Q. Which measures would you suggest for preventing caste conflicts in India? Justify your argument.

Model Answer:

Contemporary caste conflicts stem less from ritual purity (Louis Dumont) and more from secular resource competition (Dipankar Gupta), manifesting as a clash between Dalit Assertion and Dominant Caste backlash (M.N. Srinivas).

Socio-Economic & Political Interventions

• Dalit Capitalism: Promote entrepreneurship (Chandrabhan Prasad) to break traditional Jajmani dependency. Justification: Economic independence dismantles systemic exploitation.
• De-politicizing Caste: Check the Politicization of Caste (Rajni Kothari) via electoral reforms. Justification: Curbs violence fueled by targeted vote-bank mobilization.

Legal & Cultural Transformation

• Combating Institutional Casteism: Strict SC/ST Act enforcement to bypass local Dominant Caste administrative biases. Justification: Dalit upward mobility triggers status anxiety, necessitating strong legal shields.
• Annihilating Endogamy: Incentivize inter-caste marriages as championed in B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste. Justification: Strikes the structural root of caste reproduction.

Mainstreaming Subaltern educational narratives (Gail Omvedt) builds organic solidarity against contemporary inter-caste violence (e.g., recent clashes over resources in Tamil Nadu).

Conclusion

Preventing conflict requires dismantling the caste-class-power nexus, shifting from mere protective discrimination to substantive equality to realize true constitutional fraternity.