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The fact is that the well off in India come from traditionally "upper" castes. Linguistically speaking too (like English speakers), the caste correlation is qui

by yedava 9y ago

The fact is that the well off in India come from traditionally "upper" castes. Linguistically speaking too (like English speakers), the caste correlation is quite strong. Even among the non-English speaking rich (like wealthy farmers in the rural areas), the same caste correlation pops up. In a country where upwards of 90% of marriages are within the same caste[1], wealth accrued to certain castes stays within them (a self-sustaining system). So it shouldn't be surprising to see caste used an explanation for inequality. 1. http://www.thehindu.com/data/just-5-per-cent-of-indian-marriages-are-intercaste/article6591502.ece# http://www.thehindu.com/data/just-5-per-cent-of-indian-marri...!

gaius 9y ago
It’s not about who speaks English but about who was born Brahmin - that’s been true in India for 5000 years! India couldn’t function as a modern state with out a de jure lingua franca, that being English is an enormous advantage for international trade too.
- tiuPapa 9y ago
  Not true. The fascination with Brahmin has been replaced with the Rich quite a while back. Not saying that there is no cast discrimination in India, there is. But being born Brahmin is not as big an advantage today as it was in the past. Being born rich however is a different story.
  - pm90 9y ago
    Caste still matters in rural areas, not so much in urban ones. But most of India is still rural, so I would say that statistically, Caste is still a very big deal.
- who_is_firing 9y ago
  I don't think this is true; I come from a caste that is known for being scholars and hence had much better knowledge of imperialist languages (English, French, Urdu, etc.) than Brahmins since they traditional study Sanskrit and the Vedas. This allowed our caste to penetrate court & minister positions over the last millenium and surpass the wealth and power of the Brahmin community. Even today our community is one of the strongest middle class communities in our region. This might not have happened in other regions, but at least in our region knowledge of languages help the community get embedded in the aristocracy and acquire wealth for generations. Knowledge is power.
  - selimthegrim 9y ago
    Kayastha?

by yedava 9y ago

gaius 9y ago

It’s not about who speaks English but about who was born Brahmin - that’s been true in India for 5000 years! India couldn’t function as a modern state with out a de jure lingua franca, that being English is an enormous advantage for international trade too.

tiuPapa 9y ago
Not true. The fascination with Brahmin has been replaced with the Rich quite a while back. Not saying that there is no cast discrimination in India, there is. But being born Brahmin is not as big an advantage today as it was in the past. Being born rich however is a different story.
- pm90 9y ago
  Caste still matters in rural areas, not so much in urban ones. But most of India is still rural, so I would say that statistically, Caste is still a very big deal.
who_is_firing 9y ago
I don't think this is true; I come from a caste that is known for being scholars and hence had much better knowledge of imperialist languages (English, French, Urdu, etc.) than Brahmins since they traditional study Sanskrit and the Vedas. This allowed our caste to penetrate court & minister positions over the last millenium and surpass the wealth and power of the Brahmin community. Even today our community is one of the strongest middle class communities in our region. This might not have happened in other regions, but at least in our region knowledge of languages help the community get embedded in the aristocracy and acquire wealth for generations. Knowledge is power.
- selimthegrim 9y ago
  Kayastha?