On 8/27/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Perhaps top-down imposition of something or the other is is never going to > work. Neither is the removal of caste barriers near the top (by mixing and > churning), because caste "layers" exist independently at every depth. Mixing > at the top has no effect on the middle or bottom. Nobody has managed to cause > "mixing" at the bottom. How does one go about doing that? What is it about > the system that makes it so robust? Does one have to "forcibly mix" and try > and change a robust existing system to achieve ends like better literacy, > maternal and infant mortality? > > Can we not have "reserved schools" and "reserved hospitals" for adivasis for > example.
I think reservations (Indian jargon for affirmative action) has done more to perpetuate caste differences than anything else in modern India. It gives an economic incentive to the beneficiaries to emphasize their caste and it gives other castes more reasons to hate the beneficiaries. The recent riots in Rajasthan where one caste was demanding benefits and another caste (of approximately the same social status) opposing the demand is a case in point. If reservations were based purely on economic status, I imagine that poverty alleviation programs and better education would do a lot to reduce the importance of caste. -- b
