Question

State how caste inequalities are still continuing in India.

Answer 1

Hint: Caste division is special to India, unlike gender and religion. All societies have some form of division of labor and some kind of social inequality. Occupations are passed on from one generation to another in most societies. An extreme form of this is the Caste system.

Complete answer:
The hereditary occupational division was sanctioned by rituals in this system is what makes it different from other societies. A social community of the members of the same caste group was supposed to form that practiced the same or similar occupation, did not eat with members from other caste groups, and married within the caste group. The caste system was based on discrimination against and exclusion of the ‘outcaste’ groups. They were subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability and were known as untouchables. That is why social reformers and political leaders like Jyotiba Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, Gandhiji, and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker worked and advocated to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent. Partly due to many socio-economic changes and partly due to their efforts, castes and the caste system in contemporary India have undergone great changes. With economic development, growth of literacy and education, large-scale urbanization, the weakening of the position of landlords in the villages, and occupational mobility, the old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down. Now, most of the time, it does not matter much who is eating at the next table in a restaurant or walking along next to us on a street in urban areas. The Constitution of India laid the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system and thus prohibited any caste-based discrimination.
Yet caste has not disappeared from modern India. Some of the older aspects of caste have continued to exist. Even now, marrying within one's own tribe or caste is preferred and prevalent. Despite the constitutional prohibition, untouchability has not completely ended. Under the old system, the caste groups that had access to education have done very well in getting modern education as well whereas those groups who were prohibited from getting an education or that did not have access to it have naturally lagged behind. That is why, among the urban middle classes, there is a large presence of ‘upper caste’ in our country. Caste persists to be closely linked to economic status.

Note: Caste influences politics and also politics too influence caste systems and caste identities. Under the old system, the caste groups that had access to education have done very well in getting modern education as well whereas those groups who were prohibited from getting an education or that did not have access to it have naturally lagged behind. That is why, among the urban middle classes, there is a large presence of ‘upper caste’ in our country. Caste persists to be closely linked to economic status.