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[email protected] Today's topics: * BM's vision of casteless society - 3 messages, 2 authors http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a0a44ff9b26b9220?hl=en * Fwd: [BM_Delhi] A New Beginning of BM_Delhi on 22nd April,Sunday,10 AM - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a46ff592ec9b78e5?hl=en ============================================================================== TOPIC: BM's vision of casteless society http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a0a44ff9b26b9220?hl=en ============================================================================== == 1 of 3 == Date: Thurs, Apr 19 2007 12:45 am From: p Dear Friends, One of an action approach is start from where you are aiming at our goals. What is possible now. Say, I can not change my name, I can alter my name by legal means; I can go for desirable names for offf- springs, new borns. Inspite of teh names, we can change our mind set. How to get over the perils of such a bad system. One thing is policy and another thing is practicing it. We can also look into what benefit people derive keeping or in the name of castes, starting from voter-bank... then provide alternatives to them or restrict them if not viable. BM can promote intercaste inter religious marriages all ending into caste-less system; we can bring/force amendments in INDIAN Constitution by suitable approaches; we may have to solve the issues of concessions government give on caste baseed systems. One possible solution is now to identify all the beneficiary families and group them into categories based on social and economical status and remove teh caste based identities for ever. The advantage of the above grouping is that it can allow families ti migrate from one group into another, which is not possible now. Ah, good idea! Say for example, I can be fixed at social( health & education) 5: economical(assets) 6 in a 10 point scale system of grouping. The tribes where I am working can be booked as an average social 2; economical 0 then governments can only look into these ratings or groupings, then caste names and ssytems would become useless p == 2 of 3 == Date: Thurs, Apr 19 2007 5:32 pm From: "Abhijit K" Dear Purushottam and All, I find that the solutions that you are proposing are * meant for the educated and mainly urban population * based on not having experienced any caste-based discrimination and humiliation yourself * based on the assumption that "things will change on their own, without me doing anything". Please read ahead. On 4/19/07, p <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Dear Friends, > One of an action approach is start from where you are aiming at our > goals. What is possible now. Say, I can not change my name, I can > alter my name by legal means; I can go for desirable names for offf- > springs, new borns. That is a misconception. I have changed my name. Yes, people who knew me 4 years back know me by my surname (which is a casteist title) but people who knew me after that (including all bm members) do not know me at all by my surname. I can't help those earlier people, but slowly many among them have stopped calling me by my surname. You can definitely change your name, notionally and legally too. Ofcourse, one must not give their offsprings any casteist titles.... that is one of the fundamental principles of bm's core ideology. Inspite of teh names, we can change our mind set. How to get over the > perils of such a bad system. One thing is policy and another thing is > practicing it. mind-set and the practises can't be separated. They influence each other. Surnames are there everywhere in the world, but in India, they are a result of caste. It is only in India where we have casteist surname (and the root is in Manusmriti.. which asks people to bear their caste in their name.... brother.. what does Pillai indicate, please tell me.... it is not your family's name.. but your caste's ).. So when one has completely disowned the concept of caste, it must come with disowing all the things that come with the caste! .. We can also look into what benefit people derive keeping or in the > name of castes, starting from voter-bank... then provide alternatives > to them or restrict them if not viable. > > BM can promote intercaste inter religious marriages all ending into > caste-less system; we can bring/force amendments in INDIAN The law recognises that even if it is an inter caste marriage, the offspring gets the caste of the father. Thus the caste and all social/legal benefits/disadvantages that come with it stay. So inter-caste is not the right way, "caste-free" is the right way. Marriages should be done without consideration of caste, hence they must be "caste-free" and the result of the marriage should not lead to existence of caste in any respect. Constitution by suitable approaches; we may have to solve the issues > of concessions government give on caste baseed systems. One possible > solution is now to identify all the beneficiary families and group > them into categories based on social and economical status and remove > teh caste based identities for ever. The advantage of the above I dont understand how can we remove caste based identities without removing caste itself. Please understand... Caste is, by definition, inequality by birth. Unless we do away with the notion of caste itself, we can't do away with the inequalities. No reservations, perks can eliminate the social inequalities that caste creates. Hence we must aim at the root of the problem. grouping is that it can allow families ti migrate from one group into another, which is not possible now. Ah, good idea! Say for example, I > can be fixed at social( health & education) 5: economical(assets) 6 in > a 10 point scale system of grouping. The tribes where I am working can > be booked as an average social 2; economical 0 > > then governments can only look into these ratings or groupings, then > caste names and ssytems would become useless Disagree. once again you are trying to eliminate it by indirect means... which can't be guaranteed... Selfish politicians will always keep burning the fire of social inequality ... we must attack at the root cause.. all those superficial numbers will not change the fact that some people consider themselves superior by birth ... and this fact will always be exploited by the selfish ... and always leave scope for the downtrodden to claim inequality... The true equality can come only when we eliminate the caste system from all spheres of life.. - abhijit k -- Abhijit Meenakshi About my name: www.geocities.com/abhijit1303/aboutname.txt www.bharatudaymission.org == 3 of 3 == Date: Thurs, Apr 19 2007 5:09 am From: "Abhijit K" Nature and Scope of this document Posting a policy-document on Casteism that was accepted by BM_PolicyResearch yahoogroup. It is the same document that Gopal ji has referred to. Both documents have also been attached to this email. References: 1. Rigveda *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10090.htm* 2. Rigveda *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv09112.htm* 3. A History of India Vol I, Romila Thaper, Penguin Books 4. A History of India Vol II, Percival Spear, Penguin Books 5. The Wonder that was India, A.L. Basham, Macmillan/Rupa & Company 6. Indian History, V.K. Agnihotri, Allied Publishers Limited 7. NCERT History textbooks, class XI and XII. 8. Material Culture and Social Formations in Ancient India, R.S. Sharma, Macmillan 9. Medieval India: Society, the Jagirdari Crisis and the Village, Satish Chandra, Macmillan 10. Self Respect Movement * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-respect_movement* 11. Manusmruti *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu.htm* 12. * http://www.hindubooks.org/sudheer_birodkar/hindu_history/castevedic.html* 13. *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste* 14. Ramayana *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm* 15. Mahabharata *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm* 16. Bhagvadgita *http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe08/index.htm* 17. Stephen Knapp's Essay *http://www.stephen-knapp.com/casteism.htm* 18.Ambedkar.orgEssays * http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/23.%20Essay%20on%20Untouchables%20and%20Untouchability_Social.htm#c05 * 19. Mahatma Phule * http://www.unipune.ernet.in/chairs/mahatmaphule/lifework.htm* 20. SNDP *http://www.sndp.org/index.html* 21. The Constitution of India, P. M. Bakshi, Universal Law Publishing 22. History of Reservations *www.ambedkar.org/research/Bhagwandas.pdf* 23. Mandal Commission *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandal_Commission* 24. Indira Sawhney case *http://ncbc.nic.in/OfficeMemorandum.pdf* 25 Who is a Hindu?*.http://hindu.org/* 26. Constitution of India, Ministry of Law *http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm* 27. India 2006, Government of India Publication division 1. Perspective Nature and Scope of this document This document is part of the draft on casteism made for Bharat Uday Mission. The scope of this document is to give a historical and rational perspective on the evolution of caste system in India. Casteism Today Undoubtedly, the India of today stand divided into thousands of castes that proliferate across all the strata of society. Casteism, a system which assigns a social status to a person on the basis of birth carries with it history of humiliation, atrocities and divisions over divisions, of thousands of years. The Caste System that exists, predominantly in the Hindu society, lays down a social hierarchical order wherein a person is categorized into a caste by birth, no matter whether she exhibits the characteristics that are expected, according to the Dharma-sutras, from a person of that caste. By definition [11] the caste system prohibits inter-dining and inter-caste marriages. The proliferation of the system is found less severely in city environments, where owing to the higher educational standards, economic compulsions arising out of basic needs and mixing of heterogeneous cultures has weakened the caste barriers. However in most of the villages of India, the system still holds strong and the society is almost fully divided into thousands of castes and sub-castes disallowing inter-caste marriages and inter-dining. Oppression of so-called lower castes by so-called upper castes is a routine phenomenon and instances of casteist violence, humiliation, abuse and social discrimination are being reported even today, from all over the country. *Jati Sabha*, which are assemblies of people belonging to a particular caste, are found all over India and almost every caste has its own assembly. They publicly enjoin in efforts for upliftment of the particular caste and enjoy legal status. Reservation policies of government, aimed at reducing the social inequalities have turned into bone of contention between castes, the so-called lower castes taking it for their right due to humiliation of thousands of years and the so-called upper castes feeling denial of equal opportunities. The story has other sides too. Some so-called lower castes, even after becoming educationally and economically far advanced are still taking advantages of safeguards meant to be for the backwards. However it is also true that the social discrimination that the so-called lower castes faced in the past, is nowhere nearer to being extinct. Nepotism and favoritism for one's caste are practiced by all the groups of the caste-system. The end result is nothing but growing hatred and divisions in the society. Denial of equal social status and opportunities resulted in a large section of the so-called lower castes, under leadership of Dr Ambedkar getting converted to Buddhism. Conversions to other religions keep taking place even today and particularly in case of tribal people who belong to the lowest levels of the caste system. These conversions have caused tensions among different religious communities. Reports of forceful or deceitful conversions keep adding to the discontent. Though, largely a feature of Hindu religion in India, casteism in various forms exists in other religions and in other countries also [12, 13]. Historical perspective Note: The purpose of this section, is just to introduce the reader to some historical developments. History, being written by humans, is open to doubts and consensus on historical facts is difficult to achieve. Rigveda is unanimously accepted to be the oldest treatise on Hindu religion. The "Purusa-sukta" hymn of Rigveda (10th mandala) mentions about the four "varnas" being born out of the mouth, arms, thighs and feet of the God [1]. However some historians have doubts over the 10th mandala itself and opine that the 1st and 10th mandala of Rigveda were added later and were not originally present [6]. Various other Hindu treatises like the Manu-smruti [11] and other Dharma-sutras describe the caste system and the responsibilities of each caste. Almost every ancient text mentions the caste system in some or the other context. The system has undergone various transformations with time and has evolved from being a profession-by-choice based system to a birth based system. The Rigveda itself contains hymns indicating the caste system not being birth based and profession being voluntary [2]. The Chaturya-* Varna* system as mentioned in the Rigveda can be taken similar to a *Class*based system that is claimed to have existed in all civilizations. With passage of time, the dominance of particular groups of society, inter-varna marriages leading to varna-sankar, assimilation of people from foreign groups created more divisions and gave rise to numerous castes and sub-casts. Ramayana [14] and particularly Mahabharata [15] contain numerous references to castes and the primacy of Brahmins in the system. The Mahabharata also has references to the fact of varna-sankara. Bhagvadgita [16] too contains references to caste system, however the various interpretations that [17] it leaves scope for might have helped the system assume its current form. There is one more view about four varnas: Brahmin, Vaishya, Kshatriya and Sudra. This view says that the varna system was not a social system, it was a classification of human action (Karma), but it degenerated in social system due to ignorance and due to priestly class's manipulation of Vedas and other scriptures. As per this interpretation, our sages divided all Karma (human action) into 4 categories: 1)Kama: action on the plane of sense pleasures 2)Artha: action on the plane of money/power 3)Dharma: action on the plane of righteousness 4)Moksha: action on the plane of Self-Realization or spirituality Our sages said that all our actions belong to these four categories and a same person belongs to one such category at one time and in some other category in some other time. When a person indulges in sense-pleasure (Kama), he is a Sudra, when he work for power/money (Artha), he is a Vaishya , when he work for righteousness (Dharma), like he opposes injustice, he is a Kshatriya and when he works for Self-Realization or spiritual purification, like when we do meditation or worship, we are Brahmin. They further said that "Goal of human life to move towards Kshatriya and Brahmin categories of action from Sudra and Vaishya categories and finally to become 100% Brahmin". Many modern saints and spiritual gurus of India subscribe to this view. With time, however, the doctrine of deeds in one birth affecting the varna in next birth and determination of varna by birth paved way for the caste system. All these spiritual ideas were manipulated by crooked priestly class into caste-system by profession and then further into caste-system by birth. With the advent of British rule and introduction to ideas of equality, the struggle for the upliftment of the so-called lower castes began in India and still continues today. A separate section on this topic gives the details. However a common feature of most of these struggles is that they ended up becoming anti-Brahmin struggles and not anti-casteism struggles. That, the number of castes kept changing, itself is a proof that the system was never rigidly defined. Each of the four *Varnas*, including so-called Brahmins [18] kept undergoing divisions and still continues. Again, most of the ancient texts were passed down to generations as "shruti" and "smriti". This itself leaves space for raising doubts over their authenticity. Add to this the fact that these texts were written by the so-called upper caste people, claiming social superiority for themselves. Uncertainty over historical facts and given the ill effects it has on the society today, the issue of casteism is left to one's conscious and rational thinking to decide upon. History of major struggles for upliftment of the downtrodden Satya Shodhak Samaj [19], Maharashtra by Jyotiba Phule, 1873 Opposed to untouchability and Brahmin domination. Tried to uplift the so-called lower castes by educating them. Beliefs: Humans are great by their qualities. Incantations, penance, rituals, rebirth- do not have any reality. Bhat (Brahmins) or middlemen are not at all necessary for the worship of the Almighty. *Aravippuram Movement, Kerala and Shri Narayan Dharma Pratipalana Yogam (SNDP) *[20] *Movement by Shri Narayan Guru, 1888* Attacked Brahmin domination and promoted education for dalits. Demanded free entry of the people of lower castes to temples *Justice Party Movement*, *Tamilnadu by C.N Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P Tyagaraja Chetti, 1915* Movement of intermediate castes, opposed to Brahmins *Depressed Classes welfare Institute*, *Bombay by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, 1924* Demanded constitutional safeguards for depressed. *Self-Respect Movement *[10], *Tamilnadu by E.V. Ramaswami Naicker, 1925 * Anti-Brahmin and anti Hindu orthodoxy movement. Weddings without priests, forcible temple entry, total defiance of Hindu social laws. Criticized for creating communal disharmony to some extent. *Harijan Sevak Sangh,* *Pune by Mahatma Gandhi, 1932* Removal of untouchability and all social discriminations. Provided medical, educational facilities to untouchables. Reservations - historical perspective [22] The Poona-Pact signed between Gandhi and Ambedkar in 1932 resulted in constituencies being reserved, instead of having separate electorates, for dalits. Realizing the need for special safeguards for the upliftment of the oppressed classes, the constituent assembly made special provisions for them in the constitution itself. Untouchablity was abolished (Art 18) [21, 26]. By the Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1955, insulting, preaching and justifying untouchability was made a punishable offence. Reservation of Seats in the legislature for S.C. and S.Ts was provided by the constituent assembly itself (Art 330,332), though for a limited period. The period has been kept increasing by subsequent amendments. The constitution also enables the government to make special provisions for the socially backward classes and as a result, reservations for S.C and S.T.s have been secured for various opportunities. The Mandal commission report [23] on reservations for backward classes affirmed the practice of reservations for OBCs and sparked a huge debate and protests. However its one of the major recommendations of neglecting the "creamy layer" was stuck down by the supreme court later in the Indira Sawhney case [24]. 2. Policy Nature and Scope of this document This document is part of the draft on casteism made for Bharat Uday Mission. The scope of this document is to describe BM's vision on casteism and to draw policies for implementing our vision. The Mission's vision and policy BM is against any discrimination among human beings on basis of race, religion, caste, sex, and profession. Casteism is a system that assigns a relative upper/lower status to people on the basis of their birth to which they are associated forever, without a choice. Hence we stand opposed to casteism BM cherishes the dream of a caste-free society where the word caste itself would have no meaning. We stand for renouncing castes and an equal opportunity based society that treats all humans equally. This forms a core part of BM's ideology and is not changeable in nature. Action Plan The Mission believes in making conscious efforts towards eradication of casteism and calls upon all its members to step forward and make their contribution towards the cause. BM will propagate and realize its vision only through non violent (both mental and physical) ways and persuasion. 1. The Mission urges all Indians to drop all titles that are indicative of their castes from their names and never to use them in the first place itself, in naming their offsprings. This will be the greatest victory against our psychological war against the evil of caste-system. 2. We expect all members of BM and in fact every Indian to honour BM's vision of casteless India We must use "so-called lower caste", "so-called upper castes", "so-called brahmins", "so-called dalits" and caste-free or casteless marriage instead of lower caste, upper caste, Brahmin, dalits and inter-caste marriages in all our speech and writings to emphasize that we negate the very concept of caste. In our vision of universal brotherhood, caste and caste-system have no place at all. 3. We also call upon everyone not to associate himself or herself with any Jati Sabha (caste-based organization) and also pursue people to abolish all such assemblies. After generating sufficient mass awareness and mass support for our vision of casteless India, BM will enact laws to abolish all casteist titles, caste-based colonies and caste-based assemblies (Jati Sabha) 4. In marriages, if caste is neglected, it will be a good step towards eradication of caste-system. Such marriages are not inter-caste marriages (as we negate the very concept of caste), but caste-free marriage. 5. We will spread awareness among the people about BM's vision of caste-free India in our public meetings, personal talks, through various media, motivating them to work for caste-free India, by abolishing casteist surnames, renaming colonies in non-casteist manner, by launching awareness campaign against caste-assemblies. We will follow truth and non-violence in our "Caste-free India" movements. 6. BM will focus on creating awareness among people about our vision through peaceful means, our social service and persuasion. We will try to arise the public opinion for abolishing caste system from all walks of life. After generating popular support, the way untouchablity was abolished, we will also enjoin ourselves to make efforts for enacting legal ways of abolishing casteism, necessity of using titles, disallowing caste-based colonies and renaming all caste-based colonies into "sectors and other non-casteist colonies" and abolishing caste-assemblies (Jati Sabha). 7. Considerations of caste and economic status are related to a sufficient extent. Our efforts at reducing the economic inequalities in the society will also be related to our efforts at establishing a true social equality. 8. Since we are against caste-system, we are against the current policy of reservations, which accepts the moral and social validity of caste and caste-system. Since we are against all casteist institutions, we are also against caste-based reservations. While keeping in mind our aim of casteless society, we will make a reservation policy based on economic and non-caste social parameters of backwardness which would certainly ensure that the benefits would reach not only the majority "so-called lower caste" people of today, but all the needy people. Thus we will try to ensure that the benefits reach not the affluent sections of the society, but the real poor and needy sections. A panel of experts will set up these parameters for reservation, when BM will come to power. But in long run, we aim to elevate our economically backward sections of the society in such a time-bound manner, that we finally do away with "reservation policy based on economic backwardness" also and the day, it will become possible to do so, will be one of the greatest day for our Mission, for our country and humanity. We call upon all our members and rather all Indians to bravely pronounce the renunciation of their castes, surnames and declare openly and boldly *"I believe in casteless society and hence am free from the taint of caste; I believe in innate oneness of humanity and hence, and do not accept the concept of caste" *and lead the society towards a caste-free place through unflinching determination. *Vision of Casteless Society A Dialogue * *Q: What is the meaning and importance of casteless society, as envisioned by the Mission?* *A: *Meaning of casteless society: The meaning of casteless society, as envisioned by Bharat Uday Mission, is total absence of caste-identity in thoughts, words and deeds. In such a society, there will be no inter-caste marriage (because for that also, caste-identity should exist. Inter-caste marriage means marriage between persons belonging to two different castes), but casteless marriage. In such a society, there will be no miscalled low or high, backward or forward castes, there will be no casteist identification, like casteist surnames, caste-based colonies, caste-based organizations in any part of India, caste-certificate, caste-column in government forms or caste-based reservation policy. A person born in such a society will be absolutely free from caste-identity in thoughts, words and deeds. *Importance of casteless society: * It will destroy the very basis of caste-pride and caste-antagonism. It will destroy all chances of feelings of antagonism in a person born in miscalled low caste, as belonging to that part of society, which has been historically brutalized and oppressed by inhuman, psychopathic custom of untouchability for more than 2500 years. In absence of caste, there will be great harmony, unity and spiritual development of our society, which will help us in becoming a happy, prosperous nation. As per discovery of modern biological sciences, due to great variety of gene pool (which is not possible, if marriages are based on miscalled caste), the children born in such society will have much greater qualities of intelligence, physical and mental health. Our political and priestly class will be bereft of the tool of caste-system in perpetuating their barbaric corruption and immorality. "Divide and rule" has always been the tool of every self-seeking, morally bankrupt politician. By producing an integration of society by dismantling caste-system, we will weaken possibilities of divisive, oppressive agenda by our political and priestly class and thus, render a great service to humanity. *Q: Why should I drop my casteist surname to help the cause of casteless India? * *A:* Casteist surnames are hindrance for our vision of casteless society. As long as surnames, say, so-called yadav, paswan, pandey, agrawal, kulkarni, patil, kamble, iyer and so on exists, how can we erase the system of caste, as these titles are surely used by people belong to one so-called caste and hence, even if the individual using name might not be caste-conscious, for the society at large, his surname surely manifests casteism and caste-identity. So, dropping casteist surname is a must for realizing the vision of casteless society. * Q: What is the meaning of dropping casteist surnames? A: *The most committed of our patriots should drop their surnames and caste, and not give a casteist surname and caste to their offsprings. Following steps describe the procedure for changing name (procedures may be slightly different in different states, but are mostly the same) 1. Go to the State Government Press in the Capital City of your state. 2. Ask them for the form for change of name and obtain it. 3. Fill up the form and submit it (preferably then and there). 4. Pay the requisite Fees in cash. (Rs. 120/- in Maharashtra for routine (6-8 weeks for publication) and Rs. 620/- for urgent (2-3 weeks) 5. The Press would publish the details of the change of your name (or father's name, or surname as be your case) and post you two copies of the Government Gazette or ask you to collect the same. The press would also let you know when they would publish the same. 6. Thereafter wherever you wish to submit your change of Name / Father's Name / Surname Proof, you can submit true copies of the relevant pages of the Gazette. The procedure is adopted for the change in the date of birth and age and even for a change of religion. Also, for members willing to avoid the bureaucratic hassles, we appeal to them on moral basis to drop using their casteist surnames (if any) in all their conversation and written communication as far as legally possible. We request all members and all Indians, who aim to establish a casteless India to follow above 6 steps and drop their casteist surnames for ever and never use them in naming their children. We appeal to all our members to renounce caste from their hearts and minds and boldly proclaim, "I believe in casteless society and hence am free from the taint of caste; I believe in innate oneness of humanity and hence, and do not accept the concept of caste" and thus lead the society towards a caste-free place through unflinching determination.* Q: Would dropping casteist surname not produce the problem of "name-clash"? A: *The problem of name-clash is meaningful only in written form, as in face-to-face interaction, we always identify a person by face. By removing casteist surnames, there may be problem of name-clash, but there are always ways and means to distinguish a person of same name. Some people may use First-name + Mother's name or Father's Name or both, or just the initials. People may also use names of villages/native places as part of the names. Success always comes at a price: no vision is ever realized without some discomfort and struggle. To develop a casteless society, we need to pay some price also and slight discomfort of occasional name-clash is too less a price for realizing the great vision of casteless India. *Q: Why not have profession-based castes instead of birth based castes? A: *From a practical point of view, the complexity and variety of professions in the modern society makes it hard to divide it based on professions. Today people enjoy multi-disciplinary skills. The freedom and opportunities of learning more skills has also made it possible for people to change professions. The argument of replacing the birth based caste system by a profession based caste system is just too impractical and meaningless in the sense that the word "caste" literally implies "lineage" (The word caste is derived from the Portuguese word *casta*, meaning "lineage", the corresponding Sanskrit word is *jati* meaning a birth-based classification.). A class-based division of society, by virtue of professions being different, has always existed and it is un-necessary to label it. *Q: Why abolish and not ignore it?* *A: *We are leading into a vicious cycle of mutual hatred as a result of casteism. The trust among people is vanishing and unrest growing due to the casteist aspirations. In the process of appeasing one group, the politicians of our country are offending the other groups and adding to the unrest. The scenario described in the "casteism today" section would prevail as long as people keep getting segregated from the larger Indian community. Hence we aim to strike at the root cause of the hatred, the very basis of the social division i.e. the concept of caste itself. By way of giving up caste itself, one is truly expressing her vision of social equality for all, denying being a part of the social hierarchy based on birth and helping create an atmosphere where people would trust each other and unite. Some advocate ignoring casteism and claim that it will die its natural death. Unfortunately given the way Indian politics and social circumstances are going, we are leading towards a more and more divided society. Hence the solution lies not in passivity but in actively leading the country to a better order. *Q: Present caste-system based on birth is all right if there is no discrimination on the basis of caste.* *A: *There are more than 4000 so-called castes in India. And caste-system is inherently discriminatory in nature. Some arguments in favor of this are below: Suppose, a man of so-called caste X marries a woman of so-called caste Y. They beget a child. What will be the caste of that child? It should be neither the caste of his/her father (because in that case, we are promoting gender discrimination - putting man as socially superior to woman in an institutionalized manner. Same logic applies if we give the child the caste of the mother). Why do we not give a child the freedom to choose his/her caste? Given such a choice, it is possible that the child may desire to adopt some other caste (other than that of his/her parents) ? But, what moral or social gain is there in a caste-identity that a child must choose or must be given a caste-identity? Though birth-based identity is present in case of religion or nationality, there is always freedom to change one's religion and even nationality, unlike caste-system, whose label is till our death, unless and until we negate the very notion of caste. Due to brutal, inhuman practice of untouchability in Indian society over more than 2500 years, a person born is so-called low caste, in general, feels himself/herself to be that part of society, which has been historically victimized for millennia and this fact produces its own negative impact on his/her mind. Similarly a person born in so-called upper caste, may feel caste-pride by misinterpreting Varna system based on qualities/profession as present birth-based caste system. Miscalled Brahmins and other miscalled high caste-people may misinterpret eulogy for qualities-based Varna system in scriptures like Vedas, Geeta and Bhagwat as a proof of their superiority. So, caste-system is a double-edged sword: it may produce superiority complex in miscalled high-caste people and inferiority complex in miscalled low-caste people. This is not a hypothesis, but the social reality in most of rural India and party in urban areas. * Q: If caste-system is perceived as a wall dividing the humanity and hence, BM aims to dismantle it, does the same logic not apply to religion, tribe, nationality, culture, language and race also? A: *If a identity has a functional value for the society and does not produce discrimination or antagonism, then it should not be considered as a man-made wall diving the humanity. Answer to the question Q.2. shows how the caste-system is inherently discriminatory in nature and a breeding ground for antagonism and social division. The following logic shows that BM's vision doesn't allow antagonism and social division in case of religion, tribe, nationality, culture, language and race. *Religion :* If religion is freed from elements of superstition, orthodoxy and fanaticism and is used as a means for personal purification and evolution of broad, moral outlook of life, it is a great positive force for the individuals and the society. We believe in secularism (no discrimination by the state based on one's religion). We believe that all religions are various paths towards the same goal of spiritual perfection and all religions teach tolerance and universal brotherhood. If due to social, economic and political factors, any religious community in any part of our society becomes infected with the deadly germs of superstition, orthodoxy and fanaticism, through truth and non-violence, Bharat Uday Mission will help them in developing tolerance, rationality, universal brotherhood and respect for other religions. *Tribe:* If tribe is understood as a cultural unit and its concept is free from any antagonism and hostility to other sections of the society, it is means for enrichment of our cultural diversity through various customs, language and other non-divisive, rational aspects associated with a tribe. BM aims to follow this philosophy. *Nationality: *BM's vision of nationalism is illustrated in one of our 8 ideals (Ref: *http://bharatudaymission.org/htm/CoreIdeology.htm* ) :* 7. My country is the centre of my love, and not the boundary of my love. My nationalism will be solely guided by universal love. At the same time, I will protect the territorial integrity of my nation against any external aggression with full devotion. *Our ideal integrates the concept of nationalism with humanism, without compromising with the territorial integrity and freedom of our nation. A nation is a functional administrative unit, born out of historical, cultural and geographical factors and as long as it is not made a basis for war, hatred and exploitation of one nation by another nation and is based on universal love (unconditional love for entire mankind), it doesn't divide the humanity. *Culture, language and race:* BM stands against association of any superiority complex, antagonism and discrimination with any culture, language and race. There is no historical or social factor necessitating division of hearts and minds due to language or culture. Just like a garden's beauty is enhanced by presence of diverse varieties of flowers, a society's cultural evolution is enhanced by the presence of a variety of culture and languages. As long as race is not the basis of oppression, violence and egoism and is seen purely as a cultural identify without any tinge of superior-inferior notion, it does not divide the humanity. People with different culture, language and race can still make the same achievements, through their talent, hard work and conviction. The same does not apply to caste though, as by definition caste implies a birth-based social hierarchy, irrespective of the achievements of a person. *Q: Explain BM' stand on Reservations.* *A:* The aim of securing reservations for backward castes was to provide safeguards for the people who were denied equal opportunities in the past: opportunities of education, profession, practicing religion and better life in general. Looking at the population statistics, living standards and human development parameters of the different divisions of Indian society, it can be seen that a major portion of the economically and educationally backwards is still constituted by the so-called lower castes. The intentions behind providing the safeguards were undoubtedly good and aimed to reduce social inequalities. However the way they are being implemented has aggravated the problem. Reservations are given to people belonging to particular castes, hence they are a right ensured by birth. Many people (though not a lot) have been able to elevate their social and economic status using the reservation safeguards, however they and their lineage still keep reaping the benefits. More and more castes are claiming * backwardness* to get the benefits of reservations. Nowhere in the world, perhaps would we see people fighting for a claim to be called backwards. What makes it worse is that, the fight for status is again based on birth and not on the actual social or economic status of the person. The other side of the story is also true. The implementation of the safeguards, in many cases, is avoided by the so-called upper castes taking advantage of intricacies of law and procedures. With both sides trying to ensure their own interests, the realization of need for social equality and the concern for the country can't be seen anywhere in picture. The policy has resulted in a bitter world of mutual hatred and hatred can't be a solution to any problem. We would like to create a world where everyone gets equal opportunities and right to means of livelihood. Hence BM recognizes the need of special measures for welfare of the educationally and economically backward sections of the society. However our vision of denial of birth based discrimination makes us oppose the current policy of reservations. While keeping in mind our aim of casteless society, a policy based on educational and economic parameters of backwardness would certainly ensure that the benefits would reach not only the majority "so-called lower caste" people of today, but all the needy people. *Q: Isn't it that Caste system is an Integral part of Hindu religion ?* *A: *The question of whether a Hindu can possibly exist without a caste, is an obvious one in this context. In answer to "Who is a Hindu?" - "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and the realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshiped is large, that indeed is the distinguishing feature of the Hindu religion." B.G. Tilak's definition of what makes one a basic Hindu, as quoted by India's Supreme Court. On July 2, 1995, the Court referred to it as an "adequate and satisfactory formula." [25]. The Varna system as envisioned in the Rigveda was based on one's profession by choice. Hindu religion claims descent from the Vedic religion and allows for many heterogeneous sects to coexist. In the course of history Varna system gave way to Caste system. The conflicting provisions in different religious texts make it difficult to find a convincing proof that castes are an integral part of the Hindu religion. Castes are man made and man can do away with them. Hinduism is a great religion that teaches tolerance and assimilation. It is that religion that has space even for a *Nastik*, it definitely allows caste-less followers. *Q: Caste system as an Internal issue of Hindu religion. * *A:* One of BM's ideals is that of a secular nation and secularity implies neutrality to all religions. While dealing with the issue of casteism, we might be accused of trying to interfere in internal matters of a religion. However the fact that castes proliferate not only in Hindu but most of the other religions in India, shows that its existence is not based on the religion but historical and social circumstances. In our quest for equality to all, we are opposed to casteism as an evil against humanity and not against a particular religion. *Q: Having titles/caste is a personal issue.* *A: Such logic is inherently flawed, as same surname is used by all people of a caste and not just only by someone's family members. The origin of surnames can be traced back to Manusmruti [11] that is often termed as the biggest culprit in the evolution of casteism. Vedas don't speak of surnames while the later texts talk of them shows the use and significance of surnames in the establishment of the world of casteism. We can't have surname as just a family name, it is purely caste and casteist mentality parading in name of flawed logic of family pride, so in guise of pride about the family, it is vanity about one's caste only.* *Q: I agree in principle, but in practice it is very difficult to implement it* *A: Similar arguments were held when our visionary leaders in the 19thcentury started the process of social awakening and tried to do away with many evil social customs that haunted our society. We are aware that we will meet stiff resistance from the conservatives and those whose interests would get hurt by our policies. Nevertheless, we stand and appeal to all to become brave and stand for the values that they cherish. It will take time, we are aware, but we will not stop and not falter in our mission. * *Q: Different castes have different cultures and hence homogenization of castes is practically not possible. * *A: * The differences are a result of history and the discrimination of thousands of years. They are also a result of economic inequalities that are largely a result of the social inequality. Again, even in today's situations, at least in urban areas, one can easily notice the similarities in family cultures of people from different castes but with same economic status and differences in the family cultures of people from same castes. "Inter-caste" marriages certainly have shown that the dissemination of castes and cultures is possible. The differences that arise are not a result of caste, but human tendencies that are the same across all divisions of society. *Q: We need to uproot the divisive mindset (like discrimination on any other basis like place of birth, place of study, mother tongue) and not the caste system. * *A: * Very much agreed upon. However as long as the system stays, the mindset will stay. Also, for an issue like caste, which is hereditary (unlike other issues) doing away with the lineage itself implies both uprooting the mindset and simultaneously uprooting the system. While for other issues, the mindset is difficult to change compared to the system, for caste system they are very much connected. Once the lineage factor is gone, the mindset will also change. When we say that we should abolish the caste system, it is indeed not only from physical existence but from the mindsets also. It is simple enough to understand though, that abolishing the physical existence is a necessity for doing away with the mindset. *Q: Doing away with caste, implies taking people away from their roots, their heritage.* *A:* Unfortunately, the heritage associated with castes is not something that we would like to be proud of. Caste to us is nothing but the history of oppression, torture, denial of opportunities, discrimination and that is not something any human being believing in equality would like to be proud of. ============================================================================== TOPIC: Fwd: [BM_Delhi] A New Beginning of BM_Delhi on 22nd April,Sunday,10 AM http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a46ff592ec9b78e5?hl=en ============================================================================== == 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Apr 19 2007 5:31 am From: Krishanu Bhattacharjee Note: forwarded message attached. --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos. Dear Friends, As all of the BM members of Delhi by, our Heart,Mind, Body and Soul, wanted to do something great as a part of the mission for Delhi and NCR, the time has arrived. We started our journey in end of 2005, grown mature from infants with our passion for the mission and formed a well bonded core team of some strong members in Delhi. Other members and supporters were passionate but coudnt give their time due to many constraints.Now the time has arrived to prove ourselves as regular activists rather than only parttime passionate and keyboard actvists.Our Awaaz program in Delhi was going on but was not regular. Now the time has arrived to be regular. After this MCD Election in Delhi, there is one year left for Delhi Assembly Elections and same time is left to make the citizens of Delhi aware about their rights and duties. So From this Sunday,22nd April, 2007 we are starting our program for BM Delhi, Awaaz-Concerns of Common People. Our Program will be a regular feature in weekends and holidays and public places and will be in 5 phases: 1. Documentary Shoots and Presentations on Delhi Issues 2. RTI Awareness Campaigns and RTI Workshops 3. Citizenship Movement to make citizens of NCR aware about their rights and duties. 4. Networking with other Social Organaizations in Delhi for developmental works. 5. Protesting Human Rights Violation anywhere in India along with citizens of Delhi. So our 1st Episode is on 22nd April, Sunday, 2007, 10 AM. at NITHARI - CHILDREN'S NIGHTMARE. Our Program: 1. Assemble at Sarai Kaley Khan ISBT at 10 AM on 22nd April,Sunday 2. Form the team and move to Nithari. 3. Meet Affected Families and interact with them and shoot their present condition on camera 4. RTI awareness campaign and filling RTI applications on behalf of Citizens of Nithari. 5. Our Team meeting for next plan of Action. Nithari is in UP not in Delhi .But Delhities, be aware.Same thing may happen in your locality. So, Jaago aur Awaaz Uthao. Forward this mail to all ur Contacts. Krishanu ( Bharat Uday Mission, Delhi) (+91-9312724066) Desh Ke Liye Kuch Bhi This Is Our Mission. --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos. ============================================================================== You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BM_discussion" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] or visit http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion?hl=en To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change the way you get mail from this group, visit: http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/subscribe?hl=en To report abuse, send email explaining the problem to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================================================== Google Groups: http://groups.google.com?hl=en
