Neo-liberal globalization and caste based exclusion in India – Nature, Dimension and Policy : A Study through Genetic Algorithm and Bio-informatics

Exclusion arising out of caste is one of the major instances of social exclusion in India. Historical facts have shown that caste has appeared as a tool of political economy to deprive a large section of the Indian society from their due returns. This study wants to know the historical sequence of political economy to develop caste as a major tool of exploitation. Determining the nature of caste-based exclusion in India is another aim of this work. This study also wants to develop the optimum policy measures to eradicate the menace of caste based exclusion. Examining the feasibility of the development path towards inclusive growth under neo-liberal globalization is also under the purview of this study. Sample has been chosen from 16 Indian villages through multistage stratified sampling. As exclusion can be explained as capability deprivation this study has taken into consideration health, education and income as the domains of exclusion. The idea of Genetic Algorithm has been applied to substantiate the existence of exclusion due to genetic divergence. The idea of Hamming distance is applied to find the inter-group and inter-optima distances in the exclusion space. To determine the optimum policy mix to achieve inclusive growth the techniques of Knapsack Optimisation has been used. It is observed that different social groups on the basis of caste have different outcomes. These differences are the results of a strong historical process of subordination. Brahmanical social order has been used in this process as a tool of exploitation. The complementarity between hierarchical social system and political economy under the Hindu philosophy helped to sustain this exploitation through the name of genetic divergence. Here Genetic Algorithm substantiates that the backwardness of the lagging ethnic groups appeared due to Brahmanical social order. Estimated Hamming distances show that the inter caste distances in the exclusion space are substantial. But Knapsack Optimisation has found that the different policy mix can minimise these distances and improve the level of inclusion, but complete eradication of exclusion is not possible in a limited resource economy. At the same time it is also observed that the development of bourgeoisie and the emergence of capital intensive skill-based market economy though the current form of globalization have broadened the process of further marginalization of the lagging ethnic groups.