The Bhar are a

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

in India.

History

Influenced by the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

movement, as were members of other castes, Baijnath Prasad Adhyapak published ''Rajbhar Jati ka Itihas'' in 1940. This book attempted to prove that the Rajbhar were formerly rulers who were related to the ancient Bhar tribe.

Present

Community that is related to the Bhar by occupation in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

is Rajbhar. It falls under other backward classes in Uttar Pradesh. There were proposals in 2013 that some or all of these communities in the state should be reclassified as

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

under India's system of positive discrimination; this would have involved declassifying them from the

Other Backwards Class The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

(OBC) category. Whether or not this would happen was a significant issue in the campaign for the

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

. They are among 17 OBC communities that were again proposed for Scheduled Caste status by the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

-controlled

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...

. However, this proposal, which relates to

votebank politics Votebank (also spelled vote-bank or vote bank), in the political discourse of India, is a term referring to a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections. ...

, has been stayed by the courts; the prior attempt had been rejected by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. In 2019, Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh again tried to include these 17 castes as scheduled caste but due to objection raised by Centre and Allahabad High Court, the proposal was stopped.

References

Citations Bibliography * *

External links

* *{{citation , title=Identity Crisis of the Rajbanshi Community in Dakshin Dinajpur after Independence: A Historical Appraisal, work=Govt Regd. English Quarterly Multi-disciplinary International Research Journal, url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308963112 Indian castes Fishing castes Other Backward Classes of Uttar Pradesh

History

Present

See also

References

External links