As I said in my first post, "Why I decided to blog?", this blog is a small attempt to bring into light every small thing which matters to us; an attempt made to reflect upon the society and the way we look at it; an attempt to voice our views, opinions and concerns on various facets of life. Well the title of this post gives enough indication of the focus of today's post. So lets get started.
You would have come across the following information in some way or other:
- Premier institutes of the country, IITs and IIMs oppose caste based reservation
- Inter caste marriage annoys gram panchayat, refuses to accept the relation.
- Inter caste marriage results in honour killing.
- Demands in parliament to have reservations in private firms
As we all know, castes were developed to recognize the deeds of the person. All humans who performed similar tasks for livelihood were labeled to have same caste. Yes the focus was on karma. Advantages were clear, there would be brotherhood and not rivalry among the people of same caste. However, a person's caste was determined with his birth. Again this was very fair.
A priest cannot teach his son the art of business.
So let him teach what he knows the best. However, times changed. It became necessary for a brahmin to work for an entrepreneur. It was apt for a rickshaw puller to be educated. Hence things changed.
From pre-colonization to post independence, a lot of water had flown under the bridge. It was time for social upliftment of the deprived. It was time for the uprising of the oppressed. It was time to breed equality. The only way out was to force the so called 'upper caste', to place them under compulsion; in order to allow a breathing space to the people of lower caste.
This resulted in reservations.
That was 6 decades ago.
Today we see ourselves as a developing economy, a nuclear power, the IT hub of the world. A nation which was growing at more than 6%p.a, while the most of the world was under recession. We look to have a greater say in the issues concerning the world. We build Arihants and Chandrayaans; we acquire Arcelor and Corus; we sign nuclear deals and dossiers. But we also have farmers committing suicides. There is a gap between rich and poor; between the rurals and urbans; between the rich of the rurals and rich of the urbans. There is prosperity but there is also naxalism and civil wars. Yes we have a Bangalore and a Mumbai; but we also have a Dantewada and a Dharavi.
Aren't we living in a country diversified not only by language and religion but also by problems and issues? Shouldn't the laws of this land reflect the change in times; reflect the diversity and unity? Why not remove reservations in phases from the country? Why not have no reservations in more developed urban areas? Why not have reservations based on economic status of a family? Why not take into account the per head family income?
Can there be an end to the caste system? I believe yes.
If we permit inter caste marriages; imagine a brahmin marrying a businessman: what would their children be called? What significance will the caste bear?
It is all actually very simple
From pre-colonization to post independence, a lot of water had flown under the bridge. It was time for social upliftment of the deprived. It was time for the uprising of the oppressed. It was time to breed equality. The only way out was to force the so called 'upper caste', to place them under compulsion; in order to allow a breathing space to the people of lower caste.
This resulted in reservations.
That was 6 decades ago.
Today we see ourselves as a developing economy, a nuclear power, the IT hub of the world. A nation which was growing at more than 6%p.a, while the most of the world was under recession. We look to have a greater say in the issues concerning the world. We build Arihants and Chandrayaans; we acquire Arcelor and Corus; we sign nuclear deals and dossiers. But we also have farmers committing suicides. There is a gap between rich and poor; between the rurals and urbans; between the rich of the rurals and rich of the urbans. There is prosperity but there is also naxalism and civil wars. Yes we have a Bangalore and a Mumbai; but we also have a Dantewada and a Dharavi.
Aren't we living in a country diversified not only by language and religion but also by problems and issues? Shouldn't the laws of this land reflect the change in times; reflect the diversity and unity? Why not remove reservations in phases from the country? Why not have no reservations in more developed urban areas? Why not have reservations based on economic status of a family? Why not take into account the per head family income?
Can there be an end to the caste system? I believe yes.
If we permit inter caste marriages; imagine a brahmin marrying a businessman: what would their children be called? What significance will the caste bear?
It is all actually very simple
Remove caste from all equations
What about the political interests? Its an open secret that every party aims at broadening their vote bank. Will they allow such a change? If they don't then should we allow them into the parliament? The strength of any democracy is its people. Pakistan today is a failed state because its citizens are rendered powerless. We have the right; we have the power but alas we seldom show it.
What are your views on the caste system in India?
Should we continue to have castes or should we abolish them?
Can we bring in the change?
Please post your comments and responses.
With lots of love
Atul Mishra
- Decide reservation based on income.
- Stop considering caste as a factor in marriages - it is the profession, lifestyle and compatibility which matters.
What about the political interests? Its an open secret that every party aims at broadening their vote bank. Will they allow such a change? If they don't then should we allow them into the parliament? The strength of any democracy is its people. Pakistan today is a failed state because its citizens are rendered powerless. We have the right; we have the power but alas we seldom show it.
What are your views on the caste system in India?
Should we continue to have castes or should we abolish them?
Can we bring in the change?
Please post your comments and responses.
With lots of love
Atul Mishra
various aspects related to caste system have been brought into picture which are of course very true. but when it comes to the politics, there is hardly a better option to go for. to bring out changes into the society the responsible youth themselves have to be into it. vote banks have been the only concern of the politicians. to bring out changes, in fact better to say revolutionize the whole system, the youth has to understand the seriousness of this issue.
ReplyDeleteThe involvement of individuals can be made to eradicate the problem of caste system from our society.But our Indian government should also solve these societal problems proactively.
ReplyDeleteRecently,a Dalit father and daughter were burnt alive in the state and that incident happened in presence of a police officer and constable which shows the social stratification of our country.So,the fact is that there is no consensual solution to the caste system but it can be solved to some extent through active participation of the government and the people simultaneously.
Ela has hit the nail straight on its head. Individual participation was what I meant when I said: Remove caste from all equations. We will be able to send the message(of abolishing caste system) to the political leaders only when we get involved. Yes it would be tough to build a consensus and actually there cannot be a universal agreement in any democracy but it can be built in phases. I believe we need different rules in developed cities than those in the rural areas.
ReplyDeleteThe people's government can only be corrupted by the people, not the politicians. The politicians have taken absolute advantage of the Democracy in the only way it can be done - to corrupt the people. Its the people who are taking the bribes from politicians in the form of reservations, please don't blame the politicians. If your child would be deprived of better chances that you got through reservations, would support a party that wipes out reservations? That's how a common man thinks, and there are more than half of the population in our country who get the benefit of reservation. (in fact its 83% in Tamil Nadu) Those votes are enough to win any election. People with these ideologies (esp those who wish to implement them) wouldn't last long in politics, some founded NGOs where majority opinion is not required to do what they like.
ReplyDeletePeople want their leaders to give them what they want, not what they need.
Priyatham,
ReplyDeleteYes you are right... People are to blame, but politicians are to blame too. They are two sides of the same coin. Just because a child wants to eat sand, you don't feed him sand...if a murderer wants to kill someone, you are not supposed to give him a gun. Nowadays, people are following the "Law of Least Resistance". We do not like to stand in line if we can pay a 100/- and bypass it. The government officials should not succumb to power politics (and yes people should change).
But how long are we still going to sit and try to identify the problems in the mechanism?? This has truly become a "Who came first? the hen or the egg?" case. We have to understand that there is systematic rot everywhere. We will encounter it no matter what at every step! Hence like Atul said, the government should start changing some policies, and people should start becoming a little more responsible. You need both your hands to clap!!