Often times in Indian newspaper and elsewhere there is a frequent mention of caste system in India. As obnoxious as it gets with time, I would like to argue in favor of it for a change!
Well read on:
They say: Casteism is common in India and people are discriminated for their caste.
I say: Which society does not have caste? Go to any developed/semi-developed/under-developed society, people are usually classified on the basis of their wealth, culture, education etc. Humans as social animals can't simply live without it!! Having said that, I am not saying caste related discrimination should be there. Now as I was raised in a small town, I did not see anyone "discriminating" against anyone on the basis of their caste. May be in the villages it is still the practise, but it is vanishing slowly and for good...
They say: Hindus alone practice caste.
I say: Completely wrong!! The other day I was speaking with one of my Japanese colleagues and he said, during matrimony, people from Japan do hire private detectives to find about the "Caste" of the prospective bride/groom. Even, in christian, Muslim and Sikh societies there is a prevalent caste system. You will find Christan churches having segments such as African American churches, chinese churches, Vietnamese churches so on and so forth. In predominantly muslim societies like Pakistan, they still have caste based classification. So why blame hindus alone...
They say: Caste divides society.
I say: Without caste also there will be always a division in society.
Now following are my arguments in favor of casteism:
During marriages, people frequently see caste and I see no problem with that. Reason - Marriage unites two different families. If both families practice different social rules, then one of the families has to adopt the culture of the other family else, there will be a disaster. I am not kidding... From my own experience, I have seen this plenty of times. In our house, both my husband and I belong to the same caste and our native places are just few miles from each other. But I still feel we have so much difference in our food habbits, in our culture in dealing with guests in conducting social celebrations like marriage etc. We often criticize each other for the practices we follow. Just imagine what would happen if we belong to completely different worlds. It may be fine initially, and it may be fine if one completely accepts the other's culture, but imagine, if that is not the case... If both bride and groom belong to the same caste, then most likely they have same customs, traditions to follow and hence less of conflict and a smooth sailing.
People tend to adopt the profession of their forefathers(Basically that is what gave rise to caste system in the first place). There is a lot of advantage to it. For example, if a child sees his parents following a particular profession throughout their childhood, then they tend to learn it better. For example, in Indian context, lets talk about politics or acting. How many of our present day politicians or actors are from non-political or acting families? Very few... Those who join in and become successful actors or politicians can be safely considered a case of "joining a new caste". After all this is what the Vedas say about the caste. We only mis-interpret things.
In a plural society, there has to be some kind of distinction and we as humans are hard wired to live that way. So, no amount of government pressure can subjugate it - lets accept this as a fact. Now, reservation in the name of caste is completely wrong from the perspective that, we are making it easy for people who need to really struggle to get into the position they so want to be in. This is something like reserving seats for people from non-political families in elections or giving acting job to non-actor families. It simply makes no sense. With this, I say YES to caste system and at the same time, I believe Caste should be an acquired character not inherited one. In other words, caste as an acquired character should not be passed on to the future generation rather should be left as one of the choices for the offspring to decide, whether he/she is comfortable in identifying himself/herself with the parental caste...
Well read on:
They say: Casteism is common in India and people are discriminated for their caste.
I say: Which society does not have caste? Go to any developed/semi-developed/under-developed society, people are usually classified on the basis of their wealth, culture, education etc. Humans as social animals can't simply live without it!! Having said that, I am not saying caste related discrimination should be there. Now as I was raised in a small town, I did not see anyone "discriminating" against anyone on the basis of their caste. May be in the villages it is still the practise, but it is vanishing slowly and for good...
They say: Hindus alone practice caste.
I say: Completely wrong!! The other day I was speaking with one of my Japanese colleagues and he said, during matrimony, people from Japan do hire private detectives to find about the "Caste" of the prospective bride/groom. Even, in christian, Muslim and Sikh societies there is a prevalent caste system. You will find Christan churches having segments such as African American churches, chinese churches, Vietnamese churches so on and so forth. In predominantly muslim societies like Pakistan, they still have caste based classification. So why blame hindus alone...
They say: Caste divides society.
I say: Without caste also there will be always a division in society.
Now following are my arguments in favor of casteism:
During marriages, people frequently see caste and I see no problem with that. Reason - Marriage unites two different families. If both families practice different social rules, then one of the families has to adopt the culture of the other family else, there will be a disaster. I am not kidding... From my own experience, I have seen this plenty of times. In our house, both my husband and I belong to the same caste and our native places are just few miles from each other. But I still feel we have so much difference in our food habbits, in our culture in dealing with guests in conducting social celebrations like marriage etc. We often criticize each other for the practices we follow. Just imagine what would happen if we belong to completely different worlds. It may be fine initially, and it may be fine if one completely accepts the other's culture, but imagine, if that is not the case... If both bride and groom belong to the same caste, then most likely they have same customs, traditions to follow and hence less of conflict and a smooth sailing.
People tend to adopt the profession of their forefathers(Basically that is what gave rise to caste system in the first place). There is a lot of advantage to it. For example, if a child sees his parents following a particular profession throughout their childhood, then they tend to learn it better. For example, in Indian context, lets talk about politics or acting. How many of our present day politicians or actors are from non-political or acting families? Very few... Those who join in and become successful actors or politicians can be safely considered a case of "joining a new caste". After all this is what the Vedas say about the caste. We only mis-interpret things.
In a plural society, there has to be some kind of distinction and we as humans are hard wired to live that way. So, no amount of government pressure can subjugate it - lets accept this as a fact. Now, reservation in the name of caste is completely wrong from the perspective that, we are making it easy for people who need to really struggle to get into the position they so want to be in. This is something like reserving seats for people from non-political families in elections or giving acting job to non-actor families. It simply makes no sense. With this, I say YES to caste system and at the same time, I believe Caste should be an acquired character not inherited one. In other words, caste as an acquired character should not be passed on to the future generation rather should be left as one of the choices for the offspring to decide, whether he/she is comfortable in identifying himself/herself with the parental caste...
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