How to solve casteism

Caste is possibly India’s biggest embarrassment on the world stage. A majority of the population of India do not even acknowledge this to be a problem. What’s wrong with caste, they would ask.

People try to justify casteism with all kinds of theories. The much-popularized notion (in the western countries) is that the karma-philosophy has been used to justify caste (one is born into a low caste based on one’s deeds in the past life). But in the current age, this is no longer true. The crimes of casteism do not stem from a philosophical debate, but from more basal instincts of man. A more popular theory (in India) is that lower castes tend to be unclean, and thus deserve to be seggregated. This is a dangerously misleading argument which stinks of racism.

Cleanliness had been used as an argument from the very ancient days to justify racial domination. The Romans applied it against their slaves, the French aristocracy applied it against the bourgeoisie, and the Nazis applied it againts the Jews. The Britishers applied it against all the Indians when they were colonizing them. Remnants of these feelings can be observed even now in fiction and in films. So, it now feels absolutely sick when one Indian applies this argument on another.

Caste is now understood to be a social problem, and not as an economic problem which could be expressible by the terms of class. Going by this understanding, the constitution of India provides special privileges to the disadvantaged castes in the name of affirmative action. People from the so-called lower-castes find it easier to secure admissions to universities for pursuing professional education. They also have protected quotas of employment in the public sector. India does not have a functioning welfare state which caters to the economically disadvantaged strata of the society. It is in this scenario that the principles of affirmative action are applied in the name of social justice. Curiously though, the criteria for availing these opportunities depends on the nature of one’s birth, i.e, which caste one has been born into.

However, as it can be seen clearly, 60 years of these policies have done nothing to improve the plight of the lower-castes in India. Routinely, the newspapers report about caste-related murders and public humiliations. The attitude of caste-superiority is firmly entrentched in the minds of even the educated middle class of India. Why is this so ?

I would like to argue that the problem of the caste stems primarily from racism. As long as the root of the problem is not attacked, one would never reach a solution. The social and economic aspects of caste are just symptoms of a deeper disease which is racism. In crude terms, racism can be defined as the stereotyping a person based only on the information related to one’s birth. Caste fits exactly into this particular definition.

When we acknowledge that the problem lies with racism, we have to accept that the only true solution that can be offered is that of deleting the very notion of race. This is probably hard to implement in the global circumstances, but can very well be achieved in India.

Whether they like it or not, Indians are a completely mixed race. So, it is ridiculous for them to continue with the ancient customs of racial seggregation. The only solution to racism (caste) lies in discouraging within-caste marriages.

Please notice that I am not just saying inter-caste marriages should be encouraged. This is true. But apart from this, a viable solution needs to have a definite element of discouraging within-caste marriages. This type of discouragement can be manifest in the form of higher taxes. Couples belonging to the same caste and begetting more than one offspring would need to pay a higher tax. Since India is facing an acute problem of population explosion, one could achieve a dual solution thus.

There are people who argue that the caste system had its own virtues. Brahmins, the educated class, were the most respected. The warrior-class who protected the sovereignity of the country were also very respected. The merchant-class who were the backbone of the economic system were also given due respect. These values can indeed be considered as part of the cultural values of India. However, they immediately get corrupted when coupled with racism. The entire problem of caste in India was with the determination of one’s identity by one’s birth. Detached from this stigma, the cultural values of India could indeed be upheld. People who obtain PhDs would be the new Brahmins. People who serve in the army would be the new Kshatriyas. People who make business executives would become the new Vaishyas. The government can indeed provide tax benifits to these people as a way of encouragement.

If these policies are implemented, one can say confidently that the problem of casteism would disappear from India within 25 years. Otherwise, it would continue to persist. The caste-based identity would continue to damage any notions of nationalist or linguistic identity of the person, thereby causing great harm to the cultural rejuvenation of India.

The solutions of affirmative action (social) and welfare state (economic) can augment the above strategy for a reasonable and fixed amount of time, such as 25 years. The problem of racial divide in India demands urgent attention from the policy-makers to provide a fixed timeframe solution. I would like to make an appeal to all the people from disadvantaged castes in India. “Please get conscious and fight for a real strategy – a strategy that will redeem the situation from the abject racism that sorrounds you now. Don’t be lulled into a complacency just by a package of reservations. They would solve none of your problems.”