Ep 296: Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad

The evil of caste will be solved not by deliverance from up top but empowerment from down below. Dalit scholar and writer Chandra Bhan Prasad joins Amit Varma in episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the cure for caste lies in capitalism -- and why his two great heroes are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Adam Smith. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Chandra Bhan Prasad on Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia. Mercatus, Times of India and Google Scholar. 2. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs -- Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 3. What is Ambedkarism? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 4. Dalit Phobia: Why Do They Hate Us -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 5. When Adam Smith entered an Ambedkar village -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 6. In defence of suit, boot -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 7. How Piketty got it wrong -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 8. Who was the real Ambedkar? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 9. On Ambedkarism, Caste and Dalit Capitalism -- Chandra Bhan Prasad in conversation with Shruti Rajagopalan in the Ideas of India podcast. 10. 'Indian languages carry the legacy of caste' -- Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 11. Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era -- Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and D Shyam Babu. 12. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 13. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 14. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed caste with TM Krishna, Shruti Rajagopalan and Manu Pillai. 15. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed the 1991 reforms with Shruti Rajagopalan+Ajay Shah, Vinay Sitapati and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 16. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht. 17. Ramchandra Keh Gaye Siya Se -- Song from Gopi. 18. The Laws of Manu (Manu Smriti) -- The Penguin edition & the Buhler translation. 19. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality - Amit Varma. 20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? - Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 21. Devesh Kapur at University of Pennsylvania. 22. Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias -- The New York Times profile of Chandra Bhan Prasad by Somini Sengupta. 23. In an Indian Village, Signs of the Loosening Grip of Caste -- The Washington Post piece on Chandra Bhan Prasad by Emily Wax. 24. Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 25. Aims and Objects of the Republican Party of India -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 26. Ambedkar's memorandum to the British (in Volume 10 of his collected works). This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Gond painting.

[@ud1976]

I listened to it speeded up and it was great!

[@ivanlobo397]

Great episode Amit. If possible an episode with Kancha Illaiah would also be nice.

[@vikas__patel24]

I m saying true story here.. There are one family living well outside of our village.. three homes .. all brothers .. Economically settled .. father of all three was working in bsnl.. all three brothers doing reasonably well. Infact one of them was captain of our cricket team .. his name is balwant. Except him there were two three guys who came from obc and rest of us are upper caste in team... When I was child I remember when some animals (dogs,cat) died onnstreet we used to call dalit (bhangya,sorry for this word) to pickbthe dead body and throw somewhere else.. also as guest said they used to come to beg for food... but things have improved now. But thing is they are still living outside of village (that's not an issue) .. but they are ignored (not deliberately) by rest of villagers.. yes they talk with each other but never go to dalit house and drink glass of water... When we were younger, we used to go to his home bcoz we play cricket all day.. but we are now above 30 years old .. and all the people just forget him.. not even say hi to him except me (I m saying this bcoz I don't ignore him) .. I am not claiming I have no class and caste biased.. They don't visit temple either.. our captain used to come in temple when we were playing together .. not now. There is another story in our village.. Once one upper caste person went to see girl for marriage .. he took his friend with him who was dalit .. when girl family get to know .. they refused just bcoz he came with dalit at girl home... My observation is limited but things are improved but not as much as it should be..

[@suppa585]

Your observation is right..But as the podcast suggests capitalism and economic progress will make things better. It's the same story with Patels; in olden days Patel community was working on Rajput (Darbar) land holdings and did not have any rights. First with land reforms and then with education the community rose up and produced many successful businessmen (including my associates, financiers etc) and now cannot be considered of low status like old days. Of course there are other factors in play but capital matters.

[@rajnishsaha9073]

Its like a world existing and invisible . Very deep .. anything that can propel someone away from the clutches of cast , be it English , attire , financial prosperity.. very grounded and persistent..

[@dalitnotepower4497]

Sir, often, I wonder the distance between knowledge about my village and the Indian Universities...

[@karmyogi-2.1]

Two things are keeping the caste system surviving - 1. Vote bank politics - less government (libertarianism) is one solution 2. Current caste based reservation system - there must be creamy layer in SC/ST reservation too. For OBC, the current income limit of 8lakh is too high. This covers about 85% of Indian population. It should be pegged to at median income i.e., about 1.5 lakh per annum.

[@muhammadumer6565]

This is boring to listen .