how did the caste system promote inequality in india
Answers
India is often criticized for having this caste system. We are often misled into believing that all this caste system is a bane in Indian society. Well that means you aren’t well read about ancient India.In ancient India we had castes based on the work people did. A Brahmin would do all the religious work,a Kshatriya would take care of the Kingdom, Vaishyas would take care of the business, Shudra would take care of the entire village by making sure that villages are kept clean. No one was look down upon for the work they did. All of the work was meant for the collective good. Then somewhere down the year people started telling the Shudras it because their work is not of much importance they will be considered inferior. So came the system of untouchability and the caste divide began. The Invaders and the British did not try to change the system because they wanted to play the game of divide and rule. Therefore when the British left we continued with this caste system.
But in 2017 the people do not distinguish people based on caste. The only time when we are reminded of our caste is during elections or sometimes when we have to fill government forms. Otherwise people don't care about about caste. Maybe occasionally your parent will say that we need to marry a person spouse from the same caste but that is because of a values reason and an upbringing reason and have nothing against a person's caste. If you want to confirm it please ask your parents to clarify and I hope you will get a values centric answer. But if your loved one has proper values compatible with your character I see no reason why you should not marry the person. As I mentioned in my other answers I am strictly against reservations based on caste because I think caste is not a major factor today in 2017. The recent UP elections is an indication of this. Whenever you go for admissions or apply for a job you are judged based on the content of your character and not based on the content of your caste.If you perform well, adhere to the rules, bring in profits for your company and have good character you can even become the Prime Minister of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an OBC and see where he is now. Just look at the AIIMS MBBS 2017 results this year there are so many ST SC OBC candidates in the first top 100, the system is of course therefore not Biased against them and is not in favour of the general category nor is it in favour of any caste. The constitution guarantees an equality of opportunity not an equality of outcome, the outcome depends upon the personal effort and not the governmental effort.Now you may argue that people in the ST SC OBC category to not have sufficient opportunity because they are poor, well then that's an economic issue and not a caste based issue, that is why I am for a reservation based on your economic condition. There are so many examples of people who are born poor in certain caste or dalits that have become successful in the Indian system.For example the NDA is accused of being only upper caste based party but the Prime Minister and the leader of the party is an OBC. This shows that India is rapidly changing to judge people based on the work they put in and not just by the virtue of their caste.As far as what the government should do I think that Prime Minister Modi wants to abolish the caste based reservation system, but he knows that there will be riots in this country if it takes such a bold decision. So I would be for a reduction in the caste based reservation percentages from the existing 50% to 15%. We have to eradicate this problem slowly and not suddenly. Also I said earlier I would be for a reservation system based on the economic condition and the government should strive towards achieving that. All of these radical changes will take some time to adjusting to, especially for the reserved category students.But if this does not happen then the only marginalized community in this country will become the general category. What is shocking that while taking admissions reserved category students can apply in the general category. Thereby reducing the number of General category students which is not what the constitution says when it talks about equality.
CONLUSION: I accept the fact that historically certain castes in this country have been oppressed. But I don't think that it is still prevalent in 2017. If there are people who are discriminating people based on their caste, identify them, inform them to the police and I'm pretty sure the police will take action on them, In this battle I stand beside you. We can fight against them together!!