Thus, a society has farmers who produce food, factory workers who produce goods, sweepers who clean buildings, cobblers who produce shoes, and so on. The burden of these tasks is distributed in society, through what we call ‘specialisation’. In other words, living in a society means that no one person has to perform all the tasks required for their sustenance. The basic point of social organisation is to share responsibilities. Responding to a commonly stated defence of caste (that it is just another name for division of labour), Dr Ambedkar succinctly yet profoundly describes the uniqueness of the caste system and why it is problematic. But in no civilised society is division of labour accompanied by this unnatural division of labourers into watertight compartments … it is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other.”
Civilised society undoubtedly needs division of labour. What the Communist Manifesto is to the capitalist world, Annihilation of Caste is to India.“The Caste System is not merely a division of labour. Christophe Jaffrelot, author of Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: This edition is truly a remarkable achievement. Satish Deshpande, Professor of Sociology, Delhi University A robust edition of an under-appreciated classic.
She manages to convey an intimate and deeply felt sensitivity to the history that produced Annihilation of Caste. Roy’s essay has the sharp political thrust one has come to expect from her Uma Chakravarti, author of Everyday Lives, Everyday HistorieĪrundhati Roy’s ‘The Doctor and the Saint’ works both at an emotive and an argumentative level. Marvellous writing with conceptual clarity and political understanding – something the world should know about. No Hindu who prizes his faith above life itself can afford to underrate the importance of this indictment.
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