Dalit woman sarpanch elected from general seat: can this exception become a rule?   Hajipar, Bhavnagar [Gujarat]: normally, caste hierarchies in India erode through a series of bitter confrontations that may give the impression that caste wars will continue forever. There may also be times when a single trauma would do the job. It would seem that the erosion of caste hierarchy follows no fixed path, and every such story would take its own unique course. What happened in Gujarat recently may illustrate the point vividly. In 2005 Hajipar village gained notoriety when a Dalit youth was...