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Indian Society The administration also took an interest in the welfare Periyar (E.V. Ramasami of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed Naickar) classes’ at that time. It was as part of these efforts that the (1879–1973) Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. This is how the terms ‘Scheduled Tribes’ and the ‘Scheduled Castes’ came into being. Castes at the bottom of the hierarchy that suffered severe discrimination, including all the so-called ‘untouchable’ castes, were included among the Scheduled Castes. (You will read more on untouchability and the struggles against it in Chapter 5 on social exclusion.) Thus colonialism brought about major changes in the institution of caste. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the institution of caste underwent fundamental changes during the colonial period. Not just India, but the whole world was undergoing rapid change during this period Periyar(E.V.RamasamiNaickar) due to the spread of capitalism and modernity. is known as a rationalist and the leader of the lower caste C aste in the P resent movement in South India. He aroused people to realise that Indian independence in 1947 marked a big, but ultimately all men are equal, and that it is onlypartialbreakwiththecolonialpast.Casteconsiderations thebirthrightofeveryindividual to enjoy liberty and equality. had inevitably played a role in the mass mobilisations of the nationalist movement. Efforts to organise the “depressed classes” and particularly the untouchable castes predated the nationalist movement, having begun in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was an initiative taken from both ends of the caste spectrum – by upper caste progressive reformers as well as by members of the lower castes such as Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar in western India, Ayyankali, Sri Narayana Guru, Iyotheedass and Periyar (E.V. Ramaswamy Naickar) in the South. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar began organising protests against untouchability from the 1920s onwards. Anti-untouchability programmes became a significant part of the Congress agenda so that, by the time Independence was on the horizon, there was a broad agreement across the spectrum of the nationalist movement to abolish caste distinctions. The dominant view in the nationalist movement was to treat caste as a social evil and as a colonial ploy to divide Indians. But the nationalist leaders, above all, Mahatma Gandhi, were able to simultaneously work for the upliftment of the lower castes, advocate the abolition of untouchability and other caste restrictions, and, at the same time, reassure the landowning upper 40 castes that their interests, too, would be looked after. The post-Independence Indian state inherited and reflected these contradictions. On the one hand, the state was committed to the abolition of Reprint 2026-27