
Caste violence erupts in India over 200-year-old faultline - kimsk112
https://www.ksat.com/news/international/caste-violence-erupts-in-india-over-200yearold-faultline
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kimsk112
I have read about the caste system and issue in India. I have lot of Indian
friends in US, but I never feel that there is any caste system among them. Is
that just my experience (maybe my ignorance)?

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thrwyindian7898
Indian-American born and brought up in the States.

We never discussed caste. It was a non-issue.

Prime Minister Modi is also Low Caste. That didn't stop him from being
elected.

~~~
walshemj
Having said that caste discrimination is a problem in the UK in fact I know
one of the MP's that helped add caste discrimination to the Equality Act 2010.

Of course this is being opposed by "community leaders".

Interesting a woman from my home town was recently abused for being low caste.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38663143](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-38663143)

It would be interesting to beak down H1B's by caste

~~~
known
[https://www.petition2congress.com/ctas/anti-caste-
discrimina...](https://www.petition2congress.com/ctas/anti-caste-
discrimination-legislation)

~~~
walshemj
Interesting ill have to send that to Parmjit - doesn't seem to have got any
messages sent yet unfortunately.

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fellellor
Caste is a very complicated issue. It's not all black and white, oppressed
against the oppressor. It's a major fault line in Hindu society today which
has been used by politicians to divide the voters into fiefdoms. It is also
one of the reasons why despite India having functional elections, has a under
performing political class. Indian politicians flourish even when they grossly
under deliver thanks to the caste divisions they nourish in the society.

~~~
HenryTheHorse
> It's not all black and white, oppressed against the oppressor.

How's it not so? (Asking, not flaming. I know this is a complex topic and
invariably leads to shouting matches.)

The idea of caste being used as a means and justification for oppression,
violence etc is just plain wrong. I don't think it could be _more_ black and
white - to borrow another loaded figure of speech.

~~~
thisisit
Because of reservation and representation. Think about this - In US instead of
having affirmative action[1] it was legally mandated to hire about 30-50% of
non-Caucasian for any government job ie quota. What ramifications will it have
on the society?

[1]:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action)

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known
Check this Advertisement in News Paper to hire Upper
caste/Brahmin/Bania/Kshatriya to clean drainage/toilets in India to know about
current status of Caste system in India
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Xaviers-
NG...](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Xaviers-NGO-seeks-
toilet-cleaners-from-gen-category/articleshow/52876770.cms)

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aaronchall
Why can't we all just get along?

If we disagree, let's agree to disagree without violence?

How can our increasingly global society grow robust to provocations?

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nonamechicken
Didn't know that dalits fought with British to bring India under British rule.
Interesting.

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senatorobama
Name me a 5000 year old society without these problems.

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throwaway21442
It does not get emphasized enough, but the caste system in India is a very
very complicated issue. Any effort create a simple mental model for it (say,
by mapping it to racial apartheid) would not take one closer to real
understanding.

For those interested, here is a good piece by Venkatesh Rao which touches upon
this subject: [https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2016/11/10/king-ruinous-and-
the-c...](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2016/11/10/king-ruinous-and-the-city-of-
darkness/)

As to the specific incident in the news, I would only say that it is not hard
to find a couple hundred men for Rs. 500 who would go about trashing cars and
buses for a few hours, while the police would have instructions not to act too
strongly against them, for fear of further conflagration. Once this is done,
it is all up to journalists, op-ed writers to offer up (and amplify) their
favorite perspectives.

~~~
casterOil
Here’s my simple mental model: People use bullshit reasons to be dicks to each
other. Sometimes people are legit trashy, so fuck them, but other times trashy
people are nice and it’s the elitists who are assholes. The bullshit reasons
originate from religious mythology (read: made up fiction that conveniently
excludes scumbags born into shit, fucking them for life, and leaving their
children to inherit the same mistreatment), but the crux of the matter is who
gets to fuck bitches and why. Arranged marriages and dowry compensation come
bundled with what amounts to a regional, cultural and thus religious form of
brand recognition. Slutty girls get sold to scummy dudes on the cheap, but
sometimes a scummy dude has the money, and still can’t buy his way into the
game. Compound this over generations and people get angry and stay angry when
they die feeling jilted by the assholes they share daily life with. It gets
worse when they watch it happen to their kids who are probably accidents
anyway.

