Caste in Contemporary India: A System of Silent Oppression

The caste system has positioned an individual at odds with one another and attaches meaning to the extremes. The caste system- as it goes about its work in silence, the string of a puppet master unseen by those whose subconscious it directs. In the 21st century, India still has the major issue of the caste system, which results in discrimination at its worst. The caste system, weathering challenges and change over centuries, continues in its essence to espouse the principles of hierarchy. Dr B.R. Ambedkar said Brahminism is the negation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Considering the equality, caste system erodes the principles of equality- Equality means ‘exactly the same or equivalent in measure, amount, number, degree, value or quality.’ The Caste system denies equality in every aspect (majorly equality of status and opportunities). For instance, the caste-like Valmiki’s and Bhangi’s derive their income from sweeping and cleaning. Almost 90 percent of those designated as sweepers- who clean streets, who go down man-holes and service the sewage system, who clean toilets and do menial jobs- and employed by the government of India are Dalits. The social status of Schedule caste (mostly Dalits) has been the lowest. Fraternity is the name for the disposition of an individual to treat men as the object of reverence and love and the desire to be in unity with his fellow beings. There has been a 66% growth in crimes against Dalits in the ten years of 2007-2017. Scholars predict that there are many unreported crimes, and the number is still larger. The Prevention of Caste Atrocities Act should be properly implemented and executed in order to reduce the cases of Dalits and other lower caste so that individuals speak out against injustice and atrocities. 

Liberty falls into two classes. There is civil liberty, and the other is political liberty. The caste system denies both liberties. For instance, in 2018, a Dalit man was bitten down because he was watching the ‘Garbha festival, and the reason was cited that only upper-caste have the right to watch the festival. The caste system in India is the result of Brahmanism- which means Brahmanism is the perfect form of conservatism, a status quoist ideology par excellence entirely suitable to elites who wish to perpetuate their social status, power and privilege. The idea of Brahmanism has evolved and the idea of Untouchability and the caste system came into existence. Turning a blind eye on the caste system is no solution. The megacity and Urban India still faces the issue of the caste system. Primarily the slangs used by the people denote the social status of the person. In all the temples in Urban India, all the priests belong from the only Brahmin community- the monopoly in the field of being priests had been only reserved by a specific community. In the cases of social boycott, the fundamental rights become toothless. The caste hierarchy makes provisions of all the inhuman social boycott. In the Hathras case- when a girl was being cremated midnight, without the family being involved- and the social boycott of the family members by the high caste people is the noteworthy point, how caste influences in Urban India.   

   Brahminism makes it impossible to draw a clear line between victims and oppressors, even though the hierarchy of caste makes it more than clear that they are victims and oppressors. A crime committed against a Dalit by a Non-Dalit in every sixteen minutes. Every day more than four untouchable women are raped by touchable. In every week, Thirteen Dalits are murdered and six Dalits are kidnapped. Real Liberty of actions exists only where exploitation has been annihilated, where no suppression of one class be another exists. The Rohit Vemula case, where students are tortured by the professors and fellow students- discriminating in universities has become a new normal. Even in Education, majority of the students who go to abroad for higher studies is concentrated by upper caste.  As long as caste in India does exist, Hindus will hardly intermarry or have any social intercourse with outsiders; and if Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem and after CISCO case in US it had been proved how caste is creating world problems.  Affirmative action’s has brought representations of the Dalits and backward classes in the mainstream education, political arena. The caste system distinguishes between the lower caste and upper caste and creates a patriarchal society where women, marginalized sections are suppressed. In the book ‘Why I am not a Hindu’ by Kancha Illaiah, the author claims that lower caste women enjoy more power than higher caste women in every spectrum. Lower caste women are involved in the significant decisions in the family, while higher caste women are not involved in any decisions. Even the Dalits who had been converted into Christianity, separate church have been made for the Dalits- Even the Untouchability is present in Christianity. Dr B.R. Ambedkar in ‘Waiting For a Visa’ has stated that A person who is an untouchable to a Hindu is also an untouchable to a Parsi and person who is an untouchable to a Hindu is also an untouchable to a Mohammedan and also untouchable to Christian. Even the caste makes distinction in eating food habits. In ‘Buffalo Nationalism’ by Kancha Illaiah, describes how the pattern of eating beef is more prevalent in Dalits and how eating beef is important for the lower caste due to its low cost and more nutrient. 

   Inter-caste marriage is the only solution for the annihilation of caste. To reform the caste, the first step is to abolish sub-castes. The real remedy is intermarriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount the separatist feeling- the feeling of being aliens created by caste will not vanish.