Historically speaking the main religion of India known as Hinduism today or better we use the word Sanatan dharma had different castes. Now the caste of a person was originally dependent on the profession of the person. Initially everyone was free to chose his profession and the caste assigned to him depended on that.
If a person chose the study of religious scriptures and science, he automatically became a Bramhin and it was supposed to be the highest caste, since knowledge was given very high importance and was considered sacred in ancient India.
If a person chose to be a warrior and protect the people and country, he became a Kshatriya. The second highest caste in India, since these are the people who would protect others at the cost of their lives.
If someone chose to do trade and business, he became a Vaishya. The people involved in unskilled labour were regarded as Shudras .
But later on the caste system started becoming more and more rigid in India with rigid laws made by the people of upper caste(Bramhins), backed with all military strength of the Kshatriyas and money power of Vaishyas. Now the caste was no longer dependent on work, but on birth and the worst part was someone who is born in the house of a cobbler will have to earn his living by making shoes. No other choice. If a boy was born in the house of a soldier, he had to learn the art of war. If a boy was born in the house of a Bramhin he had to take up the study of religious scriptures, no matter how dumb he was.
This castes also got divided and subdivided into many other castes and sub-castes. There were a big number of people who were outcasts as well. The outcasts were oppressed by the upper sections of the society, they were not even touched. They could not go to the same temple as the higher caste people. They could not drink water from the same well as the upper castes. If they did harsh punishment was meted out to them, which even included killing the person or even forced sexual intercourse(rape).
The lower castes were mostly deprived of education. They were exploited by the upper caste people. Things turned worse during the British Rule because of the system British got in place increased the exploitation and atrocities against the lower castes. The British deputed zamindars, patwaris and other higher officials from higher castes and they were extremely harsh on the local populace, who mostly were illiterate. The British made sure that they hired the most cruel people for those tasks.
The police system that we have in India, is given to us by the British, in general it is common knowledge that in most parts of country except a few, the behaviour of police with common people is not good. The British had this police force to subjugate the masses. While it cannot be denied that police has helped control crime, but it is equally true that during the Indian freedom movement the police was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people and even today in India poor and illiterate people are afraid of police.
During the end of the British rule there were people like Gandhiji, Nehru, Sardar Patel,Dr BhimRao Ambedkar and many others who thought that this evil of untouchability should go from the country. After independence laws were made that abolished the practice of untouchability and discrimination on the basis of caste was made a criminal offence. A person who insults or discriminates on the basis of caste is liable to punishment under Indian laws.( Protection of Civil Rights(PCR) Act)
Since people belonging to these castes had to face discrimination for centuries and they were subject to neglect, the people who wrote the constitution assigned certain amount of reservations in government jobs, educational institutions and public representation(ie MPs, MLAs etc). There reservations were and are in proportion to their population. Scheduled Castes have 22% and Scheduled Tribes have 8% reservation. The number of people belonging to the SCs and STs category is also 22% and 8% respectively.
However 63 years after Indian Independence not all SCs and STs have been able to take full advantage of this reservation system. Only a small proportion of them take get advantage of this reservation, and this is cause that even non deserving people get into premier educational institutions and jobs that require high level of competence. Not only that, after one generation gets advantage of reservation, it is followed by the next generation, while generations after generations, the deprived stayed deprived. Hence there was a formation of this creamy layer among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, that got all the advantages.
Hence there is an existence of discontent among the masses, since meritocracy has taken a backseat because of the reservation system. However there is point to be understood if all people belonging to SC and ST category got equal advantage of the reservation system, such mismatch won't have existed, since people are equally talented.
The reservation system was created just to protect the right of the SCs and STs and the reservation system was supposed to be in existence only for a certain period of time, but vote bank politics have made politicians weary of even talking about this issue.
The real issue in India is corruption if corruption is reduced significantly and black money is unearthed, then we can create enough opportunities in this country for all, so much so that no reservation would be needed.
-----------Rakesh Mallick
If a person chose the study of religious scriptures and science, he automatically became a Bramhin and it was supposed to be the highest caste, since knowledge was given very high importance and was considered sacred in ancient India.
If a person chose to be a warrior and protect the people and country, he became a Kshatriya. The second highest caste in India, since these are the people who would protect others at the cost of their lives.
If someone chose to do trade and business, he became a Vaishya. The people involved in unskilled labour were regarded as Shudras .
But later on the caste system started becoming more and more rigid in India with rigid laws made by the people of upper caste(Bramhins), backed with all military strength of the Kshatriyas and money power of Vaishyas. Now the caste was no longer dependent on work, but on birth and the worst part was someone who is born in the house of a cobbler will have to earn his living by making shoes. No other choice. If a boy was born in the house of a soldier, he had to learn the art of war. If a boy was born in the house of a Bramhin he had to take up the study of religious scriptures, no matter how dumb he was.
This castes also got divided and subdivided into many other castes and sub-castes. There were a big number of people who were outcasts as well. The outcasts were oppressed by the upper sections of the society, they were not even touched. They could not go to the same temple as the higher caste people. They could not drink water from the same well as the upper castes. If they did harsh punishment was meted out to them, which even included killing the person or even forced sexual intercourse(rape).
The lower castes were mostly deprived of education. They were exploited by the upper caste people. Things turned worse during the British Rule because of the system British got in place increased the exploitation and atrocities against the lower castes. The British deputed zamindars, patwaris and other higher officials from higher castes and they were extremely harsh on the local populace, who mostly were illiterate. The British made sure that they hired the most cruel people for those tasks.
The police system that we have in India, is given to us by the British, in general it is common knowledge that in most parts of country except a few, the behaviour of police with common people is not good. The British had this police force to subjugate the masses. While it cannot be denied that police has helped control crime, but it is equally true that during the Indian freedom movement the police was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people and even today in India poor and illiterate people are afraid of police.
During the end of the British rule there were people like Gandhiji, Nehru, Sardar Patel,Dr BhimRao Ambedkar and many others who thought that this evil of untouchability should go from the country. After independence laws were made that abolished the practice of untouchability and discrimination on the basis of caste was made a criminal offence. A person who insults or discriminates on the basis of caste is liable to punishment under Indian laws.( Protection of Civil Rights(PCR) Act)
Since people belonging to these castes had to face discrimination for centuries and they were subject to neglect, the people who wrote the constitution assigned certain amount of reservations in government jobs, educational institutions and public representation(ie MPs, MLAs etc). There reservations were and are in proportion to their population. Scheduled Castes have 22% and Scheduled Tribes have 8% reservation. The number of people belonging to the SCs and STs category is also 22% and 8% respectively.
However 63 years after Indian Independence not all SCs and STs have been able to take full advantage of this reservation system. Only a small proportion of them take get advantage of this reservation, and this is cause that even non deserving people get into premier educational institutions and jobs that require high level of competence. Not only that, after one generation gets advantage of reservation, it is followed by the next generation, while generations after generations, the deprived stayed deprived. Hence there was a formation of this creamy layer among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, that got all the advantages.
Hence there is an existence of discontent among the masses, since meritocracy has taken a backseat because of the reservation system. However there is point to be understood if all people belonging to SC and ST category got equal advantage of the reservation system, such mismatch won't have existed, since people are equally talented.
The reservation system was created just to protect the right of the SCs and STs and the reservation system was supposed to be in existence only for a certain period of time, but vote bank politics have made politicians weary of even talking about this issue.
The real issue in India is corruption if corruption is reduced significantly and black money is unearthed, then we can create enough opportunities in this country for all, so much so that no reservation would be needed.
-----------Rakesh Mallick
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