जाटव संघ

It is considered as a very progressive caste. In comaprison to other scheduled castes, people from this community are much forward looking and laborious. The constitute a large part in Uttar Pradesh.A number of the educated younger generation have found jobs in government service where a certain percentage of jobs are reserved for Scheduled Castes.A number of Jatavs have followed Dr. Ambedkar and converted to Buddhism as a rejection of the caste system and as an assertion of the equality of all individuals. Buddhism for them is a political ideology in religious form. Ambedkar himself has been apotheosized as a bodhisattva; his birthday is the major public Jatav festival. Belief is in the major deities of Hinduism, especially in their localized forms. The Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar have become part of the pantheon. Ghosts of those who died before their time (bhut) and other spirits are believed to be able to possess or harm living people; fear of the evil eye is also widespread.