Indian Journal of Society and Politics

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Caste Violence in Andhra Pradesh and State Response


Affiliations
1 Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
 

Despite the few changes in Indian society by and large it is the caste based. As far as the caste influence in the country the Andhra Pradesh is no exception. Rather the rural society of the state is more caste ridden. Therefore violence on the basis of caste has become almost an everyday practice at times it acquires more violent forms. The protracted and brutal violence on Dalits is the strapping evidence on the fact. Traditional caste based hierarchies in collaboration with economic and more so the political power made the condition of Dalits more pathetic and resulted in to massive resistance against the caste violence. And also the Dalit movement in various directions challenged the authority of dominant castes. However the state and its departments continue to discriminate Dalits and as far as punishing the culprits concerned it is often remain silent. The parties who are running the governments and their caste men are the perpetrators of violence across the political spectrum. The courts are also pronouncing biased verdicts and ultimately supporting culprits of the crimes. Notably the dominant political classes are such that by appropriating Dalit leaders makes them futile and insecure. Accordingly it is evident in the study that the elected representatives of Dalits from reserved constituencies are not compassionate to their community in critical times.

Keywords

Caste, Violence, Dalits, Andhra Pradesh, Karamchedu, Chunduru, Laximpeta.
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  • Caste Violence in Andhra Pradesh and State Response

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Authors

J. Santhosh
Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Abstract


Despite the few changes in Indian society by and large it is the caste based. As far as the caste influence in the country the Andhra Pradesh is no exception. Rather the rural society of the state is more caste ridden. Therefore violence on the basis of caste has become almost an everyday practice at times it acquires more violent forms. The protracted and brutal violence on Dalits is the strapping evidence on the fact. Traditional caste based hierarchies in collaboration with economic and more so the political power made the condition of Dalits more pathetic and resulted in to massive resistance against the caste violence. And also the Dalit movement in various directions challenged the authority of dominant castes. However the state and its departments continue to discriminate Dalits and as far as punishing the culprits concerned it is often remain silent. The parties who are running the governments and their caste men are the perpetrators of violence across the political spectrum. The courts are also pronouncing biased verdicts and ultimately supporting culprits of the crimes. Notably the dominant political classes are such that by appropriating Dalit leaders makes them futile and insecure. Accordingly it is evident in the study that the elected representatives of Dalits from reserved constituencies are not compassionate to their community in critical times.

Keywords


Caste, Violence, Dalits, Andhra Pradesh, Karamchedu, Chunduru, Laximpeta.

References