Upon taking office in 1984, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promised sweeping reforms of the caste system. Despite the passage of the three years, Gandhi has failed to even begin the reform process.

The caste system in India is evil and pernicious. Developed over hundreds of years, India’s original five main castes have divided into thousands of other castes, according to region, occupation, and varna (the caste system’s own hierarchy). In India today there are almost 3,000 major castes, each subdivided into groups of families with common ancestors, called garters.

Castes are arranged in a strict hierarchy. Members of a caste have a predestined duty to carry on the tasks of their caste and nothing else. The Philosophy still followed by Hindus today was described by the Hindu lawgiver Manu 2,000 years ago; “It is better to do your duty badly than another’s well”.

According to Hindu rules, members of a higher caste must never come in contact with one of a lower caste, (If such contact occurs, he or she will require a ritual cleansing.) Caste rules dictate nearly every aspect of life: what members may eat, what they may wear, and even how their marriages may be performed.

The Harijan “untouchables” are considered the lowest caste in Indian Hindu society. The Harijans comprise approximately 15% of India’s 785, 000 000 population. Restrictions on HariJans are stringent: they are, for example, almost always forbidden to use village wells and temples and they must never cook the food for a member of a higher caste.

The caste system also brings harm(full civil and political discrimination on a mass scale, There is rampant political favoritism for certain castes in the awarding of government contracts and jobs, Village politics are almost completely dominated by caste alliance. Impartial law enforcement suffers because the police forces are dominated by the so-called “higher” caste.

Violence between castes has been one result of tensions brought on by these inequalities. In the west Indian province of Gujarat (population 3040 million) over 400 people were killed as a result of a caste tensions from June of 1985 through August of 1986 alone. The violence erupted as tensions rose over caste based quotas for college admissions and government jobs between the so-called “backward” castes and the “upper” castes. The Gujarat situation is not unique: in him northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, to name two examples, disputes over land reform and land control often result in violence between castes.

In disputes the police, run by the higher castes, tend to side with the higher castes. The justification they give for prejudicial application of the laws is a claim that the lower castes are dacoits (bandits) or Naxalites. At a 1978 parade honoring the late Harijan (Untouchables Hinduism’s lowest castes) leader Dr. Ambedkar conflict triggered a police riot. The police rampaged Harijan neighborhoods, killing nine, seriously injuring over 100, burning homes, and attacking a HariJan Buddhist shrine. Violence occurred in part because parades by Harijans are strongly resented by the upper castes, including the police. The upper castes believe that Harijans should not be permitted to hold parades because these parades tend to increase the self-assurance of Harijans a development members of higher castes regard as dangerous.

A summary of the brutality as well as the continuity of the caste system is best described by Indian Sham Lalina July 10, 1982, Times of India article entitled “The National Scene: Showing Them Their Place”, it read in part:

“The village of Bangalwa in Bihar is only the latest locale. The place is different but it is a replay of the same bloody drama each time. A murderous gang of armed men, all drawn from the landed castes, descends on a village and mows down a whole lot of Hari

jans with guns. What is the provocation? Perhaps a mere feeling that the Harijans are getting too big for their boots. Or a desire to teach them how to keep their traps shut and plays dumb incourts of law when they are asked to bear witness in cases impugning their betters. The mass killings may be anact of revenge or a mere warning. The insolent message that they carry is much the same in either case. The place of the Harijans is at the very bottom of the social ladder in the village, it says, and if they want to save their skin they had . better stay where they are.

“The political scenario which follows is no less sickening than the drama. Everyone expresses his sense of horror over the spilling of innocent blood. Every party sheds tears for the victims. There is a promise of new security measures. But what does this mean in a society where even the police are infected by the very virus which turns so many members of the so-called higher castes into wild beasts?

“This explains the new aggressiveness of the dominant castes everywhere. They have the run of the village scene. They hog most of the gains of development, whether it is easier credit, higher yields from the land or better prices from farm produce, No party wants to stick its neck out in fighting them because this can be highly risky in terms of loss of electoral support (emphasis his)”.

The caste divisions in India are very deep and highly institutionalized. The police, politics, and the administration are controlled by the higher castes, serving to keep the lower castes in their place.

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 26, 1987