‘Most Backward Castes’, State Neglect and Rage: Violence in Rural North India

Abstract

Complaints filed in Indian police stations offer a unique lens on the marginality and violence experienced by a range of castes recognised as Other Backward Classes (OBC), beneficiaries of the state’s reservation policies. Focusing on reports registered by a caste group within the OBC category, this article illuminates two separate forms of violent conflict: inter-caste conflicts over scarce resources within the Nishad/Mallah caste and their competition and strife with other upwardly mobile disadvantaged groups. The failure of the state to offer vulnerable groups protection is a critical element in the marginality experienced by low-caste non-Dalit groups.