Question

Discuss the changing facts of cast system in Indian society

Answer 1

Answer:

The facts changing of caste system in Indian society are as follows;

(i) A deterioration in the domination of the Brahmins:

There has been an explicit deterioration in the domination of the Brahmins in the community. In the past, the Brahmin attended the leading place in the caste hierarchy. But in the modern world due to the process of modernization, the dominance of the Brahmins have been dismissed and now it is limited only to the social background of the individual.

(ii) Changes in the Caste hierarchy:

The caste system is no longer continued to be a clearly demarcated system of hierarchical caste groups. As a result of several factors such as professional diversification, the movement to metropolitan areas, industrialization of agriculture, borders between caste groups are performing to blemish or breaking down the caste hierarchy.

(iii) Protection of the Harijans:

The national policy of protecting differentiation has gone a long way in developing the socio-economic circumstances of the Harijans. Consequently, their cultural status has enhanced to a considerable extent.

Explanation:

Answer 2

The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the British colonial regime in India.[1][7] The collapse of the Mughal era saw the rise of powerful men who associated themselves with kings, priests and ascetics, affirming the regal and martial form of the caste ideal, and it also reshaped many apparently casteless social groups into differentiated caste communities.[8] The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration.[7] Between 1860 and 1920, the British segregated Indians by caste, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to the upper castes. Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy.[9] From then on, the colonial administration began a policy of positive discrimination by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes.

Caste-based differences have also been practised in other regions and religions in the Indian subcontinent like Nepalese Buddhism,[10] Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.[11][12][13] It has been challenged by many reformist Hindu movements,[14] Islam, Sikhism, Christianity,[11] and also by present-day Indian Buddhism.[15]