Scheduled Castes and OBCs of Chhattisgarh

Prerequisites

• Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Population: the Census 2011 numbers
• Women’s Emancipation and Caste Reform: Guru Ghasidas, the Ramnami Samaj and Pt. Sundarlal Sharma in the all-India reform story
• Fundamental Rights: Articles 15(4), 16(4) and 17, on which reservation and anti-untouchability law rest

The Hook: A White Flag in Every Satnami Village

Why it matters: GS-IV Part 3 asks about the SC and OBC communities of the state, the Satnami movement and social change in the plains. Reservation and caste enumeration are live issues for the Essay and Interview as well.

The Scheduled Castes: Numbers and Geography

SC communities

• In the state’s SC list, Satnami appears within the Chamar group entry, together with Ramnami, Surjyabanshi and Surjyaramnami and other names. Historically, most Satnamis came from the Chamar caste of the plains, and the new name was itself a claim to a new, dignified identity.
• Other SC communities of the state include the Mahar, Ganda and Ghasia, among others.

The Satnami Panth: A Movement From Below

Facts first

Sociological analysis

1. Assertion from below: unlike reform led by upper castes, the Satnam panth was built by the excluded themselves. It created a parallel religious order with its own guru, symbols and fairs, so Satnamis did not need temples that excluded them.
2. Status claim through purity: giving up meat and liquor and rejecting idols is a form of Sanskritisation that also rejects Brahminical hierarchy. The historian Saurabh Dube’s Untouchable Pasts (1998) shows how the Satnamis built a distinct identity while still contesting caste ranking in village life.
3. Land and conflict: many Satnamis were cultivators in the plains, so they competed with higher castes for land and status. This made the panth socially and, later, politically significant.
4. Reform from above meets reform from below: Pt. Sundarlal Sharma led Dalits into the Rajim temple and gave the janeu (sacred thread) to Satnamis in the 1920s, and Gandhi’s Harijan tour reached Chhattisgarh in November 1933.
5. Politics today: SC-reserved seats and Satnami organisations make the community a major electoral constituency in the plains.

Untouchability and Discrimination Today

• Article 17 abolishes untouchability. The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 punish its practice and atrocities.
• Forms that persist in parts of rural India, including Chhattisgarh: separate seating at feasts, restrictions at water sources or temples, social boycott, and violence when SCs assert rights over land or in elections.
• Positive change: education, reservation in jobs and panchayats, urbanisation (Raipur, Bhilai, Bilaspur), and caste organisations have reduced open untouchability, but endogamy and social distance in marriage remain strong.

The OBCs: The Plains Peasantry

Who they are

OBCs are not counted in the Census (SCs and STs are). The main OBC communities of Chhattisgarh include:

The plains village: caste and agrarian structure

• Under British rule the malguzari settlement (from the 1860s) made village malguzars responsible for revenue, creating a landed village elite. Malguzari and other intermediary tenures were abolished after independence by the land reform laws of the early 1950s.
• After abolition, OBC cultivating castes (Sahu, Kurmi, Marar and others) became the core of the land-owning peasantry of the rice plains. SC households are more often small farmers and agricultural labourers.
• Village life still runs on service relations between castes (Raut herders, Nai barbers, Lohar smiths, Kumhar potters), though these have weakened with cash wages and mechanisation.
• Caste samaj (समाज) organisations for each community (Sahu Samaj, Kurmi Samaj, Satnami Samaj and so on) settle disputes, regulate marriage, organise mass weddings (सामूहिक विवाह), run hostels and press political demands. Sociologically they are a shift from the jati panchayat of a single village to a state-wide caste association.

Mobility and change

• Sanskritisation (vegetarianism, Hindu rituals) and politicisation (caste associations, OBC leaders in every party) have raised OBC status.
• Paddy procurement and a large rice economy have strengthened the landed OBC peasantry; landless SC and OBC households still form a large share of seasonal migrants to brick kilns. See Tribal Problems.

The Reservation Debate in Chhattisgarh

Constitutional frame

The Chhattisgarh story (a live issue)

timeline
    title Reservation in Chhattisgarh state jobs and education
    2000 : Inherited from MP - ST 20%, SC 16%, OBC 14% (50%)
    2012 : Amendment - ST 32%, SC 12%, OBC 14% (58%)
    2019 : Ordinance sought OBC 27%, SC 13% plus EWS - stayed by the High Court
    2022 : High Court strikes down the 58% scheme (19 Sep); Assembly passes bills for ST 32, SC 13, OBC 27, EWS 4 (76%) in December
    2023 : 2022 bills still awaiting the Governor's assent; Supreme Court allows recruitment to continue on an interim basis

The sociological core of the debate:

• ST groups argue that their 30.6% population share justifies 32%.
• SC groups objected to the 2012 cut from 16% to 12%.
• OBC groups argue that 14% is far below their share and that Mandal’s 27% should apply.
• The 50% ceiling in Indra Sawhney collides with a state where STs, SCs and OBCs together are a very large majority. Hence the demand for caste data (the 2019 Commission, Census 2027).

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

These are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. The largest Scheduled Caste community of Chhattisgarh is the ________ community.
2. The only SC-reserved Lok Sabha seat in Chhattisgarh is ________.
3. The Ramnami Samaj was founded by ________ in the 1890s.

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about reservation in Chhattisgarh:

1. The 2012 amendment raised ST reservation to 32% and reduced SC reservation to 12%.
2. The Chhattisgarh High Court upheld the 58% reservation in September 2022.
3. The bills passed by the Assembly in December 2022 proposed 27% reservation for OBCs.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only (b) 1 and 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Match List-I (Movement) with List-II (Associated place):

(a) A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4 (b) A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4 (c) A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4 (d) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2

Q3. The Quantifiable Data Commission set up by the Chhattisgarh government in 2019 was meant to:

(a) Count the ST population for delimitation (b) Survey OBC and EWS households (c) Prepare the state’s Human Development Report (d) Identify PVTGs

Q4. Which teaching is not associated with Guru Ghasidas?

(a) Satnam as the name of God (b) Rejection of idol worship (c) Rejection of caste discrimination (d) Animal sacrifice to the village deity

Q5. Which constitutional amendment gave constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes?

(a) 89th (b) 102nd (c) 103rd (d) 105th

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. Evaluate the contribution of the Satnami movement to social change in Chhattisgarh. (150 words)

Q2. “Reservation in Chhattisgarh reflects the tension between social justice and the 50% ceiling.” Discuss. (250 words)

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Cultural Institutions of Chhattisgarh: panths, samaj, fairs and the state’s cultural bodies
• Fairs (Melas): Giraudpuri, Damakheda and the Bada Bhajan Mela in detail
• Social Legislation: PCR Act 1955 and the Atrocities Act 1989
• Constitutional Bodies: NCSC, NCST and NCBC