Social Status
The social status of the Mazbhi Sikhs has varied over time. Unlike several other Dalit groups that still practise Hinduism, the Mazhabi Sikhs have abandoned all ties with Hinduism and its traditional caste roles. During the British raj, the Mazbhis were listed as an agricultural caste on British censuses of caste populations. Historically the Mazhabi Sikhs are generally found throughout the Punjab province, however the Mazhabis are most numerously found in Ferozepore, Lahore, Amritsar and Faridkot. The Mazhabi Sikhs perform much of the agricultural labour in these areas.
In spite of the Sikhism's egalitarian tenets, many Jat Sikhs continued to look down upon the Mazhabis. In March 1966, the Federation of Mazhabi Sikhs offered to support Arya Samaj and Jan Sangh in an agitation against the formation of the Jat Sikh-majority Punjabi Suba. According to a report published in The Tribune on 16 March 1966, a spokesperson for the organization stated that "the Sikh Scheduled Castes had been reduced to a position of mere serfs by the Sikh landlords who would literally crush the Mazhabi Sikhs if Punjabi Suba was formed." In 2005, 56 expelled employees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee abandoned Sikhism, and alleged that they were being discriminated against because they were Mazhabis. Economically poor Mazhabi sikhs can still face discrimination and violence from Sikhs of upper castes in Punjab's rural areas
The Government of India recognises Mazhabi Sikh as a "Scheduled Caste", as part of their official affirmative action program. The urban Mazbhis have made social and economic progress over the years, and are very active in the Panjab Akali party (Sikh nationalist party). However, poverty and illiteracy is still rampant among the Mazhabi Sikhs living in the rural areas of Punjab.
Read more about this topic: Mazhabi
Famous quotes containing the words social status, social and/or status:
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)
“The social forces that operate on a family during the daughter’s formative years continue to shape her experience. Thus the families, schools, and jobs that involve poor women are likely to be very hierarchically arranged, demanding conformity, passivity, and obedience—all unsupportive of continued intellectual growth.”
—Mary Field Belenky (20th century)
“The censorship method ... is that of handing the job over to some frail and erring mortal man, and making him omnipotent on the assumption that his official status will make him infallible and omniscient.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)