The eruption of caste as a political issue in India has focused attention on the power wielded by Brahmins who comprise 3.5% of the population.

Judging by people’s names, which generally reveal caste, the newly formed 15 man cabinet includes five Brahmins. Most newspaper editors are Brahmins, which may explain why the press has been unanimous in opposing the reservation of government jobs for low castes.

Nearly all senior government officials are Brahmins, as are a large percentage of military officers. The Nehru political dynasty is Brahmin.

Khushwant Singh, the author and journalist, who is a Sikh, said that during British rule Brahmins held only 3% of high-ranking government jobs. Now they held 70%. Out of 500 posts from the rank of deputy secretary upwards, 310 were held by Brahmins. Nineteen of the 26 state secretaries are Brahmins, as are 13 of the 27 governors and lieutenant-governors,

Nine of the 16 Supreme Court judges are Brahmins. Of the 330 high court judges, 166 are Brahmins. So are 258 of the 438 district magistrates. And 2,376 out of 3.300 officers of the elite Indian Administrative Service are Brahmins.

In politics, too, Brahmins are strongly placed. Of 530 MPs in the Lok Sabha (lower house), 190 are Brahmins, In the Rajya Sabha (upper house), 89 out of 244 members are Brahmins.

Mr. Singh declaring that he had not the slightest prejudice for or against any caste wrote in a magazine article that Brahmins held between 36 and 63% of all plum jobs in the country, He observed that in whatever sphereliterary, scientific and bureaucratic-the Brahmin was top dog. “How this has come about do not know. But I can scarcely believe that it is entirely due to the Brahmins’ higher IQ”,

During British rule, the Kayastha community from north India and Bengal, not the Brahmins, dominated the administration with their clerical skills. To this day they are influential in government and the press. An Indian proverb declares: Bribe a Kayastha, feed a Brahmin, flatter a Rajput, and thrash a low caste.”

Under British rule in 1935, Kayasthas held 40% of the top posts Muslims came next, with 35%. Christians, who nowadays are almost non-existent in the upper reaches of government, held 15% of the top administrative jobs.

The figures may explain why most members of parliament and the higher bureaucracy were appalled late last year at plans by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a Rajput, then the prime minister, to introduce job quotas for “backward” castes, His successor, Chandra Shekhar, also a Rajput, has quietly put the issue aside, doubtless because it is so politically explosive, Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress (I) party, which is overwhelmingly dominated by Brahmins in its upper tanks, opposes low-caste job quotas-

(DALIT VOICE)

Article extracted from this publication >> July 12, 1991