JAISALMER: For the dead in the desert town of Jaisalmer, their caste tag lives on. A government agency for urban affairs in the western Rajasthan district has sanctioned separate and clearly marked cremation grounds for different castes and communities.

The Urban Improvement Trust (UIT) in its board meeting on July 10 adopted the proposal for developing 47 new crematoriums and sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the project. The money will be spent as per the requirement of various castes and sub-castes, from across the hierarchy. Some of the 47 groups allocated cremation sites are nai, darji, bhatia, kumhar, puskaran, grahaman, ranvanarajput, maheshwari, soni and jeenagar. The UIT is under the jurisdiction of the state’s urban development and housing ministry.

"We have taken this decision as people do not like to take bodies to crematoriums that serve several castes. At times, one caste denies others permission to perform last rites in the crematorium designated for their castes," said UIT chairman Umaid Singh Tanwar. The tender has been proposed and the trust is now waiting for a nod from the state government.

Experts warned such an act by a government agency was a violation of the Constitution. "It is very unfortunate and in complete violation of constitutional norms and scientific temper. When you take birth, unfortunately your caste identity is established. But it is beyond rationality that society can even discriminate a body on the basis the dead person’s caste," said Rajiv Gupta, former head of sociology, Rajasthan University.

The stamp of legitimacy provided by the UIT comes just ahead of elections in state and is seen by many as a way to appease voters from all sections in an area which is sparsely populated and winning margins are thin. Defending their stand, officials claimed that it was their public responsibility to cater to the people’s demands.

Surprisingly post-death apartheid is not new in the town. There are already cremation grounds for different communities like bissa and maheshwari. Several makeshift grounds have been developed by a few other communities. In fact, after tenders were invited by the UIT through advertisements in local newspapers, public representatives brought to the authorities’ notice that three or four communities had been left out. These were later included in the list.

"The practice of cremating people in their respective caste grounds has existed since the time when Jaisalmer was a princely state. Even today, these crematoriums are registered in revenue records and municipal council records. It is old tradition here and there is nothing weird about it," said Tanwar.