Why I cannot accept caste system in India..

She was a six-year-old girl. She came to the college with her father, a watchman. It was exam time and the floors were dirty. A few policemen were there. The girl, born in a low caste family was told to clean the floor as workers were unavailable. The police did not think it was their duty to make arrangements. This is one of the subtle ways in which caste works. Unless someone points out, we fail to realise its seriousness and become its followers. 

India is a caste-sick nation. People are so accustomed to the inequalities in the system. Many are ready to follow it without an iota of doubt. People in the upper pyramid, ie the ones belonging to the dominant class have time and again exploited these people for serving their needs. 

One need not have to explain the kind of inequalities prevalent in the name of caste. There is no rural-urban disparity here. A friend recently narrated an incident which happened in her husband's house. An old woman who does household chores was denied water by my friend's family. They stopped my friend from doing so. Caste can make people inhuman. The age of that person, the necessity that she has, the services she is doing to the family - nothing comes to the picture. The only 'rationale' was that she belongs to 'lower strata' and people in higher 'level' are forbidden from sharing materials with them. 

Caste discrimination is real

India has been practising this system for centuries. A lower caste person was not allowed to use the same road, fetch water from the same well, worship the religious structures etc of that of higher caste people. 

Social reformers like Dr BR Ambedkar, Dr Palpu and many others have written about their humiliating experiences. Has education created a level playing field? To a certain extent, yes. While growing up, I thought education is the best answer to caste oppression. But after enrolling into famous institutes, I realised that casteism is so wired in our system that it works in a way which ill-treats the lower caste people. There are visible and subtle ways in which it operates. We know why Rohit Vemula had to end his life. His whole life was a story of oppression and struggles. He isn't the only one. The good part is that some of the students are organised and are more aware of their rights. That is hopeful. 

Even after independence, there is no end to caste-based oppressions. They keep happening time and again. People of a free nation are dictating the people of their own country. They are told to stay within their limits. What kind of freedom are we talking about?

Then comes the question of reservation. This is a large debate. We see people from backward communities bearing fruit from the process and establishing themselves in government jobs and educational institutions. The idea is to give them fair representation in the system. Every community needs its own set of people to be represented in a multi-cultural nation like that of ours. People from higher caste often question the idea of 'reservation' citing it is the death of merit. They feel that several people are taking undue advantage of the policy while hardworking individuals are denied opportunities to pursue what they wish for. That pushes us to the question. Is the reservation necessary? Such a push is necessary until there is a level playing field. To let that happen, we need to wipe out the structural inequalities in the caste system. In India, it is still the upper-caste elites who run the system. The quota could be existing. But they are pushed down the barrel. The sufferings that lower caste people are facing in these institutes are real.     

We resort to hate crimes or blame game when the son or daughter is marrying someone outside their caste. We think blood relation has no value and some of us proclaim they are not our son/daughter.  Why do we think that people from the same caste should only form alliances? Why are we still hesitant in accepting love? It (love) can happen to anyone. What is the need to separate them if they are born in two different castes? Caste and honour killings are a reality in this country. Some of us think it is better to kill their son/daughter instead of causing 'harm' to their community. Unfortunately, this is legalised by some communities while some individuals under the influence of opinion leaders or their own beliefs decide to follow the same. In some parts of the country, there are traditional killers whose job is to protect the community from inter-caste marriages. They are given a contract to take the life of the new couple by their own family or members of the caste group.  The inherent violence present in the system makes you think this way. 

• They deserve punishment for violating the norms.
• They don't need a place in the upper ladder.
• They should not try it, they should limit themselves to where they belong. 
• People born in a particular caste should follow their community occupation. Otherwise, who will carry it forward?
• Inequality and such concepts are created by educated people. This system helps to maintain social order and our rules are framed for the betterment of the society.
• Caste exists even among backward class people. So why upper caste only take the blame? 

If you think that these practices exist only in rural India, come to the cities. In big houses, we see separate plates for domestic maids, a do and don'ts list, parental advice to children to not make Dosti

with those children because they can 'convert' your thoughts and it is not good for the societal prestige. We attribute casteist surnames to our wards to follow the 'legacy'. This is what many of them think.   

• Lower caste people are getting more opportunities to succeed than higher caste people.
• People might have faced atrocities in the past. Why we need to pay the price?
• We should not think about caste because it is against the spirit of social equality. 
• We need to be proud of our caste's legacy, our identity etc. 
• Caste inequalities are not present in the current system.

Most of these arguments are from a self-centric view which thinks caste is responsible for making their lives 'miserable'. People are yet to realise the inner demons exist in the system because they are yet to face it in their lives. If they can empathise and understand why caste struggles keep happening in the country, they could answer many of these themselves.   

It is easy to 'blame' someone saying they are taking their opportunities. But it is not so easy to understand that it is a constitutional and legal right which was sanctioned for their upliftment. Do you think that people have already made progress and this is the time to stop? Unfortunately, our society is far from achieving that and there is no alternative in place at the moment. Our caste leaders tell us to hate the other caste or portray them badly such that we become people who lack empathy and compassion.   

We can avoid casteist surnames

I feel it is better to avoid caste surnames. The practice of displaying your caste as your identity is a regressive idea. Most times 'superior ones' get undue advantage from it. If you are a parent and you think that caste needs to be tagged in your son/daughters name, you are wrong. As a society, we need to be thinking about ways to get out of this system. When we are bringing it back to the system and letting the future generations practice the age-old nonsensical idea, it is doing no help but creating more problems. It bothers me because it eliminates the idea of social justice. Your surnames are giving out hints to people on who you are. Elimination of caste from our names can in fact act as a starting point to normalise our relations. The discrimination stops when you are detached from it. But who listens? 

Reasons for opposing caste

If there is one aspect I wish to eliminate from the country, it got to be the caste system. I have grown up seeing how this 'disease' has stopped people from joining together. 

Authoritative and autocratic: The way I see it, caste is the Desi version of Fascism. There is an absence of choice and the top-down approach, ie the upper strata decide and lower strata follow, is inherently inhuman. 

Elitist system: Caste system works in such a way that it promotes the people in higher strata and humiliates the lower strata. This creates inequality and biased treatment in society. 

Human rights violations: If you are denying opportunities to someone because they are not your caste, if you are ill-treating someone thinking they can take it, you are a contributor to the worst practice in the country. 

Glorification must end: The argument that caste system has created a social order is a myth. There was no social stability. There was only oppression. Only one sect of people bore fruit from it and the remaining lived in dark ages. 

Caste is divisive: Caste categorizes people. If you identify someone as an individual from that caste and behaves accordingly, you miss basic civility. That is to treat a person by merit. 

Respect is earned: It is not right to consider some people respectful because they are born in a particular caste nor to disrespect someone for the same reason. A person can command respect through actions, not by birth. 

Unfortunately, caste is a social reality in this country and may persist for long because it is deep-rooted and widely practised here. But it is inadvisable to stop the fight. Let us keep the debates happening. Let more stories emerge. Because communicating ideas to individuals is the best way to start the change.