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> I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks
by unmole 5y ago
> I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks figure out the caste. Due to affirmative action (aka reservation) on steroids, upper caste were losing opportunities. My parents wanted to avoid that I lose out on selection, promotions.., where subjective discretion was involved.
I'm sorry but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Reservations in India follow a formal documented process and do not apply to private enterprises. Changing one's surname will make zero difference.
- russelldjimmy 5y agoPerhaps if something doesn’t make sense, ask for clarity instead of asserting that changing one’s surname makes zero difference. I am also familiar with many upper-caste people who have changed their surname to something generic (like Kumar) to avoid revealing their caste. This doesn’t just apply to job seeking in private enterprises. They do this to avoid any kind of attention drawn to their surname, and hence caste. This attention can then play out differently in different scenarios.
- unmole 5y agoI called the stated reason i.e. fearing losing out on jobs and promotions nonsensical.
- programmer_dude 5y agoThey change their surname so that they can weasle into quotas reserved for the repressed class. You are not fooling anybody Mr. Kumar.
- frontman1988 5y agoChanging surname doesn't change caste certificate. Otherwise millions of people would be turning into lower castes
- programmer_dude 5y ago> Changing surname Is just the first step. Bribing the right authorities is next. > Otherwise millions of people would be turning into lower castes How do you know they aren't already?
- frontman1988 5y agoI have a kumar surname. Can you get me a Scheduled Caste/Tribe certificate? I am ready to pay a million rupees if you get it done.
- zxienin 5y agoyes. Surname change was to avoid revealing caste. No appropriation of "lower caste" to get favorable quota. I have no evidentiary way to conclude if change ended up helping me or not. I just never had to face caste based discrimination. I shared the experience, so folks on this forums come out knowing more than what is typically seen in media. No rhetoric. There is no denying, that problem is real.
- unmole 5y ago> There is no denying, that problem is real. The problem of people from dominant castes facing discrimination on the basis of their surnames is wholly imaginary.
- jck 5y agoYou are right. This anti "affirmative action" rhetoric is quite common among upper caste people in India. Unless OP managed to get faked documents and pretended to be from a lower caste, they absolutely did not gain anything.
- tpxl 5y agoIn the same way you don't gain anything in the US if you change your last name from a 'black' or 'jewish' or 'slavic' last name to something 'american'. That is people treat you differently, even though legally nothing has changed.
- jsnodlin 5y ago