108-552: Yadavs are a grouping of traditionally non-elite, peasant - pastoral communities or castes in India that since the 19th and 20th centuries have claimed descent from the legendary king Yadu as a part of a movement of social and political resurgence. The term Yadav now covers many traditional peasant-pastoral castes such as Ahirs of the Hindi belt and the Gavli of Maharashtra . Historically,
216-518: A manor presided over by a lord or a bishop of the church . Peasants paid rent or labor services to the lord in exchange for their right to cultivate the land. Fallowed land, pastures, forests, and wasteland were held in common. The open field system required cooperation among the peasants of the manor. It was gradually replaced by individual ownership and management of land. The relative position of peasants in Western Europe improved greatly after
324-414: A commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the union or any state to remove such difficulties and as to improve their condition and as to the grants that should be made, and
432-466: A consequence of land reform legislation have been important factors in at least some areas. Lucia Michelutti notes that Colonial ethnographers left a legacy of hundreds of pages of ethnographic and ethnological details which portray the Ahir/Yadavs as "Kshatriyas", "martial" and "wealthy", or as "Shudras", "cowherders", "milk sellers" and low in status terms. In short there has been no consensus on
540-443: A cultural and political invention. He writes: This divide represented a radical departure from tradition: F. W. Mote and others have shown how especially during the later imperial era ( Ming and Qing dynasties), China was notable for the cultural, social, political, and economic interpenetration of city and countryside. But the term nongmin did enter China in association with Marxist and non-Marxist Western perceptions of
648-476: A feature, driven by their more notable members, that shares a similarity with other Indian communities. Mandelbaum has noted that As the families of a jāti , in sufficient number, accrue a strong power base, and as their leading men become united enough to move together for higher status, they typically step up their efforts to improve their jāti customs. They try to abandon demeaning practices and to adopt purer and more prestigious ways. They usually want to drop
756-574: A landlord (the hacienda system), most Latin American countries saw one or more extensive land reforms in the 20th century. The land reforms of Latin America were more comprehensive initiatives that redistributed lands from large landholders to former peasants — farm workers and tenant farmers . Hence, many Campesinos in Latin America today are closer smallholders who own their land and do not pay rent to
864-487: A landlord, rather than peasants who do not own land. The Catholic Bishops of Paraguay have asserted that "Every campesino has a natural right to possess a reasonable allotment of land where he can establish his home, work for [the] subsistence of his family and a secure life". In medieval Europe society was theorized as being organized into three estates : those who work, those who pray, and those who fight. The Annales School of 20th-century French historians emphasized
972-419: A landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants existed: non-free slaves , semi-free serfs , and free tenants . Peasants might hold title to land outright ( fee simple ), or by any of several forms of land tenure , among them socage , quit-rent , leasehold , and copyhold . In some contexts, "peasant" has a pejorative meaning, even when referring to farm laborers. As early as in 13th-century Germany,
1080-600: A non-elite pastoral caste. Their traditional occupations changed over time and for many years Yadavs have been primarily involved in cultivation, although Michelutti has noted a "recurrent pattern" since the 1950s whereby economic advancement has progressed through involvement in cattle-related business to transportation and thence to construction. Employment with the army and the police have been other traditional occupations in northern India, and more recently government employment in that region has also become significant. She believes that positive discrimination measures and gains as
1188-474: A pastoral jati did establish his own state and dynasty, cattlekeepers are ranked in many localities among the lower blocks of the Shudras ... [The book] postulates divine and noble ancestry for a good many jatis in several language regions covering hundreds and thousands of people who share little more than a traditional occupation and a conviction about their rightful prerogatives. In creating this history there
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#17328557520741296-409: A person belonging to OBC with an annual family income of up to Rs 1.5 million should be considered as minimum ceiling for OBC. NCBC also recommended sub-division of OBCs into 'backward', 'more backward' and 'extremely backward' blocs and divide 27% quota amongst them in proportion to their population, to ensure that stronger OBCs don't corner the quota benefits. In August 2017, NDA government announced
1404-516: A question in Lok Sabha , Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed that as of January 2016, the percentage of OBCs in central government services is 21.57% and has shown an increasing trend since September 1993. Likewise, in 2015, at educational institutions, funds meant for OBC students under the reservation policy were not used properly or were underused in cases of upgrading infrastructure as well as in violation of faculty recruitment of OBCs according to
1512-406: A reply to a question in Lok Sabha , Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed that as of January 2016, the percentage of OBCs in central government jobs is 21.57%. There existed a huge disparity among various castes and communities classified as Other Backward Class, even before the implementation of the reservation policy in government jobs and educational institutions, as per the recommendation of
1620-464: A sacrosanct product. According to Lucia Michelutti: ... Yadavs constantly trace their caste predispositions and skills to descent, and in doing so they affirm their distinctiveness as a caste. For them, caste is not just appellation but quality of blood (Yalman 1969: 87, in Gupta 2000: 82). This view is not recent. The Ahirs (today Yadavs) had a lineage view of caste (Fox 1971; Unnithan-Kumar 1997) that
1728-655: A sense of French nationhood was weak in the provinces. Weber then looked at how the policies of the Third Republic created a sense of French nationality in rural areas. The book was widely praised, but some argued that a sense of Frenchness existed in the provinces before 1870. Farmers in China have been sometimes referred to as "peasants" in English-language sources. However, the traditional term for farmer, nongfu ( 农夫 ), simply refers to "farmer" or "agricultural worker". In
1836-888: A significant political force. The campaign demanding that the army of the Raj should recruit Yadavs as officers resurfaced in the 1960s. Well-reported bravery during fighting in the Himalayas in 1962, notably by the 13th Kumaon company of Ahirs, led to a campaign by the AIYM demanding the creation of a specific Yadav regiment. Mandelbaum has commented on how the community basks in the reflected glory of those members who achieve success, that "Yadav publications proudly cite not only their mythical progenitors and their historical Rajas, but also contemporaries who have become learned scholars, rich industrialists, and high civil servants." He notes that this trait can also be seen among other caste groups. The Sadar festival
1944-567: Is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify communities that are "educationally or socially backward" (i.e., disadvantaged). It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with general castes , Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs). The OBCs were found to comprise 52% of the country's population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980 and were determined to be 41% in 2006 when
2052-504: Is a mythological king. Using "very broad generalisations", Jayant Gadkari says that it is "almost certain" from analysis of the Puranas that Andhaka , Vrishni , Satvata and Abhira were collectively known as Yadavas and worshipped Krishna. Gadkari further notes of these ancient works that "It is beyond dispute that each of the Puranas consists of legends and myths...but what is important
2160-555: Is called a "Bauer" in German and "Bur" in Low German (pronounced in English like boor ). In most of Germany, farming was handled by tenant farmers who paid rents and obligatory services to the landlord—typically a nobleman. Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village court which handled minor offenses. Inside
2268-526: Is celebrated annually by the Yadav community in Hyderabad , following the day of Diwali . Community members parade, dancing around their best buffalo bulls, which have been colourfully decorated with flowers and paint. The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Yadav as a subgroup within the broader social group of Madheshi Other Caste. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census , 1,054,458 people (4.0% of
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#17328557520742376-399: Is commonly used in a non-pejorative sense as a collective noun for the rural population in the poor and developing countries of the world. Via Campesina , an organization claiming to represent the rights of about 200 million farm-workers around the world, self-defines as an "International Peasant's Movement" as of 2019 . The United Nations and its Human Rights Council prominently uses
2484-506: Is enjoined to ensure their social and educational development — for example, the OBCs are entitled to 27% reservations in public sector employment and higher education. The list of OBCs maintained by the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is dynamic, with castes and communities being added or removed depending on social, educational, and economic factors. In a reply to
2592-549: Is more than 1,000-pages long and is divided in two parts- the first part deals with how the OBC quota should be allocated; and the second part is an updated list of all 2,633 OBC castes across India. The term creamy layer was first coined by Justice Krishna Iyer in 1975 in the State of Kerala vs NM Thomas case, wherein he observed that "the danger of 'reservation', it seems to me, is three-fold. Its benefits, by and large, are snatched away by
2700-590: Is some support for an argument that Yadavs were looking to adopt an ethnic identity akin to the Dravidian one that was central to the Sanskritisation of the Nairs and other in south India. However, Jaffrelot believes that such an argument would be overstated because the Yadav "redrawing of history" was much more narrow, being centred on themselves rather than on any wider shared ethnic base. They did acknowledge groups such as
2808-510: Is that, within that framework [a] certain value system is propounded." Lucia Michelutti notes that At the core of the Yadav community lies a specific folk theory of descent, according to which all Indian pastoral castes are said to descend from the Yadu dynasty (hence the label Yadav) to which Krishna (a cowherder, and supposedly a Kshatriya) belonged. ... [there is] a strong belief amongst them that all Yadavs belong to Krishna's line of descent,
2916-493: The Black Death had reduced the population of medieval Europe in the mid-14th century, resulting in more land for the survivors and making labor more scarce. In the wake of this disruption to the established order, it became more productive for many laborers to demand wages and other alternative forms of compensation, which ultimately led to the development of widespread literacy and the enormous social and intellectual changes of
3024-636: The Enlightenment . The evolution of ideas in an environment of relatively widespread literacy laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution , which enabled mechanically and chemically augmented agricultural production while simultaneously increasing the demand for factory workers in cities, who became what Karl Marx called the proletariat . The trend toward individual ownership of land, typified in England by Enclosure , displaced many peasants from
3132-667: The Green Revolution in India , their landholdings and economic prosperity increased further; they acquired education and became an active participant in government jobs. Further, after the Mandal agitation subsided in North India, OBC leaders gained political power to outnumber the upper caste legislators in most of the north Indian states. This led to the formation of the OBC-led government in many states of North India. They also ended up claiming
3240-497: The Jats and Marathas as being similarly descended from Krishna but they did not particularly accommodate them in their adopted Aryan ethnic ideology, believing themselves to be superior to these other communities. Jaffrelot considers the history thus created to be one that is "largely mythical [and] enabled Yadav intellectuals to invent a golden age". Michelutti prefers the term "yadavisation" to that of "sanskritisation". She argues that
3348-738: The National Sample Survey Organisation took place. There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India; it is generally estimated to be sizable, but many believe that it is higher than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or the National Sample Survey. In the Indian Constitution , OBCs are described as socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC), and the Government of India
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3456-525: The OBCs . In areas where the communal ownership of land prevailed, trespassing into the fields by Yadav cattle herders to feed the cattle remained the part of their daily struggle for survival. Since such communal lands were mostly appropriated by village landlords, the caste occupation of Yadavs brought them in conflict with latter, and such skirmishes gave a militant and aggressive edge to the community's character. This followed their portrayal as "uncultured brutes" in
3564-471: The peasant movement in India and to the theories of the revolution in China led by Mao Zedong starting in the 1920s. The anthropologist Myron Cohen, however, asked why the rural population in China were called "peasants" rather than "farmers", a distinction he called political rather than scientific. One important outlet for their scholarly work and theory was The Journal of Peasant Studies . Other Backward Class The Other Backward Class ( OBC )
3672-458: The sacred thread as a symbolic way to defy the traditional inherited caste system, and they also supported the creation of cow protection associations ( Goraksha Sabha ) as a means by which Yadavs and other non-Brahmans could affirm the extent of their commitment to Hinduism by observing the strictures relating to cow slaughter. In Bihar, where the Bhumihars and Rajputs were the dominant groups,
3780-601: The " Creamy layer " should be excluded by government-funded institutions and by private institutions from the scope of the reservation policy. The verdict produced mixed reactions from supporting and opposing quarters. Several criteria to identify the portion of the population comprising the "creamy layer" have been recommended, including the following: In March 2015, Supreme Court of India scrapped Jat Reservations saying that Jats are not socially and economically backward in reference with National Commission for Backward Classes ' (NCBC) opinion. Supreme Court judgement quashed
3888-502: The "great tradition" and the "little tradition" in the work of Robert Redfield . In the 1960s, anthropologists and historians began to rethink the role of peasant revolt in world history and in their own disciplines. Peasant revolution was seen as a Third World response to capitalism and imperialism. The anthropologist Eric Wolf , for instance, drew on the work of earlier scholars in the Marxist tradition such as Daniel Thorner , who saw
3996-583: The "imposition of the historically burdened Western contrasts of town and country, shopkeeper and peasant, or merchant and landlord, serves only to distort the realities of the Chinese economic tradition". In Latin America, the term "peasant" is translated to "Campesino" (from campo —country person), but the meaning has changed over time. While most Campesinos before the 20th century were in equivalent status to peasants—they usually did not own land and had to make payments to or were in an employment position towards
4104-450: The "peasant," thereby putting the full weight of the Western heritage to use in a new and sometimes harshly negative representation of China's rural population. Likewise, with this development Westerners found it all the more "natural" to apply their own historically derived images of the peasant to what they observed or were told in China. The idea of the peasant remains powerfully entrenched in
4212-456: The 18th and 19th centuries. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861, and while many peasants would remain in areas where their family had farmed for generations, the changes did allow for the buying and selling of lands traditionally held by peasants, and for landless ex-peasants to move to the cities. Even before emancipation in 1861, serfdom was on the wane in Russia. The proportion of serfs within
4320-475: The 1931 census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs to provide reservation. The court also observed, "Reservation cannot be permanent and appear to perpetuate backwardness". On 10 April 2008, the Supreme Court of India upheld the government's initiative of 27% OBC quotas in government-funded institutions. The Court has categorically reiterated its prior stand that those considered part of
4428-421: The 19th century, Japanese intellectuals reinvented the Chinese terms fengjian ( 封建 ) for "feudalism" and nongmin ( 农民 ), or "farming people", terms used in the description of feudal Japanese society. These terms created a negative image of Chinese farmers by making a class distinction where one had not previously existed. Anthropologist Myron Cohen considers these terms to be neologisms that represented
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4536-641: The 49% reservation policy. Until 1985, the affairs of the Backward Classes were looked after by the Backward Classes Cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs . A separate Ministry of Welfare was established in 1985 (renamed in 1998 the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) to attend to matters relating to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs. The Backward Classes Division of the Ministry looks after
4644-551: The Ahir subdivision uncouth, although it is unclear whether their comments were based entirely on proverbial stories, on observation or on both. Tilak Gupta said that this view persisted in modern times in Bihar, where the Yadav were viewed in highly negative terms by other groups. However, Michelutti observed, these very same people acknowledge and coveted their political influence, connections and abilities. The Yadavs have, however, demonstrated
4752-660: The Ahir, Gopi, and Goala groups had an ambiguous ritual status in caste stratification. Since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Yadav movement has worked to improve the social standing of its constituents through Sanskritisation , adoption of Yadav as a surname, active participation in the armed forces, expansion of economic opportunities to include other, more prestigious business fields, and active participation in politics. Yadav leaders and intellectuals have often focused on their claimed descent from Yadu, and from Krishna , which they argue confers caste Hindu status upon them, and effort has been invested in recasting
4860-543: The Backward Class in the political structure of the state in a way that socio-political movement of any kind was prevented from taking place. Adjacent is the distribution of population of each religion by caste categories, obtained from merged sample of Schedule 1 and Schedule 10 of available data from the National Sample Survey Organisation 55th (1999–2000) and National Sample Survey Organisation 61st Rounds (2004–05) Round Survey. The First Backward Classes Commission
4968-614: The Hindi belt, Punjab and Gujarat, Gavli in Maharashtra, Golla in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka etc. Their traditional common function, all over India, was that of herdsmen, cowherds and milksellers. However, Jaffrelot has also said that most of the modern Yadavs are cultivators, mainly engaged in tilling the land, and less than one third of the population are occupied in raising cattle or the milk business. M. S. A. Rao had earlier expressed
5076-531: The Latin pagus , or outlying administrative district. Peasants typically made up the majority of the agricultural labour force in a pre-industrial society . The majority of the people—according to one estimate 85% of the population—in the Middle Ages were peasants. Though "peasant" is a word of loose application, once a market economy had taken root, the term peasant proprietors was frequently used to describe
5184-464: The Mandal Commission report. While a major section of Other Backward Castes was extremely backward, there existed a section that owned considerable land and employed Scheduled Castes (SC) as agricultural labourers. In the agitation for implementation of the report of Mandal Commission, Scheduled Castes supported the Other Backward Castes, but after the implementation of these recommendations on
5292-581: The Modernization of Rural France, 1880–1914 (1976), historian Eugen Weber traced the modernization of French villages and argued that rural France went from backward and isolated to modern and possessing a sense of French nationhood during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He emphasized the roles of railroads, republican schools, and universal military conscription. He based his findings on school records, migration patterns, military-service documents and economic trends . Weber argued that until 1900 or so
5400-472: The Nair's motive of "emancipation", whereby Sanskritisation was "a means of reconciling low ritual status with growing socio-economic assertiveness and of taking the first steps towards an alternative, Dravidian identity". Using examples from Bihar, Jaffrelot demonstrates that there were some organised attempts among members of the Yadav community where the driving force was clearly secular and in that respect similar to
5508-422: The Nair's socio-economic movement. These were based on a desire to end oppression caused by, for example, having to perform begari (forced labour) for upper castes and having to sell produce at prices below those prevailing in the open market to the zamindars , as well as by promoting education of the Yadav community. This "aggressive Sanskritisation", which caused riots in the area, was emulated by some other of
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#17328557520745616-775: The Social Justice Committee in Uttar Pradesh reported over-representation of some OBCs, particularly Yadavs, in public offices; it suggested creating sub categories within the OBC category. The outcome of this was that the Yadav/Ahir became the only group listed in Part A of a three-part OBC classification system. The Yadavs mostly live in Northern India , and particularly in Haryana , Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . Traditionally, they were
5724-467: The Western perception of China to this very day. Writers in English mostly used the term "farmers" until the 1920s, when the term peasant came to predominate, implying that China was feudal, ready for revolution, like Europe before the French Revolution. This Western use of the term suggests that China is stagnant, "medieval", underdeveloped, and held back by its rural population. Cohen writes that
5832-594: The Yadav subdivisions of today being the outcome of a fission of an original and undifferentiated group. Historians such as P. M. Chandorkar have used epigraphical and similar evidence to argue that Ahirs and Gavlis are representative of the ancient Yadavas and Abhiras mentioned in Sanskrit works. There are several communities that coalesce to form the Yadavs. Christophe Jaffrelot has remarked that The term 'Yadav' covers many castes which initially had different names: Ahir in
5940-614: The Yadavs were associated with cattle herding in contrast to other upper-OBCs, who were owner cultivators, trespassing into field of landlords and regular struggle with the latter was a challenge for their survival. The mobilisation of Other Backward Class for social-economic ascendancy was not observed at the same pace and in the same manner in different north Indian states. In north India, states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also have substantial populations of Backward Castes, yet, no movement as seen in states like Bihar took place in these states. Many observers have mentioned that in Bihar,
6048-525: The above scheme of reservation. Although education is considered an important factor in bringing a desired social change, "educational reform" was not within the terms of reference of this commission. To promote literacy the following measures were suggested: In October 2017, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind notified a five-member Commission headed by Delhi High Court 's former Chief Justice G. Rohini under Article 340 of Indian Constitution, to explore
6156-497: The acceptable age of marriage. Furthermore, the AIYM encouraged the more wealthy members of the community to donate to good causes, such as for the funding of scholarships, temples, educational institutions and intra-community communications. The Yadav belief in their superiority impacted on their campaigning. In 1930, the Yadavs of Bihar joined with the Kurmi and Koeri agriculturalists to enter local elections. They lost badly but in 1934
6264-472: The basis of which they could claim a 'reasonable' share of state resources." The All-India Yadav Mahasabha (AIYM) was founded at Allahabad in 1924 by a meeting of disparate local groups from Bihar, Punjab and what is now Uttar Pradesh. Although the AIYM was initially organised by V. K. Khedakar, it was Rao Balbir Singh who developed it and this coincided with a period – during the 1920s and 1930s – when similar Sanskritisation movements elsewhere in
6372-565: The claim that Yadavs were descendants of the Abhira tribe and that the modern Yadavs were the same community referred to as dynasties in the Mahabharata and Puranas . Describing the work of the Khedekars as "a well-edited and well-produced volume", Mandelbaum notes that the Yadavs ... have usually been held in considerably less glorious repute by their neighbors. While an occasional warrior of
6480-579: The complexities of the French Revolution, especially the fast-changing scene in Paris, reached isolated areas through both official announcements and long-established oral networks. Peasants responded differently to different sources of information. The limits on political knowledge in these areas depended more on how much peasants chose to know than on bad roads or illiteracy. Historian Jill Maciak concludes that peasants "were neither subservient, reactionary, nor ignorant." In his seminal book Peasants into Frenchmen:
6588-485: The concept of "peasant" could imply "rustic" as well as "robber", as the English term villain / villein . In 21st-century English, the word "peasant" can mean "an ignorant, rude, or unsophisticated person". The word rose to renewed popularity in the 1940s–1960s as a collective term, often referring to rural populations of developing countries in general, as the "semantic successor to 'native', incorporating all its condescending and racial overtones". The word peasantry
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#17328557520746696-410: The concept of qualitative exclusion, such as the "creamy layer". The creamy layer is only applicable in the case of Other Backward Castes and not applicable on other groups like SC or ST. The creamy layer criteria were introduced at Rs 100,000 in 1993, and revised to Rs 250,000 in 2004, Rs 450,000 in 2008, and Rs 600,000 in 2013. In October 2015, National Commission for Backward Classes proposed that
6804-489: The country were on the wane. The program included campaigning in favour of teetotalism and vegetarianism, both of which were features of higher-ranking castes, as well as promoting self-education and promoting the adoption of the "Yadav" name. It also sought to encourage the British Raj to recruit Yadavs as officers in the army and sought to modernise community practices such as reducing the financial burden dowries and increasing
6912-513: The creamy layer ceiling in the OBC category from getting reservation in jobs, has been raised from Rs 6 lakh a year to Rs 8 lakh. On 29 March 2007, the Supreme Court of India , as an interim measure, stayed the law providing for 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes in educational institutions like IITs and IIMs. This was done in response to a public interest litigation — Ashoka Kumar Thakur vs. Union of India . The Court held that
7020-409: The criteria" to determine backwardness. However, the report was not accepted by the government, which feared that the backward classes excluded from the caste and communities selected by the commission might not be considered, and those in most need would be swamped by the multitudes, thus receiving insufficient attention. The decision to set up a second backward classes commission was made official by
7128-515: The direction of Supreme Court of India , the tension between a section of OBCs and SCs increased. In some states of North India, the Yadavs , Kurmis , and the Koeris , which were called "upper-OBC", were well off, due to ownership of a sizeable amount of land. The abolition of Zamindari system in post-independence India raised many of the members of these communities to the status of landlords. Following
7236-559: The elitist discourses, which largely mirrors extreme backwardness still prevalent in large section of this community. The attempt to move up in the social ladder also remained evident in the nature of community and in due course of time "thriftiness" was observed to be a phenomenon, where they tried to save and buy small plot of lands, to be classified as owner cultivators. By the end of the nineteenth century, some Yadavs had become successful cattle traders and others had been awarded government contracts to care for cattle. Jaffrelot believes that
7344-464: The empire had gradually decreased "from 45–50 percent at the end of the eighteenth century, to 37.7 percent in 1858." In Germany, peasants continued to center their lives in the village well into the 19th century. They belonged to a corporate body and helped to manage the community resources and to monitor community life. In the East they had the status of serfs bound permanently to parcels of land. A peasant
7452-449: The family the patriarch made all the decisions, and tried to arrange advantageous marriages for his children. Much of the villages' communal life centered on church services and holy days. In Prussia, the peasants drew lots to choose conscripts required by the army. The noblemen handled external relationships and politics for the villages under their control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or decisions. Information about
7560-500: The figures for most of the Union Territories) in 2006 as per National Commission for Backward Classes . Mandal Commission developed 11 indicators or criteria to identify OBCs, of which four were economic. The National Sample Survey puts the figure at 41%. There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India, with census data compromised by partisan politics. It is generally estimated to be sizable, but higher than
7668-418: The figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or and National Sample Survey. Twenty-seven percent of reservations were recommended owing to the legal constraint that the total quantum of reservations should not exceed 50 percent. States that have already introduced reservations for OBC exceeding 27 percent will not be affected by this recommendation. With this general recommendation, the commission proposed
7776-470: The following overall scheme of reservation for OBC: These recommendations in total apply to all recruitment to public sector undertakings, both under the central and state governments as well as to nationalised banks. All private sector undertakings that have received financial assistance from the government in one form or another should also be obliged to recruit personnel on the aforesaid basis. All universities and affiliated colleges should also be covered by
7884-438: The group narrative to emphasise a martial character, however, the overall tenor of their movement has not been overtly egalitarian in the context of the larger Indian caste system. Yadavs benefited from Zamindari abolition in some states of north India like Bihar , but not to the extent that members of other Upper Backward Castes did. The term Yadav (or Yadava ) has been interpreted to mean "a descendant of Yadu ," who
7992-436: The high ritual status, which is defined as Sanskritisation . However, the OBC consolidation in some of the states of north India like Bihar , left many other OBC communities away from the development process. The political and economic prosperity was cornered by the dominant Backward Castes like Koeri , Kurmi and Yadav ; this was witnessed in the formation of political blocs in the state after 1995, in which, either side
8100-434: The higher status of Kshatriya. The Shudra status is explained by the nomadic nature of herdsmen, which constrained the ability of other groups in the varna system to validate the adherence to practices of ritual purity; by their involvement in castration of the animals, which was considered to be a ritually polluting act; and because the sale of milk, as opposed to personal use thereof, was thought to represent economic gain from
8208-570: The idea of OBC sub-categorisation. The National Commission for Backward Classes had recommended it in 2011 and a standing committee too had repeated this. The committee has a three-point mandate: The committee will have to deliver the report within 12 weeks of its constitution. The lower OBCs form around 35% of the population in Uttar Pradesh. OBC sub-categorisation has already been implemented at state level by 11 states: West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir region and Haryana, and
8316-407: The importance of peasants. Its leader Fernand Braudel devoted the first volume—called The Structures of Everyday Life —of his major work, Civilization and Capitalism 15th–18th Century to the largely silent and invisible world that existed below the market economy. Other research in the field of peasant studies was promoted by Florian Znaniecki and Fei Xiaotong , and in the post-1945 studies of
8424-456: The land and compelled them, often unwillingly, to become urban factory-workers, who came to occupy the socio-economic stratum formerly the preserve of the medieval peasants. This process happened in an especially pronounced and truncated way in Eastern Europe. Lacking any catalysts for change in the 14th century, Eastern European peasants largely continued upon the original medieval path until
8532-452: The lower caste groups. In support of the argument that the movements bore similarity, Jaffrelot cites Hetukar Jha , who says of the Bihar situation that "The real motive behind the attempts of the Yadavas, Kurmis and Koeris at Sanskritising themselves was to get rid of this socio-economic repression". The process of Sanskritisation often included creating a history. The first such for the Yadavs
8640-529: The movement for Sanskritisation of the community was the role of the Arya Samaj , whose representatives had been involved with the family of Singh since the late 1890s and who had been able to establish branches in various locations. Although this movement, founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati , favoured a caste hierarchy and also endogamy, its supporters believed that caste should be determined on merit rather than on heritage. They therefore encouraged Yadavs to adopt
8748-491: The nature of the Ahir caste/tribe. J. S. Alter notes that in North India the majority of the wrestlers are of the Yadav caste. He explains this as being due to their involvement in the milk business and dairy farms, which thus provides easy access to the milk and ghee deemed to be essential to a good diet. Although the Yadavs have formed a fairly significant proportion of the population in various areas, including 11% of that of Bihar in 1931, their interest in pastoral activities
8856-507: The number of Yadavs employed or selected by political and public organisations on the grounds of their numerical strength, including as judges, government ministers and regional governors. By 2003 the AIYM had expanded to cover seventeen states and Michelutti believed it to be the only organisation of its type that crossed both linguistic and cultural lines. It continues to update its literature, including websites, to further its belief that all claimed descendants of Krishna are Yadav. It has become
8964-461: The old name for a better one. In Bihar, the political advancement of Yadavs didn't improve their relative marginalisation in other fields. The spread of education among the community remained less as compared to more advanced Other Backward Castes like Awadhia Kurmi , Koeri and Bania . The attachment of Yadavs with the pastoral activities has been responsible behind their lower position in caste hierarchy as compared to owner cultivator castes among
9072-450: The order appointing such commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the commission. ... A commission so appointed shall investigate the matters referred to them and present to the president a report setting out the facts as found by them and making such recommendation as they think proper. A 1992 decision of the Supreme Court of India resulted in a requirement that 27% of civil service positions be reserved for members of OBCs. In
9180-410: The perceived common link to Krishna was used to campaign for the official recognition of the many and varied herding communities of India under the title of Yadav, rather than merely as a means to claim the rank of Kshatriya. Furthermore, that "... social leaders and politicians soon realised that their 'number' and the official proof of their demographic status were important political instruments on
9288-636: The policy, planning, and implementation of programmes relating to social and economic empowerment of OBCs, and matters relating to two institutions set up for the welfare of OBCs, the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation and the National Commission for Backward Classes . Under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution, the government must promote the welfare of the OBCs. The president may by order appoint
9396-474: The population of Nepal) were Yadav. The frequency of Yadavs by province was as follows: The frequency of Yadavs of Nepal was higher than national average (4.0%) in the following districts: Peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to
9504-646: The president on 1 January 1979. The commission is popularly known as the Mandal Commission, its chairman being B. P. Mandal , submitted a report in December 1980 that stated that the population of OBCs, which includes both Hindus and non-Hindus, was around 52 percent of the total population according to the Mandal Commission. The number of backward castes and communities was 3,743 in the initial list of Mandal Commission set up in 1979–80. The number of backward castes in Central list of OBCs has now increased to 5,013 (without
9612-426: The process of yadavisation and the concentration on two core aims – increasing the demographic coverage and campaigning for improved protection under the positive discrimination scheme for Backward Classes – that has been a singular feature of the AIYM, although it continues its work in other areas such as promotion of vegetarianism and teetotalism. Their proposals have included measures designed to increase
9720-466: The proposed inclusion of Jats in Central list of OBCs on the basis that Jats are already given OBC status in 9 States. On 21 July 2015, Supreme Court rejected Centre's review plea for its verdict of quashing Jat reservation in OBCs. Lists of OBCs are maintained by both the National Commission for Backward Classes and the individual states. The central list does not always reflect the state lists, which can differ significantly. A community identified as
9828-512: The religious connotations of their connections to the cow and Krishna were seized upon by those Yadavs seeking to further the process of Sanskritisation, and that it was Rao Bahadur Balbir Singh , a descendant of the last Abhira dynasty to be formed in India, who spearheaded this. Singh established the Ahir Yadav Kshatriya Mahasabha (AYKM) in 1910, which at once asserted that its Ahir constituents were of Kshatriya ritual rank in
9936-526: The rural population as a key element in the transition from feudalism to capitalism . Wolf and a group of scholars criticized both Marx and the field of Modernization theorists for treating peasants as lacking the ability to take action . James C. Scott 's field observations in Malaysia convinced him that villagers were active participants in their local politics even though they were forced to use indirect methods. Many of these activist scholars looked back to
10044-399: The same opinion as Jaffrelot, and noted that the traditional association with cattle, together with the belief in descent from Yadu, defines the community. According to David Mandelbaum , the association of the Yadav (and their constituent castes, Ahir and Gwala ) with cattle has impacted on their commonly viewed ritual status (varna) as Shudra , although the community's members often claim
10152-553: The superior organisational ability of the higher castes who opposed it, the unwillingness of the Yadavs to renounce their belief that they were natural leaders and that the Kurmi were somehow inferior was a significant factor in the lack of success. Similar problems beset a later planned caste union, the Raghav Samaj , with the Koeris. In the post-colonial period, according to Michelutti, it was
10260-568: The term "peasant" in a non-pejorative sense, as in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas adopted in 2018. In general English-language literature, the use of the word "peasant" has steadily declined since about 1970. The word "peasant" is derived from the 15th-century French word païsant , meaning one from the pays , or countryside; ultimately from
10368-647: The three communities formed the Triveni Sangh political party, which allegedly had a million dues-paying members by 1936. However, the organisation was hobbled by competition from the Congress-backed Backward Class Federation , which was formed around the same time, and by co-option of community leaders by the Congress party. The Triveni Sangh suffered badly in the 1937 elections, although it did win in some areas. Aside from an inability to counter
10476-471: The top creamy layer of the 'backward' caste or class, thus keeping the weakest among the weak always weak and leaving the fortunate layers to consume the whole cake". 1992 Indra Sawhney & Others v. Union of India judgment laid down the limits of the state's powers: it upheld the ceiling of 50 percent quotas, emphasized the concept of "social backwardness", and prescribed 11 indicators to ascertain backwardness. The nine-judge Bench judgement also established
10584-448: The traditional rural population in countries where smallholders farmed much of the land. More generally, the word "peasant" is sometimes used to refer pejoratively to those considered to be "lower class", perhaps defined by poorer education and/or a lower income. The open field system of agriculture dominated most of Europe during medieval times and endured until the nineteenth century in many areas. Under this system, peasants lived on
10692-513: The union territory of Puducherry. The term of the commission has been extended to 31 May 2019. Its report stated that prime beneficiaries of 97% OBC reservation include Yadav, Kurmi, Jat (Jats of Rajasthan except those of Bharatpur and Dholpur district are in Central OBC list), Saini, Thevar, Ezhava and Vokkaliga castes. After 13 extensions to its tenure, Rohini Commission submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu on 31 July 2023. The report
10800-399: The upper OBCs viz. Koeri, Kurmi, and Yadav's political ascendancy went hand in hand with land reforms and peasant movements, benefitting these three castes. These movements changed not only their political position but also their socio-economic profile. However, in the case of Madhya Pradesh, the national political parties like Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress accommodated
10908-635: The varna system, descended from Yadu (as was Krishna), and really known as Yadavs. The organisation claimed support from the facts that various Raj ethnologists had earlier claimed a connection between the Ahir and the Abhira, and because their participation in recent events such as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had demonstrated that Ahirs were good fighters. The AYKM was a self-contained unit and did not try to forge links with similar bodies among other caste groups that claimed Kshatriya descent at that time. It had some success, notably in breaking down some of
11016-534: The very strict traditions of endogamy within the community, and it gained some additional momentum as people from rural areas gradually migrated away from their villages to urban centres such as Delhi. Ameliorating the effects of strict endogamy was seen as being conducive to causing the community as a whole to unite, rather than existing as smaller subdivisions within it. Rao has said that the events of this period meant that "the term Yadava refers to both an ethnic category and an ideology". Of particular significance in
11124-516: The wearing of the thread by Ahirs led to occasions of violence. Jaffrelot has contrasted the motivations of Yadav Sanskritisation with that of the Nairs , another Indian community. He notes that Gyanendra Pandey , Rao and M. N. Srinivas all assert that Yadav Sanskritisation was not a process to imitate or raise the community to ritual parity with the higher ranks but rather to undermine the authority of those ranks. He contrasts this "subversion" theory with
11232-591: Was based on a strong ideological model of descent. This descent-based kinship structure was also linked to a specific Kshatriya and their religious tradition centred on Krishna mythology and pastoral warrior hero-god cults. The Yadavs are included in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category in the Indian states of Bihar , Chhattisgarh , Delhi , Haryana , Jharkhand , Karnataka , Madhya Pradesh , Odisha , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh , and West Bengal . In 2001,
11340-480: Was dominated by these three castes. Within this section of OBCs called upper-OBC, there also exists disparity in educational attainment and political mobilisation. While the Yadavs were the biggest beneficiary in political achievements, their political progress didn't improve their position in the caste hierarchy and the spread of education among them also remained less as compared to more educationally advanced communities like Awadhia Kurmi , Koeri and Bania . Since
11448-480: Was established by a presidential order on 29 January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar and submitted its report on 30 March 1955. It had prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities for the entire country, of which 837 had been classified as the "most backward". Some of the most notable recommendations of the Kalelkar Commission were: The commission in its final report recommended "caste as
11556-555: Was not traditionally matched by ownership of land and consequently they were not a "dominant caste". Their traditional position, which Jaffrelot describes as "low caste peasants", also militated against any dominant role. Their involvement in pastoralism accounts for a traditional view of Yadavs as being peaceful, while their particular association with cows has a special significance in Hinduism, as do their beliefs regarding Krishna. Against this image, Russell and Lal , writing in 1916, called
11664-418: Was written in the late nineteenth century by Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar , a schoolteacher who became private secretary to a Maharajah. In 1959, Khedekar's work was published by his son, Raghunath Vithal Khedkar , who was a surgeon, under the title The Divine Heritage of the Yadavas . There has been subsequent work to develop his ideas, notably by K. C. Yadav and J. N. Singh Yadav . Khedekar's history made
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