Radical organisations, such as the Dalit Panther party, founded on the lines of Black Panther party of the US, who spoke for radical fundamental changes, ended soon after it was founded. The epicentre of such a decline in the social movement is the unhappiness of self-acclaimed Ambedkarites with the Marxists. The search for truth is yet to be initiated.

Today, it is more important than ever to discuss strategies to build for the annihilation of caste. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) successfully distorted the political philosophy of Ambedkar by merely limiting him to a devotional cult to serve their narrow interests, which are specifically against the “minorities”. The appropriation of Ambedkar in their project of cultural homogenisation is a core tactic of RSS for its objective of a Hindu nation. This article deals with the issues and problems underlying within the prevalent discourse on “Ambedkarism” with the arguments of a rare intellectual– Anand Teltumbde.

Teltumbde is a prominent scholar, intellectual and human rights activist, who has contributed to the philosophy of the anti-caste movement. He is known for his critical analysis of present socio-political situations in India and convenient solutions to it. Apart from his social activism, he has authored groundbreaking books like Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop and Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva. Both these works concentrate on issues pertaining to caste and class in the Indian context.

Despite having made a consistent contribution to the theories on caste and class, Teltumbde has faced criticism from every section of Ambedkarites.

Teltumbde has a long professional career, hailing from a management and business background to penning books on caste, class and neoliberal Hindutva. It is due to his constant efforts to look for innovative solutions to the present-day socio-economic inequalities that he was incarcerated in the BK-16 case (Bhima Koregaon). He is now out on bail.

His views on the present social and political conditions in India are noteworthy due to his constant engagement with activism. He has argued for structural changes in the post- Ambedkar anti-caste movements. He attempts to choose dialectics to explain the social reality of caste. Dialectics are contradictions and in Marxist philosophy, it is the unity of opposites and the coexistence of contradictions that help one understand the development of history and social reality.

Another perspective has been provided by him to understand the caste hierarchy in the book, Political Economy of Caste in India.

Teltumbde appears to be one of the rare intellectuals speaking on prevalent issues and strategic changes while analysing the neoliberal state and its structures. Journalist Asim Ali writes in his essay “Talons Intact” that the  spectacles of violence unleashed by the Narendra Modi regime, “both by Hindutva mobs and the coercive arms of the State, must be analyzed, as Teltumbde had advocated, from a perspective of the political economy of caste, where caste and religious antagonisms are instrumentalized to maintain the sanctity of unequal structures of control helmed by the ruling classes “.

First, Teltumbde is critical of organisations based on caste lines. In post-Ambedkar India, there had been many political associations on the caste lines. These revolved around reservation, representation and assertion, thereafter leaving behind the objective of “Annihilation of Caste”.

Ambedkar was critical of such consciousness based on caste and sub-caste categories. For him, it was essential to eradicate such consciousness to get rid of individualism, irrationality and moral degradation. A comprehensive reading of the book, Annihilation of Caste, helps in understanding the social character of caste.

On the issue of such associations, Teltumbde states, “caste is a poison-ridden identity whose intrinsic property is to split like an amoeba; it can never be the basis of any convergence”.  Caste and its sub-categories have their own consciousness, therefore, it seems impossible to organise them on similar issues. It deals with rigidity and immobility. Consequently, it is status quoist, since it is the longest surviving human creation. Dalit, as a class, was only attempted and treated by the efforts of Babasaheb Ambedkar, who saw these categories as an “enclosed class.

In his “contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement”, Teltumde says, “In Ambedkar’s times Dalits represented a relatively homogenous mass and shared a similar sense of deprivation. Today they are divided by multiple class lines and do not have the same angst to share. It poses a formidable challenge to bring together even all Ambedkarite Dalits on any issue except for the innocuous emotional ones as paying homage to Ambedkar”.

Political organisations based on caste-ridden hierarchy have failed to address the material reality. They are more concerned about history rather than “RealPolitik ”. The consequences are a “poverty of philosophy” in the Ambedkarite discourse affected by individualism. Merely acting on assertion cannot lead to annihilation. Teltumbde adds that he sees “no anti-caste movement in today’s India”. His position may be debatable, yet, it reflects a unique perspective.

In the same lecture. he stated, “The only lesson that this experience throws up is to shun the caste idiom and organize people along class basis. When I say such things, some Dalits jump on to typify me as a Leftist or Marxist, notwithstanding my oft-repeated explanation that I do not want to be typified by any such label. By calling others Leftist they license themselves to be on the side of the Rightist forces (and they are seen doing it) and by calling them Marxist, they merely display their ignorance of the basics of Marxism”.

The persistent enmity between communists and Ambedkarites has reached a stage where political parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party, choose to ally with the Bharatiya Janata party, and is hateful toward the communists. This enmity has only contributed to the decline of the subaltern section.

Large sections of Ambedkarites have reduced him merely to “constitutionalism and pragmatism”. This is a widely accepted criteria for one being the “Ambedkarite”, but when interrupted with Babasaheb’s quote, “If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it”, they are left unanswerable. Therefore, scholars like Teltumbde face quite a large opposition from a section of Ambedkarites and Hindutva forces. This growing enmity is also fueled by the political history of the communist movement in specific regions of India.

In the context of Bihar, we witnessed the most horrible killings of landless Dalit peasants by the Ranvir Sena. These upper caste private armies of semi-feudal Bihar were backed by the Indian state against the CPIM(L)s workers. Exactly, the same semi-feudal Bihar also saw the rise of CPI(M)’s stalwart leader Ajit Sarkar, who went on to become an MLA in Purnia four times until his assassination. One of my college friends, who hails from the Dalit community, says, “It is due to the land redistribution agitation led by Ajit Sarkar that he is able to study in Delhi University.” Land plays a significant role in determining one’s position in social hierarchy and power relations.

Prof Dilip Mandal recently tweeted that he is a “libertarian pragmatist”. Despite knowing that the victims of LPG (liberalisation-privatisaion-globalisation) reforms are largely people from the working class, he appears to support such individualism. He appears to be nursing a misconception that urbanisation and liberalisation can lead to emancipation.

The LPG reforms have isolated and alienated Dalits and. Also, the rising atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are notable as a consequence of neoliberal India. The character of such atrocities is different from the historical injustices. The atrocities in a neoliberal state are structural. All the arms of the State promote killings of Dalits. The Khairlanji massacre is one such example in the past decade.

Teltumbde has explored the probable causes of Khairlanji in his bool. He says, “Every village in India is a potential Khairlanji”. We have seen the “commodification” of Dalit assertion and emotion by a handful of parasites. A range of non-Brahmin intellectuals place their “pseudo-intellectualism” on Twitter. Teltumbde’s reflection is crucial on this issue, “Technologies have created social media which is both a boon and bane. It is a boon insofar as it provides an easy communication channel which can greatly facilitate organisation. It is a bane otherwise. It easily fragments Dalits, reinforces individualistic tendencies, multiplies ignorance, reinforces prejudice, and dissuades physical activity.

For their shallow and narrow interests, pseudo-Ambedkarites tend to sell their spine to the ruling elites. Their actions are justified under the garb of “Ambedkarism and constitutionalism”. Material reality and social reality are words rarely heard in the contemporary Ambedkarite discourse. When it comes to BSP, they have never shown visible interest in the material condition of Dalit communities in Uttar Pradesh.

Also, the issue of land redistribution does not find major space in the traditional Ambedkarite discourse. The position is largely regional-specific. This can be seen in the largest Lok Sabha. The regions where land redistribution appeared as a fundamental demand are Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala. Both the communist and Ambedkarites have collectively agitated against unjust land concentration with a handful of savarnas. Caste hierarchy, as an institution, remains alive with Brahmanism and capitalism. By either defeating Brahminism or capitalism, this institution doesn’t cease to exist. Instead, both these enemies — Brahmanism and capitalism — need to be annihilated. Therefore, the conception of Bahujan can only be a successful “political tactic”, but not for the annihilation of caste. It might have gained electoral success, but the issues of material reality have remained untouched.

Even the contemporary Ambedkarite movement is facing multiple divisions. In the Hindi-speaking region, they are divided into multiple organisations and sections. It is critical that, while arguing for social justice, they are yet to find certain issues where they have consensus. The fault lies in their foundational premises and tactics.

In an interaction with Prof Harish Wankhede, Teltumbde has said, “So long as “bahujan” is identified on the basis of caste, it will never gain robustness. What lies behind the BSP’s bahujan is the solid chunk of the Jatav-Chamars who, unlike in any other state, constitute a sizable constituency in Uttar Pradesh”.

The majority of the beneficiaries of BSP-initiated policies are the Jatavs, the party’s vote bank. The other sub-sections, like the Valmikis, were not given convenient recognition in the party’s leadership, which has led to growing enmity between both these castes. Moreover, the majority of Jatavs have shifted to the urban regions for better employment and career opportunities. Therefore, it becomes important to identify the class reality of sub-castes. There is a deepening distinction between Dalits residing in urban regions and in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Why it becomes important for contemporary “Ambedkarite” politics to address the issues pertaining to material conditions, is notable from the election victory of Faizabad, Ayodhya. Awadhesh Prasad, the Samajwadi Party candidate, emerged victorious due to the declining material conditions of the residents of Ayodhya. The ruling regime’s project of Ram Mandir has left the working class of Ayodhya devastated with their land being snatched causing alienation. Prasad addressed the social reality of the residents, which resulted in a political earthquake.

Teltumbde’s assessment that he sees no anti-caste movement is important because self-acclaimed Ambedkarite political organisations are failing to organise on a common objective. It is a surprise that all of them wanted to put an end to annihilation of caste but are ending up sustaining it instead. This has to be addressed and realised on class lines.

Another burning issue in the contemporary Dalit movement is limiting Babasaheb’s philosophy to a “devotional cult”. In one of his articles in The Wire, Teltumbde says, “Instead of addressing the pathetic condition of Dalits, many Ambedkarites are busy promoting a devotional cult of Babasaheb, hollowing out his radical content and helping the ruling classes exploit his legacy”.

This trend (devotional cult) is largely evident in the contemporary Ambedkarite movement. Statues of Ambedkar are being constantly erected in every corner of India to please the marginalised sections for votes. Apart from erecting statues, Ambedkar is worshiped by the working class as god. Their devotional association to him is due to their constant alienation from other sections in social structure caused by Brahmanism and capitalism. The contemporary Ambedkarite discourse needs to make structural and strategic changes to escape from the devotional cult by improving the material conditions of Dalits.

In conclusion, Teltumbde’s assessment on what it means to be an Ambedkarite, is notable. He writes:

“ A sincere Ambedkarite would be disturbed seeing the pathetic condition of Dalits, and of the institutions Babasaheb established and left behind. He would invest his or her intellectual energy to address what went wrong and not promote a devotional cult which Ambedkar detested. They would be able to see that what I have been doing is the former – analyzing the past and trying to contribute to strategies for the future, and not showing off my scholarship for any gain whatsoever, unlike most others”.

Aniket Gautam is pursuing Masters in political science at the department of political science, Delhi University. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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The archaeological evidence shows that the first ever city—Harappa– was built in the Indian Sub-continent around 2850-2900 Before Christ in the world. The name Harappa sounds like a South Indian divine man’s name among agrarian and cattle herding communities. For example, Mallappa, Beerappa, Veerappa are very famous names in South India. In Kannada and Telugu regions the names that end up with “Appa” are very popular among the Shudra and Dalit communities. Names like Mallappa and Beerappa are now divine names of God-Heads that have cattle rearing and agrarian community life.

The Harappa city was built on the bank of the Indus river, which is in present Pakistan after the partition of India. But it represents the whole human history of building civilization and culture. It represents the civilization of advancing animal economy, constructing technology of building houses, streets, tanks, canals, and forts almost 1500 years before the first Indian spiritual book Rigveda was composed or written.

The Indological and archeological studies also established that this civilization was built by Indo-Africans before the Aryan race had shown its traces in the Indian Sub-continent. The contemporary Indian village and cultural transformation shows that without there being villages, urbanization of the society does not take place. All kinds of local experiments take place in the realms of cattle economy, agriculture and technology building and management. This has seen happening during my life time too and that could be the course of history of emergence of the city of Harappa also. No city emerges without villages all around.

There is a civilizational culture in Indian sub-continent to build villages and cities in the name of persons. For example, my village name is Papaiah Pet. Older generations than that of mine told us that one fisher man called Papaiah with a family name Uppari and my grandmother Lingamma with a family name Kancha ( who was a shepherd widow) built their first round of thatched houses and gradually that village of fishermen/women, shepherds, toddy tappers came into being. Gradually by my mother and father’s generation along with shepherds and fishermen/women , toddy tappers (as the surroundings of the village had hundreds of palm trees), tillers of land by using buffalo and bullocks settled down and expanded the village. Over a period of time along with the main village population the Lambada tribes, whose main occupation was cattle rearing settled down. By now the village has a population of 4500 people. It is a major Panchayat. For the last 10-15 years reverse migration from the village to urban areas is taking place.

Similarly, the city of Harappa could have been built by the early villagers that got transformed into urban dwelling with a man’s name called Harappa. Building the city of Harappa would have been impossible without several villages surrounding that city. In the Indus valley region several villages would have emerged much before the city of Harappa was built. Unless there was some sort of agrarian economic development, building a city is impossible.

For example, in my childhood building a house in my village was done without the use of any carpenting tools. The natural wood logs were used for building a thatched house and I could see over a period of time carpenters emerging from the same village population with a skill of crafting wood in a sophisticated manner. Most of the walls of the houses would be of mud prepared by the family labor and skill. Gradually, there emerged brick makers for building brick wall houses. Though pot making was already there, before my eyes more sophisticated pot makers emerged with diversified skills. When I was a child, tilling the land with buffalo or bull drawing plough was common. The technology of plough was very underdeveloped, therefore, the animals and the human beings who were handling the plough would suffer a lot. But I have seen the village carpenters becoming more and more skilled and improving the plough in shape and size. Meanwhile, similar changes also occurred in the skill domain of ironsmiths, and so on. For example, in my childhood I used to cry a lot when the barber was shaving my head, as the knife which was very hard and the skills of the barber used to be very underdeveloped.  Gradually, that situation changed quite fast. The knife became sharper because of the advanced ironsmithing skills of the smith and also improvement in the shaving skills of the barber. I saw such changes in every sphere of life within the village economy. I also saw how these technological advancements and skill improvements shifted to nearby towns and the process of urbanization taking place in a gradual manner.

The studies on Harappa show that urban civilization was far more developed than the one I saw in my childhood in the town where I studied for my high school graduation  called Narsampet. It also has shown the signs of class formation, which was of course a common phenomenon, both in the villages and urban areas. Class formation is an advanced stage of an economy. The Harappan city could have been built in  socioeconomic conditions that existed in my life time.

The city civilization did not confine to one small place. It was wide spread. That was the reason why cities like Mohenjodaro and Dholavira came into existence in faraway places. That also indicates that the  village economy was very wide spread in the Sindhu region. Quite interestingly we do not see any signs of such civilization developing in the Ganga region. We do not even know that if there were villages in Ganga region by the time  city of Harappa was built. Why? The answer to this question needs to be searched in what is known as Vedic economy in subsequent years. The Vedic economy is known as pastoral economy where cattle grazing and surviving on the animal products became the main stay. That in essence means the Vedic economy and social life became more backward than the Harappan economy. The urbanization disappeared. Even bigger villages do not seem to have existed.

The archeological studies mapped up on genome studies have shown that the Harappan urban civilization was built by Indo-Africans, whose physical characteristics match more with physical charaterisitcs of South Indians who are Dravidians ( The Dravidians are nothing but Indianized mixture of Indo-Africans). The Vedic civilization, culture and linguistic society was built by Indo-Aryans, whose migration seems to have taken place from middle east ( mainly from the present day Iran). This civilization is said to have survived during 1500 to 1100 BC.

Historically this civilization is also known as the one which followed the Harappan civilization. As there is not much archeological evidence on this civilization the earliest and most authentic evidence for this civilization comes from the Rigveda, the first Brahminic scripture of India. The roots for the Indian caste system are seen in this text. It was composed in the Indo-Aryan language, Sanskrit, which is even today the main property of the Indian Brahmins, as the priests in Hindu temples. They alone read, recite and interpret even in the 21 century all the Sanskrit texts. No Shudra (who constitute about 60 per cent of the so called Hindu population) have the basic right to read or study in the Hindu religious schools, colleges. No Shudra has a right to become the priest in any Hindu temple. No Shudra philosopher emerged from the Hindu Brahminist society from the days of writing  of Rigveda to present. Only Brahmin or Kayasth writers are treated as Hindu philosophers. The Buddhist tradition has a different genealogy of thought and philosophy.

After the Hindu fundamentalist party, Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) came to power in 1999 and 2014, with complete involvement of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , Shudras have become the main drivers of this fundamentalist ideology. The anti- minority campaign was carried with support of Shudra muscle power. But no Shudra is allowed to become the priest and philosopher in India. Most rich temples like Thirupathi (Andhra Pradesh) Jagnnada (Orissa) and Vishna Devi (Jammu) Ayodhya Srirama temple (Uttar Pradesh) Srikrishna temple Madhura (Uttar Pradesh) and Guruvayyur (Kerala) will not allow a Shudra to become a priest. The monopoly to read, recite and interpret all Vedas still remains with one small caste, Brahmin. The RSS is also headed mostly by Brahmins with the authority that they are Veda pundits. The RSS which uses the Shudra (OBC) votes and muscle power for the advantage of Brahminism but never fought for their equal rights in the spiritual system. The Shudras have their historical roots in Harappan civilization as most Shudras have their genetic heritage from the Harappan Indo-Africans. In other words the Harappan civilization and productive and artisanal culture was theirs. It is quite obvious that there were no Brahmins, Brahminism and Sankrit culture during Harappan times.

It is not known how the Harappa civilization, including its cities disappeared and how the whole civilization was taken back to pastoralism after the Aryan Brahminism became hegemonic. As I said earlier in the Vedic pastoralist economy, well developed villages are not mentioned—leave alone Harappa type cities.

Vedic Brahminism tells that its pastoralism slowly transformed into agrarian economy in a period of  1000 years. However,  a careful reading of the Rigvedic hymens shows that the scripture quite surprisingly does not invoke God but it invokes Agni (Fire) as the most worshippable force. The first hymn reads as follows:

 [01-001] HYMN I. Agni.
1 I Laud Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice, The hotar, lavishest of wealth.
2 Worthy is Agni to be praised by living as by ancient seers. He shall bring hitherward the Gods.
 3 Through Agni man obtaineth wealth, yea, plenty waxing day by day, Most rich in heroes, glorious.
 4 Agni, the perfect sacrifice which thou encompassest about Verily goeth to the Gods.
 5 May Agni, sapient-minded Priest, truthful, most gloriously great, The God, come hither with the Gods.
6 Whatever blessing, Agni, thou wilt grant unto thy worshipper, That, Angiras, is indeed thy truth.
7 To thee, dispeller of the night, O Agni, day by day with prayer Bringing thee reverence, we come
8 Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Law eternal, radiant One, Increasing in thine own abode.
9 Be to us easy of approach, even as a father to his son: Agni, be with us for our weal.

In those times Agni could not have been seen as an agent of cooking but could have been seen as the most powerful agent of burning the enemy’s resources—houses, cattle, crops, grain  and other resources of livelihood. The next major worshipping agent in Rigveda was Vayu ( Air). The Air ( or Wind) was an aid of Agni in the process of destruction.

When I was just 3-4 years old child my entire village—Papaiah Pet Chenna rao Pet Mandal, Warangal District–  got burnt down. In the revenue records of the village this was a land mark event. The terrifying stories of how Agni destroyed  the village and the blowing Vayu was helping it carry the fire from one end of the village to the other end were told and retold as a terror narrative by the eyewitnesses. Those houses that were not on the wind’s way were safe. But most of them got burnt down to ashes ,including my house. The villagers used to abuse the Agni Devudu (God Fire) and Vayu Devudu (The God wind) for burning and for spreading that destruction from house to house, for several decades. That Agni destroyed our  houses, some of the cattle, grain and few people who got trapped were burnt to ashes. Not even their bones could be seen.

The fire started in the Westward of the village in a small hut with cooking hearth accident, as the thatched house had very low roof. For all those village masses the Agni and Vayu were never positive and helpful Gods but destructive Gods who came to destroy their village. No doubt both those elements are useful and they know that. They were called Devudu (God) no doubt as the Rigveda writers did.  In the village discourses Fire god not referred to creation but only referred to destruction.

Imagine for a moment, if an enemy had planned that destruction, for that person Agni and Vayu which gutted the whole village and turned it into ashes become the positive Gods who caused his/her victory.

In the Rigveda Agni and Vayu find more place than Brahma or Indra. In fact Agni, Vayu, Indra and Horse (as a worship animal) find more place than God in any descriptive sense in Rigveda. Why this? No ancient spiritual text in the world places Agni and Vayu in the place of God or above God? The notion of God is highly philosophical where the Agni and Vayu are tangible materials. There is hardly any scope for philosophizing the tangible materials like Agni and Vayu as with the notion of God.

The notion of God is more than anything else deals with creation. Destruction is not central to God. Of course, God could be imagined as force of punishment for wrong doing with a view of reform or rectification. Agni has no such nature and character.

One established historical fact is that the cities of Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Dholavira are great cities of life and civilization. There was lot of science and technology, involved, in building those cities. There is no indication in Rigvedic texts which worshipped  a burning materialist agency like Agni but not God of creative nature that it were those forces which destroyed that civilization.

Does it not indicate that the writers of Rigveda themselves believed in destruction but not in construction of civilizations? Does it not lead to the conclusion that it were these forces that constructed caste theory in the same text that Shudras who do agrarian tasks, cattle grazing, carpenting, smithing of bronze and iron, pot and brick making should be treated less than human beings and priests (Braahmins) who perform rituals should be treated as Bhoodevtas (Gods on earth).

(An abridged version of this article was published in Daily O on 19/08/2018 with a title “Shudras, Not Aryans, built the Indus Valley Civilization)      
Prof. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University

This article was first published on countercurrents.org.
 

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Former DGP, Gujarat, RB Sreekumar, in a letter to Gujarat CM, Anandiben Patel calls for an end to the criteria of born Brahmins alone being appointed as priests in government managed temples in Gujarat..

In a detailed letter addressed to Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, the former DGP, RB Sreekumar has pointed out that by appointing Brahmins only in nearly 80 state-managed temples as staff engaged in ceremonial, ritualistic and religious functions, the government is violating the Indian Constitution and making a mockery of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of being “A torch bearer to carry on the work and principles of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar”.

Making references to Dr BR Ambedkar’s writings (’Annihilation of Caste’, ’Riddles of Hinduism’, The Untouchables’, ’Buddha and Karl Marx’) the letter points out that, “Ambedkarism is not a set of metaphysical concepts or dogmatic socio-political theories. It is a product of application of lofty Indian spiritual ethos of Buddhism, and liberal western political ideas from the days of the French Revolution (1789), the anti-colonial struggles and upheavals for establishment of representative democracy guaranteeing fundamental human rights, inclusive distributive justice and equitable service delivery to the people by the State”.
 
The letter notes with regret that “those engaged in performing ritualistic worship and ceremonial duties along with temple staff employed for auxiliary services like providing articles of worship, preparation of prasad etc, are appointed to those posts exclusively from certain families from the caste of Brahmins”. What’s more, “Many devotees complain that some priests do not know and comprehend the conceptual, metaphysical and spiritual import of many Vedic Suktas and Slokas from Tantra Samucchaya of Parashurama, chanted during pooja (worship)”.

Citing slokas from the Vedas , Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Bhagwat Gita and other Hindu scriptures, the letter argues that no one is born a Brahmin but becomes one through acquiring education and culture.

Maintaining that “the present system of illegal monopoly of one caste in temple worship service is obnoxiously obscurantist, besides being repugnant of basic structure of the Indian Constitution and pre eminent Hindu scriptures”, the letter urges the Gujarat chief minister to “constitute a Gujarat Temple Service (GTS), on the pattern of any self-contained government service cadre” and to ensure that “qualified women should also be inducted as priests in GTS”.

 The full text of the former DGP’s letter may be read here.

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