I am not aware of any such killing of people in TN. Forgive me for my
ignorance. But I definitely do not mean the extinction of people to end their
suffering. Extinction of castes, is what I mean. Just like how there are no
castes in Europe, Americas, Australia, China etc, there should be no castes in
India also for any kind of real human as well as economic development to begin.
--- On Sun, 25/1/09, C Ramesh <ramesh_del...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
From: C Ramesh <ramesh_del...@yahoo.co.in>
Subject: Re: [ZESTCaste] Is caste an economic development vehicle? (Opinion)
To: ZESTCaste@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, 25 January, 2009, 2:34 PM
The author claims that "If India has to prosper and develop, castes
have to be obliterated completely". I hope it does not mean obliteration of a
particular set of people as is happening in TN.
--- On Fri, 23/1/09, Shailesh Arya <shailbr...@yahoo. co.in> wrote:
From: Shailesh Arya <shailbr...@yahoo. co.in>
Subject: Re: [ZESTCaste] Is caste an economic development vehicle? (Opinion)
To: zestca...@yahoogrou ps.com
Date: Friday, 23 January, 2009, 11:26 AM
In the modern free Indian state, with the increasing literacy and education
among people - which is mostly due to globalization than the efforts of the
Hindus themselves - there have been continuous efforts at justifying castes and
to preserve the age-old traditions of discrimination, inequality and
exclusiveness. This article was just another example for it. However, it is
good to see the kind of justification becoming less substantial with every such
article. Castes came into existence because of the religious justification of
the concepts of 'purity of bloodline' and racism. The justification for the
first castes that were devised, were therefore on the basis of religion and
superstitions. Then, in the beginning of the post-independence period of India,
the justification shifted to 'hygeinic considerations' , 'organization of
labor', and even intelligence. The apologists of castes began to ostensibly
claim that untouchability was practiced because of
hygeinic considerations of the Hindus against the 'untouchables' who engaged in
'dirty work' (forced to engage, rather). Others claimed that castes were
actually beneficial for organizing labor. And with the influence of more
modernization and science, new justifications arised. Caste apologists openly
claimed that somehow, due to genetics and biology of 'inter-mixing' and
inter-marriage, that the ones holding the top positions of the caste structre,
were naturally more capable and intelligent than the ones who were in the lower
rung. This claim was easily refuted, because, according to genetics and
biology, 'inter-breeding' is more advantageous than 'intra-breeding' .
Moreover, cogenitally acquired characteristics do not influence the capability
of learning some new skills which are not related to the individual's castes
and thus profession. Thus, this justification was most easily refuted resulting
in the humiliation of the caste-ists.
Likewise, all the above attempts at justifying castes, by the caste-ists, were
eventually refuted and proven wrong.
All the while new justifications about castes were emerging, the newer
justification were more studded with also some kind of apology of castes as
being 'social evil' (note that the author of the article uses quotes), along
with being fruitful too (of course, for those who are in the top most ladder of
castes). No doubt that the castes were beneficial; but they were benficial for
the select few at the cost of the majority of those who were 'lower' than them.
Therefore, castes can never be justified for its advantages. Otherwise, racism
too could have been justified, because, like caste-is, it too has advantages
(for the racists). Nowadays, the caste apologists, therefore, try to give an
equanimous picture of castes as being both evil as well as good. The article
published in The Hindu is just a typical example with a caste Hindu -- those
who are fighting their last battles -- trying to justify castes. The author
doesn't want the castes to be expunged,
but he wants to change the perception of castes by packaging it into the
perview of modern economic system. He still wants to retain castes however.
The author's analysis of the economic gain of the 'backward castes' is
intriguing. Any kind of gain the people have experienced in terms of economic
status, business opportunities, is solely because of modernization (of economy
as well as social thought) and the influence from the developed economies. It
has nothing to do with castes. On the contrary, castes might as well have been
a thorn in the larger development of people had there been no castes among
them. Moreover, caste is solely a social problem. The economic problems
associated with castes are a result of this social problem first. Therefore,
removing castes in the social sense will also automatically make the economy
more free and developing. Just because some 'backward castes' have advanced
economically, doesn't mean that the social stigma and hatred attached to them
by the dominant and elite ruling classes have faded as well. And its precisely
the annihilation of castes in the social sense
that is the motive of any reformer. The difference between classes will always
remain.
If India has to prosper and develop, castes have to be obliterated completely.
Because a nation's main driving force is its unity. A 'nation', in fact, is not
even a nation when people are divided; so its development too is naturally
futile. In other words, India requires a cultural revolution much like the
cultural revolution of China.
Such justifications about castes, as this one, will continue to emerge so long
as the globalization and modernization has not completely annihiliated castes,
along with the efforts of the people.
--- On Tue, 20/1/09,
To: "zestcaste" <zestca...@yahoogro u ps.com>
Date: Tuesday, 20 January, 2009, 10:31 PM
http://www.hindu. com/2009/ 01/19/stories/ 2009011955440900 .htm
