In 21st century India, caste still decides what you do

Caste continues to be one of the biggest factors that determine a person’s occupation going by the latest census data on nonfarm workers. Occupations traditionally considered as ‘lowly’, like sweeping and leather work, continue to be dominated by scheduled castes in general, more so by the specific castes associated with such work. And the jobs at the top are almost entirely in the grip of those who are not from scheduled castes or tribes.

Among coveted jobs at the top, those entirely in the private sector—corporate managers and business professionals — have the worst representation of SCs and STs. About 93% of corporate manager jobs are held by non-SC/ST people. In the case of sectors with significant government presence, such as teaching and healthcare, the scenario is much better.

It is difficult to say from the current data set how much this skew in the presence of SCs and STs in many professions is because of class — as class closely mirrors caste in India — and how much is due to actual caste discrimination. But what is amply evident is that the link between caste and occupation remains strong. Also, worryingly, the link between occupations traditionally viewed as ‘lowly’, such as sweepers and leather workers, seems to be as strong in younger age groups as in older ones.


Among the aspirational jobs that TOI looked at in the census data (see graphics), SCs have the highest proportion among teachers and healthcare professionals, 8.9% and 9.3%, respectively, though still well below their proportion of 14% in all non-farm workers. STs have proportional representation in the teaching profession in almost all states.

Another profession with representation of SCs (13.7%) and STs (9.3%) almost in proportion to their population shares is that of policemen, again totally in the government sector. In fact, STs have a representation among police personnel well over their proportion of 4% among all non-farm workers, thanks to many states with significant tribal populations taking them in large numbers into the police force.

Despite several reports of mid-day meal cooks belonging to scheduled castes facing discrimination, intriguingly, there is a fairly high proportion of SCs among cooks in several states, including Punjab (44.3%) and Uttar Pradesh (21.3%), two states generally seen as caste-ridden. Why this is the case is not clear.

Among lower rung professions, those involving hard manual labour again show a pattern of SC and ST representation well above their proportion in the non-farm worker population. In the middling professions, their presence improves considerably compared to the aspirational professions, but remains lower than their share in all non-farm jobs.

There are only two professions, leather work and sweeping, where the scheduled castes are in a majority. For instance, of the 46,000 leather workers in Uttar Pradesh, 41,000 are from castes traditionally associated with leather work — Chamars, Dhusia, Jatava, etc. Similarly, in Rajasthan, of 76,000 sweepers, almost 52,000 belong to castes such as Bhangi, Mehtar and Chura, associated traditionally with this job.

Though there are signs of SCs breaking into better jobs to some extent, in the case of castes associated with sweeping and leather work, a significant chunk is still stuck in these traditional occupations. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, of the total number of SC persons in the 35-59 age group working as sweepers, 63.4% are Balmikis. Even in the 15-34 age group, 62% of SC sweepers are Balmikis, showing how little has changed for the new generation. Similarly, of SCs engaged in leather work in the 35-59 age group, Chamars, Dhusias, Jatavas account for 88.2%. In the 15-34 age group, too, that proportion is 88.2%. A similar pattern holds in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as well.

ASPIRATIONAL JOBS
Among aspirational jobs, those where the government has a significant presence — such as teaching and healthcare — are the only ones in which the proportion of SCs and tribes is anywhere close to their share of the non-farm working population as a whole. Private sector-dominated jobs such as corporate managers and business professionals have the lowest proportion of SCs and STs. In most states in North East, however, STs dominate most of these professions well over even their high proportion in the overall population.

MIDDLING JOBS
In middling jobs, SCs find proportional presence in some states like Himachal and Uttarakhand. Yet, in the relatively more coveted jobs in this category, like clerks and salespersons, drivers and policemen the proportion of SCs remains low in all states as non-SC/STs take the lion’s share. Interestingly, the profession with the highest representation of STs is police. This is mainly due to states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra having large number of STs in their police force, way above their proportion in the non-farm working population.

BOTTOM OF THE HEAP
In jobs at the bottom of the social scale, there is an inversion as the presence of SCs and STs is way above their proportion in the non-farm working population, especially jobs requiring hard manual labour such as mining and building construction. However, the real difference is in jobs traditionally considered ‘lowly’, such as leather workers and sweepers, which are dominated by SCs in most states, especially the northern ones. Kerala bucks the trend for both these jobs: SCs account for just 13% of leather workers and 23% of sweepers in the state.