Question

In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as “low”?

Answer 1

• Children from lower castes and tribal groups started getting educated in Chrisitian Missionary schools.
• Education equipped these children to start a new life and not depend on jobs which were given based on caste.
• Jobs started opening up in cities and the poor started leaving cities.
• There were jobs in municipalities and factories.
• There was demand for labour due to construction of buildings, roads, drains etc.
• Due to demand for labour many people who were from low castes and people who were poor started going to the cities.
• Cities had to be cleaned, labour was required in cities for jobs like rickshaw pullers, diggers, coolies, palanquin bearers, sweepers, brick layers, sewage cleaners etc.
• Some people also went to work in plantations in Indonesia, Trinidad, Mauritius and Assam.
• Although work in the new locations were hard, people of the low castes saw it as an opportunity to get away from upper caste landlords who oppressed and humiliated people of low castes.
• There were opportunities in the Army. For example there was a Mahar regiment in the Army for Mahar people who were considered untouchables.
• Father of Dr B.R.Ambedkar a leader in Dalit Movement taught in an army school