Caste and Race in India c12.108

c12.108

The introduction of co-operative schemes of amelioration have afforded another opportunity for caste-solidarity to manifest itself. Co-operative housing more than any other aspect of co-operative undertaking, has appealed to the caste-spirit, though credit societies of individual castes, like that of the Reddis, are not altogether unknown. In fact it would be true to remark that only those co-operative housing societies have succeeded most which have restricted their membership to their caste-fellows. Even in business this tendency to restrict the holding of shares to the members of a particular caste is sometimes apparent. Recently the Brahmins of Madras started a fund called the "Triplicane Fund", shares in which could be held only by Brahmins. Those responsible for starting it included gentlemen of "culture, education, and learning". "Such being the case, we regret that one of the rules of the Fund is so narrowly conceived as to exclude all that are not Brahmins from the right of holding shares. It is just this type of exclusiveness that furnishes interested parties like the ministerialists their best nutriment. Those who decry the excesses of communalism should themselves first set the example of a healthy, wholesome, non-communal outlook in the practical affairs of life."¹