Indian politics: Caste system to eradicate Caste system– Part 1

The Origin

Caste system in India is probably a sold as the Indian culture itself. A lot many people attribute “untouchability” to the caste system in India. As Wikipedia explains, it is a malicious “social practice of ostracizing a minority group by segregating them from the mainstream by social custom or legal mandate”. A problem not just in India but also several other countries like Japan and Nigeria.  In nature very similar to apartheid and can also be compared to a racial behavior of another kind which is considered alive underground in many countries like UK, Germany, USA and even Australia.

Please note that even in India, just like other developing and developed nations, untouchability is illegal. There is no place for discrimination in the eyes of the law or as a policy of the state, but just that it happens at various social circles in such a hidden manner that it becomes difficult to classify, or prepare legal action against it.

In India, it is still prevalent (more so in rural areas) almost to the extent of it being a common knowledge.

Now the untouchables or the lower caste as they were called, were initially thought to belong to a one of the four Varnas named as Shudra. Similarly the upper castes belonged to either Brahmin - the preacher class, the Kshatriya – the warrior class (the top most echelon of society) or Vaishya – the business class. Obviously the Shudra ended up having the physical intensive work like housekeeping, barbers, labor etc and also lowliest of tasks which are now in this era of mechanical tools not expected to be done by human hands.

However these Varnas or classification was not based on caste, but education, capacity, capability and ability to perform the function required of a preacher, warrior class or business functions. Hence a preacher’s son could be a king (Sage Parshurama was considered a warrior and even Brahmin born Subhadra was a barber), a king could trade (Prince of Kasi was known to be involved in cattle rearing) and even a Shudra could preach (Sant Tukaram born to a Shudra father even had Brahmins as disciples).

However, it is not always as simple. Since the son of a king was born & brought up in an environment that befits a king, their faculties developed in a similar manner. Since the main job of a Brahmin was to read through Holy Scriptures, teach others and guide the society on the right path, provide consultation to the kings, even heal the wounded or sick, their kids were more adept at the above tasks as they have been seeing and learning by observation and in close proximity to these tasks getting an unparalleled exposure. Hence there was a natural tendency to carry on the professions of the family.

By the time Later Vedic period kicked in, the classification of Varnas was diluted and the idea translated loosely to son of a king should be king and by the same logic that mostly induction reasoning will dictate... the son of Shudra will be a Shudra. Hence a merit based society over a period of time became a caste dictated society.

This has plagued India for ages and became one of the major concerns for Indian polity both before and after independence.

With freedom, education and ever increasing value of meritocracy this problem is much less that it was, however it is by no indication a less evil and still more than 50 billion of Indian population  (a very conservative estimate) is still considered a lower caste. Some surveys tend to put that number close to 75 Billion (a staggering 75% of Indian Population). This is abhorrently huge numbers. However to be honest, not all of the 50 Bn (or 75 Bn) are differentially segregated based on caste. As per an independent survey close to 2 Bn of population is unable to get out of this model and are forced to perform the tasks way below human dignity permits.

to be continued...