Landless

Landless is a debut documentary film by Randeep Maddoke on the issues faced by Dalits of India in their daily life, caste-based discrimination in numerous ways being one them. It follows the story of the victims of such atrocities like the social boycott,
communal attacks by Jatts (upper caste) in the Indian state of Punjab. The project visits the recent uproars in the state on the issues of land.
Longer Synopsis of Landless Landless:
Explores the caste and class dynamics in Punjab, a north-western state of India. The Indian society is known for its hierarchical caste system. According to the Hindu faith, society is divided into four Varnas; Brahmins, Kshataryas, Vaishayas and Shudras and further there’s a group of people who don’t belong to any of these Varnas, called Avarnas (Untouchables). They are looked upon as sub-humans, and are given the jobs considered vile and disrespectful in a society, for example, manual scavenging. They had no right to education, to enter the religious spaces, and they were not allowed to use the same public spaces as Varnas. The documentary talks about Punjab, where the caste-dynamics is different from the rest of the India due to the establishment of Sikh religion in this state in the mid 1500s. The Sikh religion had no space for caste-discrimination in theory, the Gurus preached egalitarianism across all the classes and caste groups, and sought for upliftment of the classes and groups marginalised by Hinduism. This attracted the disregarded groups to Sikhism. Post-independence, when India got its own constitution and established itself as a democratic and secular country, it outlined the equal rights for all the classes and special reservations for the marginal sections of Indian society. In the late 1950s, new land reforms happened. These reforms abolished the Zamindari system (feudal land holding practices). In Punjab, Jatt community who was working under Zamindaars (feudal lords) till then got their own land to work on, after the reforms. The Avarnas didn’t get any land, they remained landless. The ‘Jatt’ community was fourth Varna (Shudras) in Hindu society. In the 60s, green revolution was introduced in Punjab. The new land-owning class benefited the most from it and prospered. With the financial sources in hand, this class took over the religious and political structure of Punjab, and they became the new oppressors and the upper caste subsequently, in PunjabiSikh society. Long brought religious and social reforms by Sikhism couldn’t stand the changes brought by the land reforms and broke down. The new class and caste-based hierarchical order surged back up. The ages old, lower and higher caste aspect came back in play, and in Punjab it was, and still is, measured by if one owns the land or not. Landless talks about this conflict between these two communities of Punjab. According to the constitutional laws, marginal communities have 30% reserved share in the common land (agricultural and public use) of a village. When the Dalits (Avarnas) demand their share of land or the lawful minimum wage from the landowner, conflict arises in between the two classes and becomes a caste conflict. Jatts (landowning upper caste) declare social boycott for Dalits to dodge the legal wage payment and the share of land they deserve. In which their water supply, electricity supply, grocery, use of the grounds to defecate are banned. The conflicts also end up in violent attacks and communal killing of Dalits. Instead of providing them justice, the state, which is dominated by Jatts, ends up being a mere spectator.