Caste and Socio-economic Indicators in Rural and Urban India

In what follows, using IHDS-II, we show statistically significant caste disparities in each marker of middle-class status in rural and urban India, with SCs and STs at the bottom, OBCs in the middle, while the other Forward Castes and Brahmins on the top of distribution of socio-economic resources. The analyses suggest that the caste divide continues to play a significant role in social mobility, and is therefore also a significant determinant of middle-class membership. Caste still impacts individuals’ access to the income generating capital and directly affects class cleavages. Tables A5.1 and A5.2 provide information on per capita consumption expenditure (mean), average household expenditure on education, average total number of household assets, social networks, and highest level of adult education by caste groups in rural and urban India, respectively. The first row of each table provides information on household caste. Of the total 27,213 sample households in the IHDS-II in rural areas, 4.17 per cent (1,135 households) were Brahmins; 18.27 per cent (5,548 households) belonged to the Forward Castes (except Brahmins); 42.26 per cent (11,103 households) to OBCs; 24.3 per cent (6,298 households) to SCs; and 11 per cent (3,129 households) to STs. As evident in Table A5.1, there are statistically significant caste disparities in land ownership, highest level of education in adults (aged 21 and above), total number of household assets, and consumption expenditure across rural India. When compared to the Brahmins and the Forward Castes, SCs and STs are less likely to own any land, have smaller average landholdings and have higher proportions of illiterates in the households. In rural India, SCs and then STs have the highest proportion of landless households (52.82 per cent of the SCs and 38.37 per cent of STs in rural India do not own any land). They also have the lowest average area of land owned and cultivated. Similarly, examining the highest level of adult education (mean) among different caste groups in rural India shows the average highest level of adult education is the lowest among SC and ST households, followed by OBCs: the average highest level of education in adults among Brahmins is 10 years, for Forward Castes is 8 years, while among the SCs and STs the average highest level of adult education is 5 years.