Caste system is system of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary occupation, religious disability and group hierarchy. It enforces discrimination against people belonging to the lower caste.
Article 15 of the Constitution bars discrimination on the basis of caste – Part III and IV of the Constitution have placed special emphasis on furthering the interests of the castes that have faced historical discrimination.
Reasons for continuance of caste based discrimination
- Kind of convenience in the creation and perpetuation of social hierarchies because of the privileges they render to sections of society.
- Imbalance in power relations, especially as it is manifested in the distribution of material resources like land.
- Lack of institutional vigilance and intervention.
- State endorsing social hierarchy through system of caste based reservations
Views of Ambedkar on caste based discrimination:
“Turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster (caste)”.
Views of Mahatma Gandhi on caste based discrimination:
- Though MK Gandhi believed in caste system as a product of Varnashramadharma, he was against any discrimination.
- He tried to remove the blot of untouchability from Hinduism. He even said to remove untouchability is the penace that a caste Hindu owes to himself.
- In Gandhi’s view, the social structure in India had become so diseased that hypocritical and anomalous attitudes were to be found everywhere.
Transformation towards caste free India:
- First India must stop to accept caste as a social norm.
- The need is for an all-embracing, inclusive pan-India social movement of social and cultural transformation.
- Integrating social and cultural transformation with an economic alternative.
- Fundamental relook at the reservation system and studying its impact, need for continuance and reforms needed.
- lack of institutional vigilance and intervention
In order to zero down caste based discrimination state must proactively enforce the law in letter and spirit and act to protect the citizen’s fundamental right to equality.
