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India's Caste System is very rigid, apparently. I asked an Indian friend in college to explain it to me before the interwebz. After the rage she showered upon m

by tunap 10y ago

India's Caste System is very rigid, apparently. I asked an Indian friend in college to explain it to me before the interwebz. After the rage she showered upon me for asking I never followed up. Perhaps I will now... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

shripadk 10y ago
Caste system is not the same as Racism. However, it has nothing to do with accidents. When you see a person involved in an accident in India you won't be able to make out his/her caste by looking at them (unlike race where the racial features are apparent).
- tunap 10y ago
  Thanks for the info, I assumed apparel and appearance were distinguishable between the groups. I will follow up on my unanswered inquiry for my edification.
  - shripadk 10y ago
    I can help you get a fair idea of the prevalent caste system: 1. You can get all knowledge about the caste system from the interwebs. Especially read up on "Manu Smriti" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti). The caste system that was practiced centuries ago does not exist today. So whatever you read on the interwebs take it with a grain of salt. A lot has changed for the better. 2. Caste doesn't come into picture in day-to-day life (unlike race where you might be harassed for the race you belong to as there is no escaping your racial features). 3. Caste plays a major role in marriages. Inter-caste marriages are discouraged by a section of the society. This is more prevalent in northern parts of India in comparison to the south. 4. Education/Government jobs have a quota system for lower castes. This has become a reason for hatred between the upper and lower castes because it doesn't encourage meritocracy. 5. In some really orthodox parts of Indian society (which is very small) segregation exists where lower castes are not allowed for example to take water from the same well as the rest of the village. 6. Violence on lower castes still exists in some villages. However I can happily say that I have hardly come across any casteism myself. Maybe that is because I live in urban India.
- aianus 10y ago
  How does the caste system survive if you can't tell what caste someone is by looking at them? Is it on your ID card? Can you tell via their accent? Is there anything stopping someone from moving to a different city and pretending to be a different (better?) caste?
  - shripadk 10y ago
    No you can't tell by looking at their ID card or their accent unless the surname of that person clearly indicates the caste. > Is it on your ID card? EDIT: The only place where you ever need to fill your caste is in your application for ID card or while applying for an University. However, your caste is not printed on the ID card though you are provided a certificate for it (that you need to provide in case you want to avail any government benefits). You can see an example of Voter ID card here: http://3.imimg.com/data3/RA/DI/MY-513699/pvc-electrol-photo-identity-cards-epic-500x500.jpg http://3.imimg.com/data3/RA/DI/MY-513699/pvc-electrol-photo-... This is an example of Aadhar Card (similar to SSN in the US): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yVnN-Mji48/VK6hZ6KAWAI/AAAAAAAAG-M/fGktImJyuRc/s1600/aadhaar-card.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yVnN-Mji48/VK6hZ6KAWAI/AAAAAAAAG-... > Is there anything stopping someone from moving to a different city and pretending to be a different (better?) caste? That won't work. The issue is that no one wants to "leave" their caste. There is no better or worse caste these days. It was the case centuries ago where the Brahmin caste was considered superior to the rest (when Kshtariya Kings ruled India). That is no longer the case. In the ancient times, education was only restricted to upper castes. These days we have quotas (almost 50%) in education/jobs sector for lower castes. The only place where caste has a major impact is in marriages and politics. If you love a person from a different caste and your in-laws are against your caste you'll have a tough time dealing with that situation. Unless your in-laws are total whackos (see news reports on honor killings) you should be able to convince them. Those who can't convince elope and get married. When it comes to politics casteism is rampant. If you belong to a particular caste and your caste does not have enough representation in that constituency you are standing from you are bound to lose (irrespective of whether you are a good candidate or not). Each caste votes as a group and only vote for their own candidate. The reason for that is all castes in India want a slice of the pie. Some castes want higher quota in education while others want quota in private sector etc. If you hear stories about how bad the caste system is in India take it with a pinch of salt. Most of it is politicking. There are however a few real cases of caste based violence that mostly go unreported by the mainstream media as the people involved in that violence do not have political patronage. If you hear someone saying that they want the caste system to be abolished what they really mean is the modern caste system (of which I gave examples of) rather than the traditional caste system (that which existed centuries ago and of which you find a lot of articles/writings on the interwebs).

by tunap 10y ago

shripadk 10y ago

Caste system is not the same as Racism. However, it has nothing to do with accidents. When you see a person involved in an accident in India you won't be able to make out his/her caste by looking at them (unlike race where the racial features are apparent).

tunap 10y ago
Thanks for the info, I assumed apparel and appearance were distinguishable between the groups. I will follow up on my unanswered inquiry for my edification.
- shripadk 10y ago
  I can help you get a fair idea of the prevalent caste system: 1. You can get all knowledge about the caste system from the interwebs. Especially read up on "Manu Smriti" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti). The caste system that was practiced centuries ago does not exist today. So whatever you read on the interwebs take it with a grain of salt. A lot has changed for the better. 2. Caste doesn't come into picture in day-to-day life (unlike race where you might be harassed for the race you belong to as there is no escaping your racial features). 3. Caste plays a major role in marriages. Inter-caste marriages are discouraged by a section of the society. This is more prevalent in northern parts of India in comparison to the south. 4. Education/Government jobs have a quota system for lower castes. This has become a reason for hatred between the upper and lower castes because it doesn't encourage meritocracy. 5. In some really orthodox parts of Indian society (which is very small) segregation exists where lower castes are not allowed for example to take water from the same well as the rest of the village. 6. Violence on lower castes still exists in some villages. However I can happily say that I have hardly come across any casteism myself. Maybe that is because I live in urban India.
aianus 10y ago
How does the caste system survive if you can't tell what caste someone is by looking at them? Is it on your ID card? Can you tell via their accent? Is there anything stopping someone from moving to a different city and pretending to be a different (better?) caste?
- shripadk 10y ago
  No you can't tell by looking at their ID card or their accent unless the surname of that person clearly indicates the caste. > Is it on your ID card? EDIT: The only place where you ever need to fill your caste is in your application for ID card or while applying for an University. However, your caste is not printed on the ID card though you are provided a certificate for it (that you need to provide in case you want to avail any government benefits). You can see an example of Voter ID card here: http://3.imimg.com/data3/RA/DI/MY-513699/pvc-electrol-photo-identity-cards-epic-500x500.jpg http://3.imimg.com/data3/RA/DI/MY-513699/pvc-electrol-photo-... This is an example of Aadhar Card (similar to SSN in the US): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yVnN-Mji48/VK6hZ6KAWAI/AAAAAAAAG-M/fGktImJyuRc/s1600/aadhaar-card.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yVnN-Mji48/VK6hZ6KAWAI/AAAAAAAAG-... > Is there anything stopping someone from moving to a different city and pretending to be a different (better?) caste? That won't work. The issue is that no one wants to "leave" their caste. There is no better or worse caste these days. It was the case centuries ago where the Brahmin caste was considered superior to the rest (when Kshtariya Kings ruled India). That is no longer the case. In the ancient times, education was only restricted to upper castes. These days we have quotas (almost 50%) in education/jobs sector for lower castes. The only place where caste has a major impact is in marriages and politics. If you love a person from a different caste and your in-laws are against your caste you'll have a tough time dealing with that situation. Unless your in-laws are total whackos (see news reports on honor killings) you should be able to convince them. Those who can't convince elope and get married. When it comes to politics casteism is rampant. If you belong to a particular caste and your caste does not have enough representation in that constituency you are standing from you are bound to lose (irrespective of whether you are a good candidate or not). Each caste votes as a group and only vote for their own candidate. The reason for that is all castes in India want a slice of the pie. Some castes want higher quota in education while others want quota in private sector etc. If you hear stories about how bad the caste system is in India take it with a pinch of salt. Most of it is politicking. There are however a few real cases of caste based violence that mostly go unreported by the mainstream media as the people involved in that violence do not have political patronage. If you hear someone saying that they want the caste system to be abolished what they really mean is the modern caste system (of which I gave examples of) rather than the traditional caste system (that which existed centuries ago and of which you find a lot of articles/writings on the interwebs).