DP - RIGHTS October - 06 RB22 MAINSTREAM, 30 SEP 2006 Why Khap Panchayats remains Strong in Haryana RANBIR SINGH The persistence of the hold of the traditional institution of Khap Panchayat of the Jats in Haryana in a modern democratic and secular political system remains an enigma for social scientists, mediamen and other enlightened sections of society throughout the country. Some of their retrograde decisions, such as the breaking of the already solemnised marriages and preventing already fixed marriages on the ground that these violate the existing and the accepted practices among the exogamous gotras (clans) of Jats, have received wide publicity in the media during the past one year or so.1 A Khap Panchayat had been blamed for provoking the burning of more than fifty houses of the Dalits at Gohana, a town of Haryana not far from Delhi, in retaliation of the murder of a Jatyouthby some Dalits. It had also been reported that a gathering of Sarva Khap Panchayat (a loose federation of the Khap Panchayats) had threatened the State Government to withdraw cases against those accused of participating in the carnage.2 Therefore, it becomes essential to describe their nature and to discuss the reasons that account for the persistence of their hold in the Haryana. According to Prem Chowdhary, 3 the Khap Panchayats are Caste Panchayats. But M.C. Pardhan4 regards them as Clan Councils and Khajan Singh Sangwan5 considers them as MultiVillage Panchayats. However, all of them agree that these are Traditional Panchayats. It is also essential to distinguish them from the caste associations. The author is a Consultant, Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri. 1/2 While the membership of a Khap Panchayat is obligatory, that of the caste associations is voluntary. Besides, while the Khap Panchayats are local community based organisations, the caste associations are State as well as national level organisations. Another peculiar feature of the Khap Panchayats of Haryana is that only the Jats have these institutions but other castes do not. That is why M.C. Pradhan has conceptualised the Khap Panchayats as the political system of the Jats of northern India.6 However, according to Surat Singh, President of the Chaubisi Sarva Khap Panchayat of Meham (District Rohtak), the Khap Panchayat is neither confined to a caste nor to a gotra. It includes all the castes (Chattis Biradari) residing in a particular area and is known by the name of the gotra which is most numerous in it. Some of the Khap Panchayats are also known by the name of the locality such as Satrod Chaurasi Khap Panchayat (Hisar). He has argued that the Khap Panchayats have evolved such festivals that promote love in society. They have also always fought against injustice and oppression from within and aggression from abroad. And, they are neither anti-women not anti-Dalit.7 However, it is difficult to accept his perception of Khap Panchayats on the basis of the empirical reality as some of their decisions have certainly been anti-women and anti-Dalit. BE that as it may, these Khap Panchayats continue to exercise considerable clout in Haryana on account of various reasons. In the first instance, despite modernisation during the colonial and post- Traditional Systems colonial periods as a result of the introduction of the Western system of education, development of means and media of communication, urbanisation and industrialisation of the Haryana region, the bulk of Jats remain highly traditional due to their predominantly conservative culture. Consequently the kinship ties based on the belief of descent of the clan (gotra) from a common ancestor keeps them tied to this traditional institution. Secondly, the acceleration in the pace of modernisation after the attainment of Statehood by Haryana on November 1,1966 and the consequent cracks in their traditional structure and culture have created in the Jats an apprehension regarding the future of their clan and caste identities of which they are very proud. And, hence they have begun to rely on the traditional institution of Khap Panchayat as a defence mechanism for preserving these. Thirdly, these relics of the medieval period have been able to survive due to the failure of the Statutory Panchayats in capturing the space occupied by the Khap Panchayats as repositories of the social capital by performing the role of conflict resolution and system maintenance and by consistently taking up cudgels against state oppression on the one hand and social evils on the other. The Statutory Panchayats had remained weak during the colonial period due to the hostility of the bureaucracy and the apathy of the rural masses and in the postcolonial period due to the fact that the functions, finances and functionaries had not been devolved on them on account of the opposition from the political leadership and the administrators. Even the constitutionalisation of the Panchayats by the 73rd Amendment has failed to bring about any difference in this context because of the lack of political will in the successive ruling dispensations in Haryana. Besides, how could the leadership of the Statutory Panchayats, which has remained interested only in the construction of streets and drains and have never bothered about the social development, replace the leadership of the Khap Panchayats? Fourthly, most of the Jats, being marginal farmers, have not only been bypassed by the process of economic development but have also been further marginalised by it. They could not take advantage of the Green Revolution, due to their tiny and uneconomic land holdings, could not enter modern professions due to lack of academic and professional qualifications/training/skills and could not take up some occupations due to the caste pride. The bourgeois parties did not take up their cause owing to their class character and the Leftists could not do so in Haryana on account of their weakness in the State. Their lot has been made all the more difficult by the processes of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation since the last decade of the twentieth century. Their disenchantment with the leaderships of all the political parties and conventional politics has made these pauperised peasants to look backward instead of looking forward and has made them put their lot with the anachronism of the institution of the Khap Panchayats. Lastly, the strength of the Khap Panchayats lies in the weakness of the political parties. The personality, family and faction based, power oriented and ideologically bankrupt major political parties of Haryana—the Congress-I, the INLD, and the BJP— do not have strong organisational structures and dedicated cadres. Consequently, some of their leaders have no hesitation in wooing the Khap Panchayats, which continue to have considerable influence on the voters in the Jat dominated areas of Haryana, for getting electoral support. Besides even those political leaders who do not seek their support for winning elections lack the political will to curb these extra-constitutional institutions even when they interfere in the process of rule of law and make pronouncements that violate the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India and human rights. The solution of the problem lies in further modernising the rural society through reforms in the rural education system, in resolving the crises in agriculture by giving new sources of livelihood to the marginal farmers through the development of their skills, by strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions and by invigorating the organisational structures of political parties. Last, but not the least, the media can also play a meaningful role by building pressure on the Government of Haryana for preventing their illegal activities. FOOTNOTES 1. Ranbir Singh, "Khap Panchayaton ki Badalti Bhumika", Daimk Bhaskar, December 15, 2004. 2. For details, see The Tribune (Chandigarh), September 14, 2004. 3. Prem Choudhary, "Caste panchayafts and the policing of marriage in Haryana: Enforcing kinship and territorial exogamy", Contribution to Indian Sociology (its.) 38, 1&2, 2004. 4. M.C. Pradhan, The Political System of the Jats of Northern India, Oxford University Press Delhi, 1966. 5. Khajan Singh Sangwan, 'The Rural Elites and Multi Village Panchayats in Haryana—The Case of Chaubisi in District Rohtak", Ph. D thesis (unpublished), Department of Sociology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1996. 6. Refer to FN. 2 7. Hari Bhoomi (Rohtak), November 22, 2004. <title>Why Khap Panchayats remains Strong in Haryana</title> <author>Ranbir Singh</author> <keywords>LR1 TOD1</keywords> <publication>Mainstream</publication> <pubDate>30/09/2006</pubDate> <classif>B60</classif> <entrydt>28/10/2006</entrydt> <sd>VD</sd> 2/2 Traditional Systems