“ The caste system in India is an informal social strata based on a creation story from the Hindu Rigveda. In the story, the world is created from the sacrifice of a common man, whose body was split to form four varnas, or societal subgroups - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. Later, the varnas grew to include a fifth group, the Ati-Shudra, also known as 'untouchables' or 'Dalits'. Over time, thousands of jati - or individual castes - formed within these larger varnas.”
The caste system in India has been going on for over two thousand years. Although it was banned by the constitution sixty years ago, it is still going on. The untouchables are at the bottom of the caste system. The caste system is so deeply ingrained in Indian society that the “untouchables” feel that they deserve to work menial jobs with no place for advancement. Young children do not associate themselves with the “untouchables” because they fear being polluted or cursed.
Anupama Rao, an associate professor at Barnard College and author of "The Caste Question" has stated that the caste system is more like a legal status. One’s occupation, social hierarchy and job title can be determined by his or her caste. Interestingly enough, something as intricate as marriage and sexual relations is determined by one’s caste. Matrimony websites display caste divisions in relationship searches- that is how deep it is.
The Indian government has made advancements to uplift the Daltis through affirmative action and reservations. Most activists are in favor of affirmative action but feel that reservations will make the people too lazy as they will grow dependent on the government. To be honest, I think the caste system should be abolished as a whole, but that will be a far reach, seeing as this mentality is already deeply ingrained in the society. It is up to the current generation to use education and entrepreneurship to curb and eliminate the caste system.
- Jasmine Mbadugha
For more in depth information on the caste system you can read the news article below and also watch the videos: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/untouchable-no-more-0022348, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2773155?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101302482771
Recent news:
http://truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/10507-americas-current-racial-caste-system-we-need-to-ensure-that-it-is-our-last ,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernard-starr/romney-santorum-poverty_b_1318001.html ,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/a-native-caste-society.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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