Caste Oppression In India

The Caste system has aroused much controversy than any other feature of India’s society. Every day, Dalits are butchered, assaulted, abused, raped, lynched, shot or openly mutilated without considering any consequences of the offenders. The deaths of pregnant women who are not able to pay the bribes at government hospitals, some boys with eyes raised completely out for falling in love with a girl of a superior caste, and horrid stories of employees boiled to death because of spewing out arguments with the boss are continuously reported in mainstream newspapers. After years of democracy, the social structure stands to practice the caste system disregarding abolishment laws. Every international or national effort to abolish caste differentiation and segregation has been proven ineffective. The caste system of India is a deeply inculcated social problem requiring immense commitment domestically and internationally in understanding what has stopped the measures to get rid of this ancient system and what measures are needed to complete elimination of the system.

Much of human life is “given” to us but we are still placed into systems whether we like it or not. We have it here in America as well in other countries. Traditional Hinduism organized social life according to a caste system. Purity determined hierarchy of castes. The circumstances of birth determined the caste a person was in. The occupations were associated with the level of purity of each class. Brahmin is the highest class, and are the priests. The lowest in the hierarchy are the “untouchables”, who had occupations that excluded from the social life, such as tanning, and scavenging. After 1950, untouchability was outlawed and the name was changed to the “scheduled” class. However, they prefer to prefer themselves as Dalit, the “downtrodden”.

Amazingly, the Caste System in India has been around for thousands of years. The caste system places you in a social class with specific duties you must perform. Secondly, the system places you in the social class of

The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

In India, we can categorize marginalized people based on caste, gender, disabled, minorities (religious, linguistic, regional), etc. Hindu people come under the majority of population, and this religion is a very fragmented religion due to Varna system, because they have adopted the Varna system. According to their occupation, before Uttar Vedik Era, its function was very smooth and there was no concept of untouchability but after this era, it continued practicing. Due to different occupations, there was the existence of caste system in Hindu religion. People can change their religion but caste can’t be changed. Because of this,

Firstly, the caste system reflects the inequality of Indian society. Although religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices, majority of Indian population follow Hinduism. Therefore, the dominance of Hinduism beliefs is common in India. There is a belief in caste system, as Brood said, “a system of hierarchical social organization”1. Hindu society is divided into four main classes; the priestly class, the warrior and administrator class, the producer class who is farmers and merchants and the servant class. The remaining group of people who is “outcastes” is called “untouchables” or dalit. Brodd recognizes “dalits continue to suffer terrible oppression, especially in rural communities in India”. I still could not imagine how terrible this bottom class suffers until reading Max Bearak article. All sufferings of Rohith Vemula, from the hardships of growing up poor, interactions with society in caste to scholarship revoke and suicide, happened tragically because he was born in a dalit family. This is the

During the last centuries of the classical era, India and many other civilizations modified their culture while other lifestyles continued on with the way they had always been. During the periods from 300 – 600 C.E, Indian civilizations kept their political structure of the caste system and also their religion of Hinduism, but slowly departed away from long distance trade with other societies.

Caste-system oppression has been a staple in human culture for centuries. It hasn’t always been centered around race, but was initially centralized around a 3-teired caste system. The ideals surrounding oppression, slavery, segregation, and social injustice were created by the wealthy class centuries ago and have served a lasting influence on our culture still today. Many problems faced today aren’t a result of a war of the races, but instead a war of the classes. This idea of a fair America and the whole essence behind “the American dream” is long gone, and many blame it on our country’s adherence to capitalism and greed. Others might believe that these cards are stacked an ever-struggling third class American citizen and there is reason to

Separation of the many allows for easy rule by the one. Many tyrants and dictators have known this since the dawn of human civilization, and as such caste systems were implemented across the globe in many differing nations and continents. The caste system was once more implemented in The Handmaid’s Tale, as the women were separated by their jobs and envious of each other’s freedoms, no matter how small. The marthas able to talk, The handmaid’s able to go on walks, etc. This caused a social divide, no one would go out of their way to help others simply because it was best for them to look after themselves, rewards were placed for those who would give information regarding others transgressions. The mention of eyes in the novel seemed interesting, because evidence of the “eye’s” was never truly brought forth, an assumption can be made that everyone was an eye, everyone was looking for some way to catch someone do something wrong, so they could gain an edge, and this created free information gathering, while at the same time kept women from openly trying to build a resistance, as if they tried to gain members they would sooner be exposed than gain anything.

Untouchability as claimed by the Indian government is said to be abandoned 60 years ago, however still 40% of Dalits are illiterate (Around 70 million). This tells us that the caste system unfortunately still exists. The caste system is a system of class and hierarchy, it divides people in terms of classes called castes which usually determines their status in the community and therefor their livelihoods. The caste system still exists and if not constitutionally definitely socially. The caste system presence keeps different communities separated, lowers national GDP (Economic activity/development), discriminates against those of the lower caste, slows the development procedure and creates unlimited social consequences.

The intense hierarchical system in India has been immensely fascinating for thousands of years. A probable theory to the beginning of the caste system is the movement of Aryan population into India from the north. The Aryan peoples conquered much of India and its ' natives causing a separation between the two populations, possibly explaining the separation between the higher castes and the “untouchables.” Additionally, the Aryan 's imposed their preexisting hierarchy on the natives thus creating the caste system. However, “According to Hindu tradition the caste system owes its origins to the four Varna.”(149. Hutton) The Varna are based on different parts of Brahma, or God, each part representing a seperate caste. Much of Hindu belief, practices, and text further the structure of the caste system, such as the idea of Dharma, and text in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture. Though the creation of the caste system, similar to Hinduism itself, is not traceable, the caste system and its continuation can largely be contributed to the Hindu faith. From creation the Hindu faith helped perpetuate, enforce, and build the caste system through stories, texts, laws, and practices.

Although every caste in the World State is meticulously conditioned to accept the hand they are given, there are still many citizens who are dissatisfied with the quality of life available to them in society. Knowingly or unknowingly, these outliers reject their conditioning and strive for something more, whether it be adversity, danger, or passion.

As stated early how Americans abuse power of status over minority groups, it is not the same in countries such as India where racism occurs between those who supposedly how the same status but instead the levels of status of the people is the demonstration of racism. For example, in the India’s inhuman practice of manual scavenging and untouchability video colors the picture of the life those describe as untouchables in India. These untouchables are the scavengers of their country and are deemed as so low on the totem pole they are regarded as less the people and thus named the “untouchables”. This racism is carried through generations by marriage, someone born into the family of untouchables cannot marry outside of their class, as well when married into the family of scavengers that is your job for the rest of your life and there is basically no

I stopped using the full of my last name because it denotes caste. So I go by the name Stalin K”, this excerpt from an interview with the ‘India Untouched’ documentary maker, gives us a fair idea of his commitment to the issue of untouchability, something which is also very apparent in his work. More recently seen in Aamir Khan’s ‘Satyameva Jayate’, his documentaries have galvanized international attention towards the issues of caste and untouchability in contemporary India. Spanning across eight states of the country and taking almost 4 years, ‘India Untouched’ is a chilling yet grasping tale of the caste hierarchy and related discrimination seen in various nooks and corners. Comprehensively looking at these issues, tracing them even in states like Kerala (the bedrock of Communism in the country), it succeeds in impressing the viewer with the gravity of the entire issue.

A few disadvantages of India’s social system are that Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social organizations. According to the US Department of State-Background Notes website, even though the government has declared the caste system as illegal, it still has a presence in occupational and societal hierarchies (The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010).