "tribal" communities. development of for Indenand others a discourse alternative would be akinto callsfrom and the conceptual of that eschewsthe category Development(as modernization)
inclinesme fieldwork on 141 have not collecteddata systematically this issue, but recent jobs or to the view thatST householdswho have gained access to government public-sector reviewing government agencies.I am currently positionto deal withother arealso in a stronger to this issue (withSanjayKumar) in relation a selectionofvillagesthatare partofthe U.K.fundedEasternIndia RainfedFarmingProject(EIRFP). Initial evidencesuggeststhat there jobs and panchayat of are strongnetworks associationbetweenSTs who hold government of Quite a number theyoungmen or womenwho guards,or evenbank officials. sevaks,forest a families where household for or (volunteers link-persons) theEIRFP comefrom act as jankars job. memberholds a government

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that frameworks sustainit. But hereinalso lies the weakness Bates'sposition,as I of see it. Bates's argument sustainedempirically is with reference recently to affluent tribalkingdomsin Bastarand the Nilgiri Hills. Having once suggestedthattribal fortunes have waxed and waned withinhistorical memory, Bates is able to argue againstthe fixity categories of like adivasiand ST in thepresent. I am not convinced, thatsuch an argument be extendedto Bihar, however, can where patternsof community exploitationand discrimination seem to be more entrenched. There is a danger in Bates's work, as in Inden's, that one formof essentialism for I substitutes another.'5 am also not persuaded thepoliticallogics by thatBates deploys, althoughI am sympathetic some aspectsof his widerpolitical to project.Bates clearly takesthepartof India's "tribals"to the extentthattheysuffer from institutionalized of and But patterns discrimination exploitation. Batessuggests, or seemsto suggest,thatadivasileaders(and theirfollowers) beingdisingenuous are whentheyseek empowerment adivasisor tribals.I doubt theyhave muchchoice. as I would contendnot onlythata significant the numberof tribalshave gained from policiesof compensatory discrimination offer on from state(albeit a second-best the system job allocationand creation), also thatmanytribals of but havebeensuccessful in mounting broadercritiqueof development a in programs theJharkhand-ifnot of (D)evelopment itself-in part on the basis of a tribal political identity. Significantly, tribal political identityis far fromfixedin Jharkhand, this but is regularly reinvented Jharkhandi by politicalleadersas circumstances require.In the 1950s Jaipal Singh'sJharkhand Partywas largelyuncritical the developmental of ambitions theNehruvian of state.The Jharkhand wanteda separate Jharkhand Party State withinwhich tribalswould moreeasilyappropriate benefits industrial the of In Jharkhand has development. the 1980s and 1990s, a lessunitary movement sought to buildJharkhand a statefortribaland nontribal as Jharkhandis (againstpost-1950/ it a At 55 dikus).To thisextent has refused neattribal/nontribal boundary. thesame time, some in the Jharkhand movementhave campaignedfor a more inclusive Jharkhand State by suggestingthat all Jharkhandis mightwant to draw upon the traditions local tribalcommunities ecologicaland cultural of (Devalle 1992; Parajuli 1996). It is notpossibleto saymuchin detailhereaboutJharkhandi politics(see Munda 1988; Keshari1983). On thespecific pointoftribalidentities politicalactivities, and I the materials have collectedseem to refute suggestion the that however, empirical in tribalparticipation the reservations dulls the capacity a moresustained for system and exploitation. critiqueof the causes of tribalpoverty Table 2 suggeststhat the 124 oppositeis morelikelyto be the case. Of 204 respondents, (60.8 percent) from ST" sample said theyhad eithervotedforor campaignedforactivists my "reserved withintheJharkhand movement. of claimedto be supporters the (Most respondents Jharkhand in cause, but this tells us verylittle.It is important studiesof political affiliation identity seek out evidenceof active or committed and to supportfora
15I am minded here of Nicholas Dirks's commentson the threatened birthof a new orientalism that is ahistoricalor even antihistorical. Dirks states that: "Said writesabout orientalism if it transcends exigencies history, as the it of exempting of its necessarily contingentrelations histories nationalism colonialism, to of and rendering as a totalizing it monolith" (Dirks 1992, 74). As fororientalism, also forDevelopmentand the Colonial Mind. For a so recentaccountof colonialism'sculture(s)which refuses such (hard) essentialism, Thomas see 1994. Foran interesting defense a "soft of essentialism" thesocialsciences, for critique in and a of an essentialised see antiessentialism, Sayer1997.

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Table 2.

Reserved Jobsand PoliticalAttitudes Jharkhand in

STs in reserved jobs (total= 204) STs notin reserved jobs (total= 100) 81 (81.00%) 42 (42.00%) 25 (25.00%) 5 (5.00%) 3 (3.00%) 11 (11.00%) 8 (8.00%)

Supported Jharkhand Cause for Campaigned Jharkhand Votedfor Jharkhandi Politicians activist (electoral) Jharkhandi Jharkhandi activist (nonelectoral) Opposed toJharkhand cause Nil returns Source: author interviews.

189 (92.659%) 124 (60.78%) 75 (36.76%) 21 (10.29%) 11 (5.39%) 8 (3.92%) 7 (3.43%)

political cause.) This comparesto just 42 percentof a controlgroup of tribalsnot in working reserved jobs (the data being accumulated overthe same timeperiod). Now this is a verycrude way of measuring political support,but the broad in conclusions thatmightbe drawnfrom Table 2 werealso confirmed the courseof a largenumber extended of interviews. Severalrespondents me thattheiractive told supportfortheJharkhand cause followedtheirinductioninto a reserved job. Most also made it clearthattheysee theJharkhand movement, still,as a tribalmovement, even if it has the support some nontribals.16 of evenadvancedthe Some respondents view thatthe state(or the Stateas a territorial in unit) had to be captured politically the sameway thatSTs had captured some labormarkets. almostall casesI gained In the strong thatsuccessin the sphereof reservations encouraged impression had both a sensethatother(private)labor markets and thatSTs remained out of ST control, overtheselabormarkets. preferred The could and shouldjoin together seekcontrol to a thatseeks vehicleforthispoliticswas and is theJharkhand movement, movement to validate local political identities against "Bihar" and the dikus,but which also of draws upon state programsfor the "protection" STs to sustain this political ideology. In sum,myrespondents wantedit bothways.Manyofthemwould first describe themselvesas Oraons or Mundas or Hos, but then as STs or as adivasis. The is and is wornwithpride.At thesame time, government-inspired acronym sticking of manyof these same people wanted more than just to be the beneficiaries state largesse.They understood verywell that well-paid jobs in the privatesectorare denied to STs, and that real powerin Jharkhand in nontribal lies hands. generally of Theywantednot just to colonizethelowerreaches thestate,but to takecommand of a territorial As for State, Jharkhand, their more general empowerment. one respondent it: "I am happyto havea job as a I . . . Class III jobi. Tatas will not put hireus tribalsexceptas sweepers [not true,but a widelyheld view in Singhbhum:, takes care of me. so I am pleased to work for [thel government. Government it But Government gives me chutti [leave/holidayl. it is not my government; is the dikus'government. Government shouldnotbe [thelonlyoption.This is myland jobs and it is tribalswho should be giving out jobs. That is why I now campaignfor owes us wealth,not just jobs." Jharkhand. government The here Bharatiya the Janata Party's plansfor (nontribal) ofVana State '6I willnotdiscuss anchal theBihar in part Jharkhand. of

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Conclusion
This paperhas advancedtwo main arguments. Empirically, have triedto show I thatthe reservations system tribalBihar has workedmoresuccessfully in thansome commentators have deemed likely.In its own terms, present the system reserved of in it to jobs is flawed threerespects: is not working the advantageof tribalwomen, it is working thedisproportionate to advantage members thetribalmiddleclass, of of and it is still failingto deliverClass I or even Class II jobs to STs in the manner desiredby theframers theConstitution of certain (although improvements been have made sincethemid-to late-1970s).Nevertheless, largenumbers STs in Biharhave of gained reasonably well-paidand securejobs through reservations the system, and it is significant that membersof nontribalcommunitieslike the Nayaks have on occasionssoughtto pass themselves as "tribal"to gain accessto reserved off jobs. It is also the case thateducatedtribalsfrom ruralbackground a have made progressand do makeprogress-through reserved the jobs system.'7 men and womencan ST and do progress fromClass IV to Class III jobs, the moreso now that thereis an effective in system rostering. of Galanteris rightto describethe reservations system India as a system "competing of equalities"thatweighsthe constitutional rights of individuals equal and sovereign againstthe veryreal inequalitiesthatexistbetween Indian social groups.Galanterhimself inclinedto endorsethe compromise is that it and to defend againstcriticism results from of politicalsympathizers boththeLeft and Right.For mypart,I am inclinedto supportGalanter.The reservations system in India can be defended liberalor Rawlsianterms in withoutits defenders turning a blind eye to the deficiencies the systemas it exists. Some inequalitiesare of reproduced within target constituenciesby India's system of compensatory
17Let me be clear on this point. It is not my intention this paper to suggestthat a in sufficiently large numberof STs have gained reserved jobs so as fundamentally alterthe to nature labormarkets community of and relations Bihar'sJharkhand. coursenot:for in Of every 1,000 STs in reserved jobs theremust be almost 100,000 not so employed.But this is not what is at issue here.In thispaperI am not arguingthatthe reservations is system a panacea forSTs excludedfromprivatelabor markets locked into the so-called informal or sectorof I and employment; am rather arguingthatpublic-sector jobs in India are greatly soughtafter thatmoretribalsaregainingaccessto reserved public-sector/government jobs in Bihar service thansome criticsof the system reservations of mightthinklikely.I am further arguingthat tribalsfrom nonelitebackground a have been able to accessa significant number thesejobs of wheretheyhave first it acquireda formal education.In thisrespect is interesting compare to in my findings Bihar with thoseofJan Bremanin Gujarat.AlthoughBremanis well known forarguingthatproletarianized tribalHalpatis in Gujarataresystematically frozen oflocal out labormarket keen to bringin migrant labourto theSuratregion, opportunities employers by he also acknowledges that membersof the partially proletarianized Dhodhiya (tribal)communityhave faredrather better, using theirremaining land rightsto access educationalopand jobs forsome children. Bremanwritesthat"one elementof thisprogramme portunities [of positivediscrimination] the reservation jobs in the public sectorin orderto help the is of target group to make up fortheirsocial backwardness. During the last fewdecadestheseries ofmeasures at taken[forSCs and STsl in theframework thisattempt positive of discrimination haveenabledyounger Dhodhiyasfrom Chikhligam to [villagel in particular becomeupwardly mobile. Their advance has invariably been precededby some yearsof education.Equipped with school-leaving into the lowerranksofgovcertificates have been able to penetrate they ernment and to bureaucracy the teachingprofession, become bank clerksor to workforthe railwaysor post office. Education has also helped the Dhodhiyas to qualifyforpermanent in industries whichhavesprungup in theregion"(Breman1996, employment thelarge-scale 179).

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but discrimination, this needs to be weighedagainstthe direct(employment) and indirect(political identity)effects reservation the competinginequalities of on a betweentarget and nontarget populations.Striking balanceis no easymatter, but the increasingly loud protestsagainst reservation coming fromIndia's high-caste tell communities theirown story. A secondargument threaded way through paperand concerns has its the whatI will call the "deconstructionist turn"in writings about modernIndianpolitics.The focusof thisargument theworkof Ronald Inden and CrispinBates. Both authors is haveproducedtellingcritiques themodernizing normalizing of and ambitions the of statein India, and bothdrawheavily theworkofFoucault.As on post-Independence regards"tribalIndia," Inden suggeststhat India's attachments a transcendental to conceptionof Developmenthas ridden roughshodover the legitimatevoices and of aspirations India's dispossessed. India's ScheduledTribeshavebeenemptiedout of for manyoftheirnativelandsto makewayforthefalsegod ofDevelopment, Nehru's The STs have also been worked Factoriesand Dams (and not least in Jharkhand). into the upon by various agencies of the state to secure theirdocile integration of supposedmainstream Indian life.Bates, forhis part,being moreof a studentof India's tribes, paid rather attention thenormalizing has less to instincts theIndian of moreattention thestate'scapacity invent to to "tribal"communities state,and rather and thus (inadvertently?) securetheircontinuing to dominationwithindiscursive the practices whichfor mostpartdespisetribal waysoflife.ForBates,a deconstruction of"tribalness" a precondition so-calledtribalpeoplessecuring is for their realfreedom and equalitywithothersocial groups. as These are powerful arguments, I have triedto make clear.At the same time, I findthemeach to be deficient the extentthattheyessentialize powersofthe to the The empirical work stateand the innocence/incapacityIndia's tribalpopulations. of discussedin thispaper suggestsa morenuancedreadingof state/tribal relationships than is offered Inden or Bates. Inden's work reinforces by existingviews of tribal societiesas undividedand as somehowopposed to both the joys and the pain of the statemust inevitably seen as an be Within this explanatory modernity. system the of the agentofdestruction; statedestroys (assumed)onenessand integrity India's and imposeson thesepopulationsa model of Development indigenous populations, which seemingly offers to nothingto them. It is a model that is inattentive the formation a tribalmiddle class in areas like Jharkhand, of largelyas a resultof an thatmany earlierroundof miningand industrialization, whichfailsto consider and tribalfamilies made availableto them have been inclinedto seize the opportunities industrialization. by public- and private-sector sponsored (This is not to suggest,of course,thattribalpeople arepleasedto see theirlandsacquiredfordams or factories, but norare mostnontribal people in the same circumstances). As regardsBates, althoughthe detail of his work demands a different of set at I empiricalresponses, a deeperlevel it invokesforme severalof the misgivings of is haveoutlinedin respect Inden.Specifically, there withinBates'sworka tendency of to assumethatbecausethecategories "tribe"and "adivasi"aresocially constructed and temporally fluid(in some parts of India), so it must followthat attemptsto are and aroundthesefictions bothinnocent disabling.On balance, mobilizepolitically I disagree. would rather I arguetwopointsthatcut againstthegrainofsomeaspects as of Bates's argument.First,the construction tribal communities STs in the of has Constitution India, 1950, and thereafter, made thiscategory-and identityof of movement rather fluidthanBates suggests. less Second,myreading theJharkhand as and suggeststhatmanySTs are well informed to the bases of theirdomination,

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in have mobilizedpolitically waysthatoffer thema realistic chanceoflessening this domination. Crudely put (and contraInden),the keyto Jharkhandi politicshas been a willingness contestthe stateby colonizingthe state/State. to Jharkhandi political leadersand their[STI supporters have had some success,throughthe reservations in in someofthebenefits modernisation India's resource of system, accessing triangle. ContraBates, it is hard to see thatgiving up ST statuswould have heaped greater rewards upon the region's poor. In the early1990s theJharkhand movement pushed once moreforthe central the government declarea separate to Jharkhand Statewithin federal RepublicofIndia. It is a measureof the movement's successthatthe government agreedto the setting Autonomous Area Council in August 1995. If the Council is now up ofa Jharkhand defunct, and was in any case dominatedby nomineesof the Government Bihar, of Tribalmenand women fewcan denythatthestruggle continues. againstdomination in the Jharkhand using the state's machineries normalization are of (Scheduling, reservations) both to demandmorefromthe stateand to pressfora new territorial that recognizestheir right to be different. Just like Development, arrangement Compensatory Discrimination Tribalness codedand decodedbydifferent and are social groupsin radically different ways.

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