CASTE SYSTEM: GENESIS, EVOLUTION, MODERN IRRELEVANCE, NEED FOR ERADICATION & ERADICATION METHODOLOGY--PART II

We present our views about the Caste System in two parts. This is the second one. If you have not read the first one, please Click Here as it is highly recommended to read in order.
Kisor Alaguvel & Pradeep Venkat

(Disclaimer: Views are our own, not empirically proven and not anywhere intended to hurt. Neutrality is maintained throughout.)

To read this article in Tamil, click here.

PART II

                                CURRENT PERSISTENCE, IRRELEVANCE & ERADICATION

Castes, then as we know, were used as a weapon of oppression mainly due to economic inequality. Since the caste segregation was prominently based upon occupations, some sectors, inevitably, grew more powerful economically and educationally. During medieval history, Hindu kingdoms across India followed the so-named Vedic system of ruling and it was, as per sastra, one of the duties of the king to preserve the segregation by preventing inter-caste marriage. It was somewhat relevant during that period as individual occupations were of prime importance to the building of the empire and it had to be maintained or the order in the society is compromised. But now such caste-specific occupations are out of consideration and anyone can do anything for survival and rise. Occupations, now, are not entirely for the functioning of the society since there are lots and lots of business which thrive successfully but not essential for the functioning of the society. Preaching and the following inequality just would not be relevant to the modern notions of politics, government, and economics. But that doesn’t mean castes shouldn’t exist at all because the centuries-old tradition is so intertwined in our culture that eradication wouldn’t be possible without collapse of the culture. Castes, when upon at as just intra-marrying communities don’t pose any threat to the concept of equality and fraternity. There is no need to dissolve castes and make people mingle intentionally but there is the need to remove inequality in the name of maintaining the decorum of groups of people, even if it is at the cost of collapsing the culture. It would also not be reasonable to believe that people would give up what is a centuries-old tradition guided by religion with the passing of generation without conscious efforts. So what can be done is to create a stronger Indian identity (and linguistic identity at the next) that would work past any other communal identity at most levels.

The reason for the current persistence of castes (so deeply, as a pan-Indian problem) largely was due to the British starting to divide and reserve for Indians with castes and religious basis. They might have decided to implement this out of some valid reasons or for ease of ruling and administration (or, simply put, divide-and-rule policy). But whatever it is, it recognized a local, fuzzy dynamic (yes, castes are dynamic) units of the population into fixed and nationally recognized sets of people with birth as sole criteria. One cannot simply get rid of the cage. Conversion into another religion, too, didn’t pose as a valid alternative or savior. They simply remained lower-denominated non-Hindus. The Great Ambedhkar was flawed in his approach regarding this concern. So, the method of eradication cannot be conversion or recognition but, according to us, making it something one cannot use in any form to differentiate. Also, when the British were in expanding process by wars and treaties, communities who were part of kingdoms and facing the times of distress and heavy discrimination, took sides with the British in wars which further widened the gap and made it a historical event which should have been ended with the end of that particular kingdom. The British had done enough damage to the ties not just within Hindus but also within Hindus and Muslims too which various events before and after partition testify for. Mahatma Gandhi was both practical and truthful in his view of new India when he wanted India to be a largely rural economy with all its inequalities harbored by it wouldn’t be immediately eradicated but by prolonged and steady change. He predicted and was afraid of a new India that sets speedy urbanization and industrialization right after independence, which ardent capitalists Patel and Nehru had envisioned, would create a new class of urban slum-dwellers who would migrate to and live in the filth of the cities produced by industrial economy that spills out goods man didn’t really need. This effect of unplanned urbanization left multitude with negative headstart economically and they have to work as hard as they can just to make their ends meet. But making the British to take the blame for all this isn’t fair since it has been more than 70 years. We have made, in the name of conscious efforts to eradicate inequalities, some misdirections and that is Reservation.

Reservation should only be intended as a temporary or interim measure and not as a permanent system. Has the expected result of equal-in-all-aspects society born after all these years of this continued system? No, because the presence of classes has already been given the official recognition and reservation, by the government run by all of the people together. It has become something a person has to carry with him throughout one's life and pass on to the next generation. Even worse, the sense of community gets more ground with time as the consolidated blocks of communities oppose one another for various demands. We have to deny the inequality, not reasoning it to reserve in economical and skill-related spheres. We are continuing what the British had started with the intention of disrupting India: the recognition of caste in the census and other governmental processes in the 19th century. This has been the detrimental factor hindering the building of a modern society on civil lines instead of caste lines. Speaking against communal reservation mustn't be taken as speech against equality. Freedom of speech should be respected. But Reservation is but only a part of this debate and of what has to be done. Sure, it has to be removed off the equation, but not right away. There are many things to be done before that to be absolutely fair in our proposition. It is a big topic in itself and is more elaborated on our blog post (https://kisorishere.blogspot.in/2017/06/a-dream-indian-education.html). But an outline of the solution is given below:

Common school system

• Every student will be reserved a seat in a school that is exactly the same as any other institution in the country and no other reservation other than this.
• This excludes higher educational institutions but they must be under severe control in terms of fee standards.
• Entrance exams for all kinds of higher studies. Higher secondary board exam results may not be considered at all or be given a factor in entrance eligibility criteria.
• No reservation for communities but financial support can be offered to students based on economic status.
• History is separated from formal educational books and introduced as an extra-credit course
• History should be self-learned by a student from a book of one's own choice among options written by leading, independent history writers. This will check government's or any particular person's malicious intention of imparting wrong history or religious likes and dislikes maliciously in the minds of youth.
• Evaluation of this subject may be in the form of asking the student to elaborate on a particular incident and present what he interpreted from that incident as consequence in the present world. This system excludes student below the age of 10.

These are just a few and we may have missed out on some crucial points or didn’t look upon practical difficulties but there’s a solution for everything, no?

Another wrong strategy to counter discrimination upon caste is by encouraging intentional and motivated inter-caste marriages which only provokes anger and hatefulness and arises the need to preserve the (so-called) purity. The above-said strategy was adopted by the Dravidian movement led by Periyar in Tamil Nadu. It is utterly wrong and his motivations were suspected to be largely sponsored and encouraged by Missionaries of other religions of the time. Making people forget divisions is the only way out and not creating unforgettable injuries in the mind in the name of eradication of inequality. This is not intended to offend anyone who represents any denomination now but that is the least exposing method it can be told.

There is another strong reason to abolish caste-based inequalities. India is now in a stage where it needs to empower village economies and make each and every village self-sustainable units in all aspects. This is only possible when all the people hold high value for their place and feel one inside.

We are sure Education and truly equal opportunities hold the solution. To be read here is the crux of the post “A Dream Indian Education”. We should be celebrating ourselves in whole as a human race, not as divided units of population. We do not endorse or support the caste system in any manner.

Kisor Alaguvel & Pradéep Venkat 

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