Abstract
This presentation is concerned with oppression and discrimination along the lines and caste
and tribe in India. The Nehruvian expectation that caste and tribe based oppression would be
‘overcome’ by capitalism and modernity is all but a distant dream. Ascribed, inherited social
oppressive relations and identities such as caste, tribe, and religion continue to be alive and
kicking in spite of India’s extreme economic growth over the last 30 years. Based on my own
as well as collaborative research on oppression and exploitation of Adivasi and Dalit seasonal
labour migrants in India, I show that present-day oppression is best understood as an
inextricable part of modern economic development. Historical divisions and relations of
oppression are systemically put to new use within the modern economy, and this reinforces
existing social and economic hierarchies instead of softening them. This, it is suggested, is in
fact a common process under global capitalism. Drawing on scholars such as Cedric
Robinson and Stuart Hall it is proposed that capitalism is always racialised, and that caste and
tribe based oppression is part and parcel of this. This understanding, it is shown, differs a lot
from Wilkerson’s idealistic race-caste comparison. It is also pointed out that incorporating
caste-based oppression within racial capitalist thinking enables a long overdue dropping of
on-going essentialisation of Indian ‘otherness’ through ‘caste’.
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