When Will Bahman - Baniya Hegemony End ?

S

samarkadian

Active member
Yes, when will it end? Below article is a bit old but it represents some facts. Have a read and opine as your perspective.


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On 9 April, the Supreme Court rejected a plea that the 2011 census be caste-based. CII and Ficci oppose job reservations in the private sector, but Manmohan Singh is keen. India’s population of Brahmins and Banias and Jains all together is 6% or less.
Ruling axis: Jawaharlal Nehru, a Brahmin, became Prime Minister with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi, a Bania.
The Sensex comprises the 30 largest traded companies of India.

ACC is run by a Brahmin (Sumit Banerjee), Bhel is run by a Brahmin (Ravi Kumar Krishna Swamy), Bharti Airtel is run by a Bania (Sunil Mittal), Grasim and Hindalco are run by a Bania (Kumar Mangalam Birla).

HDFC is run by a Bania (Deepak Parekh), Hindustan Unilever is run by a Brahmin (Nitin Paranjpe), ICICI Bank is headed by a Brahmin (K.V. Kamath). Jaiprakash Associates is run by a Brahmin (Yogesh Gaur), L&T is run by a Brahmin (A.M. Naik), NTPC is run by a Brahmin (R.S. Sharma), ONGC is run by a Brahmin (also called R.S. Sharma). Reliance group firms are run by Banias (Mukesh and Anil Ambani), State Bank of India is run by a Brahmin (O.P. Bhatt), Sterlite Industries is run by a Bania (Anil Agarwal), Sun Pharma is run by a Bania (Dilip Shanghvi) and Tata Steel is run by a Brahmin (B. Muthuraman).


Punjab National Bank is run by a Brahmin (K.C. Chakrabarty), Bank of Baroda is run by a Brahmin (M.D. Mallya) and Canara Bank is run by a Bania (A.C. Mahajan).



Of India’s software companies, Infosys is run by a Brahmin (Kris Gopalakrishnan now and Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani before him). TCS is run by a Brahmin (Subramanian Ramadorai). Wipro is owned by a Khoja (Azim Premji). Khojas are Shia of the Sevener sect, converted from the Luhana trading community (same caste as L.K. Advani and M.A. Jinnah).

India’s two largest airlines are Kingfisher, owned by a Brahmin (Vijay Mallya) and Jet, owned by a Bania (Naresh Goyal).
Of India’s mobile phone firms, Reliance Communications (Ambani), Airtel (Mittal), Vodafone Essar (Ruia), Idea (Birla), Spice (Modi) are owned by Banias. BSNL is run by a Bania (Kuldeep Goyal) and Tata’s TTML is run by a Brahmin (K.A. Chaukar).
Cricket in India is run by a Bania (Lalit Modi) and before him it was run by another Bania (Jagmohan Dalmiya).

Media in India is almost entirely controlled by Banias and Jains. Of the two largest English newspapers, The Times of India is owned by Jains and the Hindustan Times is owned by Banias (Birla). The third largest English paper, The Hindu, is owned by Brahmins (Kasturi Iyengar family). The Indian Express is owned by Banias (Goenka). Zee TV is owned by a Bania (Subhash Chandra Goel). Of the two largest Hindi newspapers, Dainik Jagran is owned by Banias (Gupta), and Dainik Bhaskar is owned by Banias (Agarwal). The Agarwals also own Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar. The largest Gujarati newspaper Gujarat Samachar is owned by Jains (Shah). The largest Marathi paper Lokmat is owned by Jains (Darda). Rajasthan Patrika is owned by Jains (Kothari). Navbharat Times is owned by Jains and Hindustan owned by Banias (Birla). Amar Ujala is owned by Banias (Maheshwari).


Of India’s steel companies Essar is owned by Banias (Ruia), ArcelorMittal is owned by a Bania (Laxmi Mittal), Ispat is owned by Banias (Mittals), Jindal Steel is owned by Banias, Bhushan Steel is owned by Banias (Singhal), VISA Steel is owned by Banias (Agarwal). State-owned SAIL is run by a Bania (S.K. Roongta) and Lloyd Steel is owned by Banias (Gupta).

Of India’s cement companies, Ambuja is owned by Banias (Neotia and Sekhsaria), Dalmia Cements is owned by Banias, Ultratech and Vikram Cement are owned by Banias (Birla) and JK Cement is owned by Banias (Singhania).
Hindustan Motors is owned by Banias (Birla) and Bajaj Auto is owned by Banias.

Old economy, new economy: All economy in India is owned and run by two castes.

The Brahmin used his monopoly on knowledge and the Bania used his high-trust culture of trade to become dominant. Their skills are world-class. Given the realities of capital formation, it is difficult for other castes to catch up soon.

The largest caste in India is Shudra.

We think Shudra means untouchable, but it actually means peasant. The peasant castes, such as Patel, constitute more than 50% of India’s population.


Andhra Pradesh is run by a peasant Christian (Y.S.R. Reddy), Bihar is run by a peasant Kurmi (Nitish Kumar) and Gujarat is run by a peasant from the Teli/Ghanchi caste (Narendra Modi).

Haryana is run by a peasant Jat (Bhupinder Hooda), Karnataka is ruled by a peasant Lingayat (B.S. Yeddyurappa), Kerala is run by a peasant Ezhava (V.S. Achuthanandan) and Madhya Pradesh is run by a peasant OBC (Shivraj Chouhan).
Maharashtra is run by a peasant Maratha (Ashok Chavan), Rajasthan is run by a peasant Mali (Ashok Gehlot), Punjab is run by a peasant Jat (Parkash Badal), Tamil Nadu is run by a peasant Vellalar (M. Karunanidhi) and Uttar Pradesh is run by a Dalit (Mayawati).

Only one large state in India is run by a Brahmin and he, West Bengal’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is a Communist.
India’s Prime Minister is a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) and President is a peasant Maratha (Pratibha Patil).

At independence, India was run by a Brahmin (Jawaharlal Nehru) whose mentor was a Bania (Mahatma Gandhi). The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was a Brahmin (Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant), the first chief minister of Gujarat was a Bania (Jivraj Mehta). Madhya Pradesh was run by a Brahmin (Ravi Shankar Shukla), Rajasthan was run by a Brahmin (H.L. Shastri), Kerala was run by a Brahmin (E.M.S. Namboodiripad), Punjab was run by a Brahmin (G.C. Bhargava) and Assam was ruled by a Brahmin (G.N. Bordoloi).

At independence, the peasant had neither political nor economic strength. Democracy transferred power from the Brahmin to him.
The Brahmin and the Bania still control the economy, but now the Shudra controls politics.

The Brahmin and Bania oppose reservations in the private sector, which they totally dominate. The Shudra wants his share, but the Brahmin and Bania say their dominance is from merit.
The Brahmin and Bania control the media, but the Shudra controls legislation.
Sooner rather than later, reservations will come.

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/3u2QUPuXBEFPaBQXU2R8mJ/When-will-the-BrahminBania-hegemony-end.html
 
The peculiar pedigree of the business class

Forbesmagazine has put out a list of the world’s 1,210 billionaires. Fifty-five of them are Indians. A billion dollars is Rs 4,480 crore. A Baniya is a member of the Vaish caste, originating mainly from Rajasthan and Gujarat.

They are under 1% of India’s population.

The billion-dollar club: Among Indians, Lakshmi Mittal tops the Forbes list. Paolo Fridman/Bloomberg

India’s richest man is a Baniya (Lakshmi Mittal, world’s sixth richest with $31.1 billion), India’s second richest man is a Baniya (Mukesh Ambani, $27 billion), India’s third richest man is a Khoja (Azim Premji, $16.8 billion), India’s fourth richest men are Baniyas (Shashi and Ravi Ruia, $15.8 billion), India’s fifth richest person is a Baniya (Savitri Jindal, $13.2 billion), India’s sixth richest man is a Baniya (Gautam Adani, $10 billion), India’s seventh richest man is a Baniya (Kumar Mangalam Birla, $9.2 billion), India’s eighth richest man is a Baniya (Anil Ambani, $8.8 billion), India’s ninth richest man is a Baniya (Sunil Mittal, $8.3 billion). India’s 10th richest man is a Parsi (Adi Godrej, world’s 130th richest with $7.3 billion).

Score: Baniyas 8, Rest of India 2. If we consider the Gujaratis Godrej and Premji (from the Lohana caste) as coming from mercantile communities then actually Rest of India wasn’t playing this match so far.

India’s 11th richest man is K.P. Singh of DLF ($7.3 billion). He is the first departure from our trend of mercantile castes. Singh is a peasant, the most populous caste grouping of India, about 50% of our population. From numbers 11 to 20, there are four Baniyas. They are Anil Agarwal of Vedanta ($6.4 billion), Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma ($6.1 billion), Uday Kotak ($3.2 billion), and Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee, ($2.9 billion). The non-Baniyas are Shiv Nadar of HCL ($5.6 billion), Malvinder and Shivinder Singh of Ranbaxy ($4.1 billion), Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV ($3.5 billion), Mukesh Jagtiani of Landmark ($3 billion) and Pankaj Patel of Cadila ($2.6 billion).


Between 21 and 30, there are five Baniyas. They are Indu Jain of The Times of India ($2.6 billion), Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin ($2.1 billion), Sudhir and Samir Mehta of Torrent ($2 billion), Aloke Lohia of Indorama ($2 billion) and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon ($1.9 billion). The five non-Baniyas are G.M. Rao of GMR ($2.6 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute ($2.3 billion), Mumbai builder Rajan Raheja ($2.2 billion), Narayana Murthy ($2 billion) and Gautam Thapar of Avantha ($2 billion). Of the non-Baniyas, three are from mercantile communities: Poonawalla (Parsi), Raheja (Shikarpuri Sindhi) and Thapar (Khatri). Murthy is Brahmin.

Between 31 and 40 are two Baniyas: Rahul Bajaj ($1.6 billion) and Ajay Piramal ($1.4 billion). The non-Baniyas include three Brahmins: Nandan Nilekani ($1.8 billion) and S. Gopalakrishnan ($1.6 billion) of Infosys, and Vijay Mallya ($1.4 billion). Three of the others are from mercantile castes: Chandru Raheja ($1.9 billion), Brijmohan Lall Munjal of Hero Motors ($1.5 billion) and Vikas Oberoi ($1.4 billion). The last two are K. Anji Reddy ($1.5 billion) (from Andhra’s dominant peasant community) and Ajay Kalsi of Indus Gas ($1.7 billion).

Between 41 and 50 are five Baniyas. They are R.P. Goenka ($1.3 billion), Rakesh Jhunjhunwala ($1.2 billion), Brij Bhushan Singhal ($1.2 billion), B.K. Modi ($1.1 billion) and Mumbai builder Mangal Prabhat Lodha ($1.1 billion). The non-Baniyas are Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge ($1.3 billion), Keshub Mahindra ($1.2 billion), K. Dinesh ($1.2 billion) and S.D. Shibulal ($1.1 billion) of Infosys, and Yusuf Hamied of Cipla ($1.1 billion).
The last five, from 51 to 55, include two Baniyas: Mumbai builder Mofatraj Munot of Kalpataru ($1 billion) and Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints ($1 billion). Two of the others are from mercantile castes: Parsi Anu Aga of Thermax ($1 billion) and Khatri Harindarpal Banga of Noble ($1 billion). Delhi builder Ramesh Chandra of Unitech ($1 billion) ends our list of Indians with a billion dollars or more.

The list has three Parsis, two Muslims and Sikhs in one spot (shared by the Ranbaxy Singhs). Banga is also a Sikh name but Harindarpal is clean-shaven. All of them, except Poonawalla, have inherited their wealth, though in the case of one (Premji), he took a small firm and made it global. There is nobody from the scheduled tribes or castes.

India’s large peasant castes have some representation (Singh, Patel, Reddy), but not much.

There are 26 Baniyas on our list. Many of them inherited their wealth, but just as many (Mittal, Ruias, Adani, Dhoot among others) are self-made.
The list has 16 Rajasthanis, and 13 Gujaratis. Every single Rajasthani is from one caste, Vaish, though they are from two faiths: Hindu and Jain.
Only Gujarat is capable of producing billionaires drawn from four different faiths—Hindu, Parsi, Jain and Muslim—and three different castes: Baniya, Khatri and peasant. This is unique in India and there is something about this secular mercantile culture that produces great men across communities. What is it? Three out of the four biggest leaders of the subcontinent under British rule were Gujarati, and they were drawn from these three castes: Gandhi, Jinnah and Patel. Only 5% of India’s population, Gujaratis don’t have the numbers to dominate its democratic politics. But businesses are not run in democratic fashion. And to rise, you need quality, not quantity.

The heartland of India, where our quantity resides, is missing from this list. Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh have little or no representation and this does not surprise us.

On the list are 10 south Indians, in proportion to their 20% share of India’s population. The famous five from Infosys are obviously self-made. Of the others, four are first-generation wealthy. This is a good indicator for the future, and it restores some balance in favour of Rest of India.

Two final observations. India’s greatest businessman is not on this list. Why is that? It is because Ratan Tata owns less than 1% of Tata Sons. He is exceptional in every way.

Lastly, how many Baniyas in our top 20 attended the Buffett-Gates meeting to consider giving part of their wealth to philanthropy? Zero.

The Baniya’s culture of focused wealth creation is very good in many ways, but not all of this culture is good.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tDR...-peculiar-pedigree-of-the-business-class.html
 
Rather then ending another communities "Hegemony", one should consider, how to increase or develop your own community.

Ending another communities "Hegemony" will give rise to negative circle.
 
Bhi Jat business main kamyab kyuon nahi huye?
My three main observations with what I have experienced dealing with jats.
1. Jat business main toda kamate he katada ban ja sa. Dusren jat ustain chidan lag ja sain aur wo jata tain.
2. Jat ko paisa kaman acha nahin lagata, woh to bus rupayee kamana chahta hai. He doesn't have patience to scale the business starting with small margins.
3. Jat ka apne behaviour par kabu nahin karna aata. Har paristhithi main woh apne ko sher se kam nahin samajta - the biggest weakness in business.
 
Arvindc said:
Bhi Jat business main kamyab kyuon nahi huye?
My three main observations with what I have experienced dealing with jats.
1. Jat business main toda kamate he katada ban ja sa. Dusren jat ustain chidan lag ja sain aur wo jata tain.
2. Jat ko paisa kaman acha nahin lagata, woh to bus rupayee kamana chahta hai. He doesn't have patience to scale the business starting with small margins.
3. Jat ka apne behaviour par kabu nahin karna aata. Har paristhithi main woh apne ko sher se kam nahin samajta - the biggest weakness in business.
Click to expand...

Its not about what a Jat lacks (or have) when it comes to business, but how things are and why were they and how they will end. Effect on greater masses
 
If I may humbly suggest, it is more than time our community moves away from such paradigms.

Jats were late comers to the fields of Business, and the Professions.

The free market is an unforgiving place, and has no room for the incompetent.

That said, there are plenty of Jats in business and the professions today

The numbers are growing and we are seeing more and more successful people. too.


Jats are advancing in all fields.

It is not all doom and gloom
 
ravichaudhary said:
If I may humbly suggest, it is more than time our community moves away from such paradigms.

Jats were late comers to the fields of Business, and the Professions.

The free market is an unforgiving place, and has no room for the incompetent.

That said, there are plenty of Jats in business and the professions today

The numbers are growing and we are seeing more and more successful people. too.


Jats are advancing in all fields.

It is not all doom and gloom
Click to expand...


There is no limit to "Competency", there is always a better "competent person" with more resources.

What "Samar" stated was a totally different issue.
 
I think siting different examples he meant to say that "Jats" have been singly working too long for many different causes without caring for their own cause and development.
 
Before the second world war !! major chunk of all major businesses, media houses, stock markets were acquired by just few % jew, native germans were getting poor and world saw the "holocaust". Perhaps Samar is indicating for another "holocaust" !
 
I think we shouldn't ignore the fact that the Brahmin and Baniya communities due to nature of their stature (more true for Brahmins) in the caste system and their traditional occupations got equipped with skills that helped them excel in corporate and business. These skills were passed down from generation to generation as the caste system ensured it remained within the family. Thus the present capitalistic system rewards them.

At the risk of being branded a traitor to my own community, I would say capitalism rewards those who take risks and Jats are not adept at it. The Baniyas are. Its take extreme calculations to measure a risk and rewards in opening a new business, setting up a shop, selling a new product or lending a loan etc. A farmer knows there would be a monsoon (maybe low or high) and sows the most reliable crop. Even now, its takes a lot of cajoling and recommendations by Agricultural universities to push farmers to switch crops. Thus the Baniya's accountancy and risk taking were perfected over generations and the same skills are applied in the corporate sector. Look at the new e-commerce stalwarts Flipkart and Snapdeal. Both run by Baniyas. Even Amazon's India head is a baniya.

But these skills can be learned and more and more Jats are learning them by the increased access to better education and exposure. Things are changing slowly.

One of my Jatt professors in engg used to say: "A Jat may learn how to earn money well, but only a Baniya knows how to keep money well". Its always good to have a baniya friend :)
 
swaich said:
I think we shouldn't ignore the fact that the Brahmin and Baniya communities due to nature of their stature (more true for Brahmins) in the caste system and their traditional occupations got equipped with skills that helped them excel in corporate and business. These skills were passed down from generation to generation as the caste system ensured it remained within the family. Thus the present capitalistic system rewards them.

At the risk of being branded a traitor to my own community, I would say capitalism rewards those who take risks and Jats are not adept at it. The Baniyas are. Its take extreme calculations to measure a risk and rewards in opening a new business, setting up a shop, selling a new product or lending a loan etc. A farmer knows there would be a monsoon (maybe low or high) and sows the most reliable crop. Even now, its takes a lot of cajoling and recommendations by Agricultural universities to push farmers to switch crops. Thus the Baniya's accountancy and risk taking were perfected over generations and the same skills are applied in the corporate sector. Look at the new e-commerce stalwarts Flipkart and Snapdeal. Both run by Baniyas. Even Amazon's India head is a baniya.

But these skills can be learned and more and more Jats are learning them by the increased access to better education and exposure. Things are changing slowly.

One of my Jatt professors in engg used to say: "A Jat may learn how to earn money well, but only a Baniya knows how to keep money well". Its always good to have a baniya friend :)
Click to expand...

Bhai I tend to disagree when it comes to taking risk. Success of Jats in Canada and overseas and a zeal to settle there leaving a normal life here is risk enough, a baniya would hardly would that however its different in the sense of taking risk in business related decisions. A jat most likely would tend to ruin the business because of his higher carelessness risk taking ability.So its about, like you said, calculating risk.
 
prashantacmet said:
Before the second world war !! major chunk of all major businesses, media houses, stock markets were acquired by just few % jew, native germans were getting poor and world saw the "holocaust". Perhaps Samar is indicating for another "holocaust" !
Click to expand...

lol. Why not. :D ;) I have even marked the right place for ''Auschwitz''. I will make you the head of SS.
 
maddhan1979 said:
I think siting different examples he meant to say that "Jats" have been singly working too long for many different causes without caring for their own cause and development.
Click to expand...

You are right sir. These castes took the mental skills and subsequent manipulation of other castes through mythology and scriptures and ate the cream where as we were made fighters.
 
Samarkadian said:
Bhai I tend to disagree when it comes to taking risk. Success of Jats in Canada and overseas and a zeal to settle there leaving a normal life here is risk enough, a baniya would hardly would that however its different in the sense of taking risk in business related decisions. A jat most likely would tend to ruin the business because of his higher carelessness risk taking ability.So its about, like you said, calculating risk.
Click to expand...

I agree and let me rectify it - Baniyas are more adept at taking occupational and financial risks. Jats not so much. They may take other risks - immigration, joining the armed forces etc. After all these too are risks to one's life. But its the former type of risks that have helped these communities thrive in the new order and that is where we need to learn more.
 
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