# **4.2 Empowerment across Jati Categories**

Next, we examine jati-level regressions for all three states. As before, we present the results separately for each state. The results are in Tables 5, 6 and 7 and Figures 2, 3 and 4. For each state, we present two sets of regression results. In the top panel, we present estimation results for regressions with the jati-level categories for SC groups only (with all other castes treated as the excluded category), and in the bottom panel we present estimation results from regressions with the jati-level categories for other groups, excluding the SC groups. For reasons of brevity, in all these tables we only present jati coefficients. We do not report the effects of the control variables which are not very different in their magnitude and significance from the results from the broad caste categories.

At first glance, what is most striking about the results is the level of variation within and across the three states. In Table 5 and Figure 2(a) reporting Bihar results, for example, we see in the top panel that Musahars have significantly higher female employment than any other SC jati. They are 17 percentage points more likely to work than the OBCs, FCs and Muslims and are at least twice as likely to work as the Dobhas, Chamars and ‘Other’ SC jatis. This is consistent with anthropological studies that have noted that this particular jati, geographically concentrated in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, has a very distinctive history and is one of the most politically, economically and socially marginalized groups in India (Mukul 1999).<sup>20</sup> In the lower panel of Table 5 and Figure 2(b) we see that relative to the SC and ST groups, female employment is 7–8 percentage points lower among the Yadavs, Kurmis, EBCs and other jatis, who are also classified as backward castes.<sup>21</sup> Note that women from the highest ranked castes, Brahmins and Rajputs, are 33 and 22 percent less likely to be employed compared to SCs. The lower labor force participation rates of women in the 20 Both the Musahars and Chamars are traditionally outcastes, (i.e., they are outside of the caste system and regarded as untouchables (Hasan, Rizvi and Das 2005)). But these groups are quite distinct. The Musahar jati actually consists of three sub-jatis: Bhagat, Sakatiya and Turkahia. Each of these sub-jatis is endogamous. The Musahars were traditionally rat catchers, but are now largely agricultural laborers. In recent years, the adoption of agricultural technologies has created widespread male unemployment and driven Musahar men to migrate out of the state for several months a year, with women performing the traditional manual labor (Mukul 1999). The Chamar jati, on the other hand, though also classified as SC, is found throughout India and consists of many different sub-jatis that vary significantly in status. Traditionally tanners, Chamars have diversified into agriculture and many other occupations. In many states such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, they have been successful in mobilizing themselves politically.

21 Yadavs are traditionally a group of jatis whose main occupations were related to dairy farming and pastoral agriculture in the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh region (Hutton 1946). The group now includes a wide range of pastoral agriculturalists in numerous states of India. Since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Yadav community has mobilized itself to improve its social standing (Jaffrelot 2003). Strategies of upward mobility have included participation in the Indian and British armed forces, expansion of economic opportunities to include other, more prestigious business fields, and active participation in politics (Jaffrelot 2003). As a result of these efforts, Yadavs have increasingly claimed _Kshatriya_ status within the _varna_ system.

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