I found caste to be one of the most pervasive and difficult aspects of Indian society to understand. To an outsider, caste distinctions are subtle and hard to decipher. Caste hierarchy did not seem to be associated with wealth, skin color, or location. In the slums, our Indian producer told us he talked with a Brahmin. An MBA student I met was an Untouchable -- a Dalit, as Indians call them.
Some people compared Indian society in rural areas to a "feudal society:" once you figure out another person's caste, you know whether you are "higher" or "lower" and how you should behave.
Chandrabhan Prasad is the most prominent Dalit columnist in India. Let me share with you an email he sent me. It is one of the best explanations of the caste system and what Dalits seek as India modernizes.
Unlike Racism, India's Caste Order rests on the twin principles of "Occupation & Blood Purity". That meant, each Caste is [historically] tied to a certain occupation. By tradition, there can't be a Caste without a distinct Occupational identity and the vice versa. Dalits or the Out-castes or Untouchables, were [historically] not entitled to accumulate wealth and enter into trade and enterprize. Though that dictum no more exists, impact of that dictum continues keeping Dalits outside the market-trade, industry and businesses.Because of Affirmative Action policies or reservation in government jobs, a little Dalit middle class has come into being. Because of the globalization triggered economic reforms, there is a cut in government jobs- and thus, Dalits are the hardest hit. As the experiences of the past five decades show, jobs alone will not integrate Dalits into the market and mainstream society. Some of us therefore, are pleading for an American type Diversity- in recruitments, and business opprtunities through Supplier/Dealership/Contract Diversity for Dalits/Tribals.
As we understand, the Globalization and economic reforms are a global phenomenon, and hence unstoppable. Instead of fighting globalization, we are seeking our share in that. Also, globalization in the long run, will democratize business activities, and dent the traditional Indian culture in favor of the disadvantaged groups. This thought however is not shared by the majority of Dalit activists. As a keen observer of the market economy, I do believe that the large scale industrialization and capitalistic expansion will help Dalits as they [seek] emancipation from agrarianism. But, in that capitalistic expansion, Dalits will get low paying jobs as manual workers. It is here that Diversity becomes necessary. Also, like Blacks, most newly empowred Dalits, as first time consumers, will return their entire earnings to market. Dalits thus don't block circulation of money. It is in this sense that Diversity will help even industry to prosper.
To sum up, let me say the following: After WW-II, the booming American economy could not integrate Blacks and then came the '60s'. India's booming economy is not integrating Dalits-and I fear, India too will plunge into a vicious cycle of large scale social tensions."
Since Chandrabhan wrote that note, Dalits have won a remarkable political victory in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. If Uttar Pradesh were a separate country, it would be the sixth largest in the world, with a population of 175 million. The Dalit party there forged an unlikely alliance with upper-caste Brahmins and coasted to victory. It is an interesting development, both for what it says about the weakness of the coalition that now rules India and for the future of caste identity and politics in India.
Interested in learning more about India? Then check out the "India's Promise" home page.
Comments
Hi
Dear Darren,
This is chandra bhan prasad, a New Delhi based researcher and columnist.
Please visit my Website //www.chandrabhanprasad.com//
If yiou liked it, please spread words about my site.
cheers
Chandra
Lower caste people are lower(intellectually et al.) because they were not permitted to compete as the society socially prohibited those low in caste from competing(the earliest example is the story of KARNA, the eldest of Pandava, who joined the opponents as a gesture of gratitude to King Duryodhan who permitted him to take part in a competition)Today we are perpetuating that, by giving those lower in caste, what he could have achieved by competing, without competing.
Results of this shall be discernible only after a few generations, the intellectual disparity between the upper caste and lower shall reach such a level, making cohabitation difficult, at least as equal beings.
Dear Mr. Paul Kangus,
Your report on the India's Promise regarding the India's classes did not address what is plaguing India's average class. Reverse discrimination has been troubling this class since 1962. In the 1950s, the quota system came into existence separating the educationally classified forward community, backward community, schedule caste, and schedule tribes. Everyone has reserved quotas (65, 25, 15). The quotas for the backward, schedule caste, and schedule tribe continue to increase. Whereas, the forward community "reservations" have consistently decreased for the past half century. For example, two students from the same school, with the same teachers apply to medical school. The students have the same score, one gets in one does not. It so happens that one of the students was from a backward community and he received the seat. The other student was born into a forward community and because of the reservations in place was not accepted.
In order to address the issue in your program, the student from the backward community should learn the techniques required for the job. Do not blame it on the system. There are opportunities out there, one just needs to search for them and work hard to earn them.
The problem does not lie with reservations it ultimately is the result of the corrupted Indian political system including government officials from every corner. They do not look out for their citizens, they only seek to fulfill selfish desires. If they get rid of the bribery, the misery of the country will be disappear overnight. I realize that your segment is trying to get the word out regarding reservations in the private sector, but it is bias to say India is discrimating against the lower classes. Especially when many of the times it is exactly opposite.
You portray India as the biggest Affirmative Action Experiment. An experiment apparently gone wrong, since your main interviewee could not find a job. I believe you need to address the other side where reverse discrimation has created an obstacle for the average citizen barring him or her from pursing certain paths.
It is not only India that suffers the reverse discrimation plague. Whites, Indians, and Asians in America also need to work harder and be better when competing with African Americans and Latinos for the same seat in college or job. Affirmative Action was initially instated to create a level playing field. Maybe at one point it did achieve this purpose. However, the time has long passed, and now this quota system has defeated its own purpose by reallocating the prejudice. I would love to see segments on these topics, and guarantee you will generate a large audience, inspire debate, and hopefully change.
Sincerely,
Radhakrishnans
-Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. -M. Gandhi
Dear Darren,
Thanks for replying to the comment. Today I saw the education part and it was right on. I would say the reservation/quota system in India affects more than private sector affirmative action. Taking the education for example we have a situation,where the students who got the best scores do not get into the best colleges because of the quota system. If the quota system is designed to give benefit to poor kids studying in rural schools like the one you showed that is ok, but the quota system is designed in such a way it benefits a student just he or she belonged to a specific caste irrespective of his or her economic status. You have thousands of examples where a 'forward' caste student studying in a village school is discriminated against a student who studied in a private school just because the later student belonged to a specific caste. We definitely do not want this situation to propogate to private sector as well.
May be during your next visit you can explore this situation in more detail.
May be you are already missing Indian curry and masalas and of course the traffic :-)
Darren and team,
I've been reading 'n watching your reports. Some are fair and others do not sink in. I'm afraid that the topic on caste is way too narrow. Most Indians, like Prabhu do know what we are talking about. It is really kinda funny that you post a so-called-dalit's email and say that you didn't buy in point-of-view?
Appreciate your honest attempt at the topic considering your limited exposure to India and its citizens. Not an easy task!
Hi Darren,
I too have felt the same way as Prabhu when I was watching your program. I got the awareness of reservations when I went for my Masters in Engineering - where there will be only 12 or 15 seats out of which 50% are reserved for Dalits and Backward classes. Fortunately I could get into the course - but you can see the difference in merit levels here. So, I am not surprised if a Dalit guy does not get a job even after studying MBA from a good institute. A poor intelligent Brahmin might have lost his seat for him. That is why, recently our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said that we need to give reservations based on economic criteria not castes any more.
I do not agree with Chandra Bhan's statement that "India's booming economy is not integrating Dalits-and I fear..." - I see so many dalits here in US doing SW jobs. If they are not getting offers in India - that could be purely because they may not be up to the mark yet - because no private company in India follows the reservations concept - they do not ask your caste at all in the application and almost all the SW companies in India are private or public limited.
Darren, you could have also noted that this reservation system has been in place right from 1947 - after we got the independence - and FYI Indian constitution was authored by a Dalit named Babasaheb Ambedkar - in those days he got the support from all the upper caste people for his living and studies.He even stated in the consitution that the reservation system should be abolished after 20 years. It has been already 50 years since then ! Dalits are not alienated by upper castes - they have to coemout of that barrier psychologically - because I see that every wise , good human being is respected in the society in the same way, irrespective of his caste.
Ideally, I would have presented the upper caste point view as well in the show.
Dear Prabhu,
You raise some very interesting points. Let me offer the following observations.
Caste is one of the most complicated issues we ran across in India. It touches on economic and social aspects of Indian society.
Also, we were trying to focus on one small aspect of reservations: private sector affirmative action. We did not feel that we could address the concerns you raise about quotas in education, though anyone in the US who has followed this debate would be aware of the impact of quotas on college admission.
Finally, I would say that we did not buy in to any point of view, but tried to present them all fairly. You say fashion models have no "clout" and so it makes no sense to point out none are Dalits. The reason I put that in is because Dalits told me they feel it is symbolic of a larger prejudice.
You are right that there are many powerful Dalit politicians. Indeed, there are more following the recent elections. We could have pointed that out. That said, we could easily do several documentaries on the caste system in India and still not cover all the important things that could be said on the topic.
Thank you for sharing your views and contributing to the discussion.
I wish Darren dug this story deeper. I always have enojoyed the inquisitive questioning style but it is unfortunate he has just listened to one side of the story in this reporting. I am an example of an "upper caste" individual, My father was a government employee and I am from a middle class family. I faced the brunt of discrination against me when applying for an Engineering Degree after 12th grade. In Tamilnadu the state where I am from only 39% is what is considered Open quota. In other words, for every 100 seats only 39 seats are available for 'open competition'. Please note that the remaining 61% is 'reserved' for so called 'backward' castes and 30% is not reserved for upper caste but is open for competition from everyone including backward castes and Dalits.
What does this mean to me? It means that inspite of getting more than 89% I have to settle for a private engineering college rather than going to a government engineering college increasing my education expenses several fold.
I know my classmates who are much well off with their father's being businessmen got easily into government engineering colleges inspite of getting much much lower scores.
So who is discriminated here?
I am not against an quota system or reservation but I think that any such reservation should be purely based on economical/financial criteria and not based on caste?
It is unfortunate that you have bought into this concept.
Let me ask a question, if we want really everyone to forget about caste and treat everyone equal why would we want to remind people cons60tantly of their caste?
This type caste based quota system is Indian politicians vote bank and it is this quota system that is the primary reason for India not improving fast inspite of its existense for the past 60 years.
India's current growth is primarily driven by private sector (especially software) which is now fuelling growth in other sectors.
Continuing with my example we have practical situations where poor brighter students with lot of merit unable to get into Engineering and Medical Colleges because of this quota system just because they belong to upper caste and students who have lesser merit and richer are able to capitalize on this quota system and are able to get into these coveted institutions "just because they belong to a backward caste".
I sincerely hope that private sector opposes the extension of caste based quota system into private sector.
Darren just said none of the 'top models' are dalit. This is laughable reporting. What clout do topmodels have? Does he know how many ministers are Dalits? Does he know what is the percentage of government bureaucrats are dalits?
How about the so called Backward castes?
Just dig deeper and report the whole story rather than being just populistic