Need of the hour

Once upon a time somewhere in middle Eurasia, a clan of people decided to move from their territory to another one to the east, in search of more land, greener pastures for their livestock, more fertile land and a better life. It was not something they were new to. It was a simpler time, when man lived off the land and nomadic lifestyle was the norm of the period.

As this clan moved east, they traveled to this wonderful land they had heard about from traders and travelers - a land with seven perennial rivers and one of them so large that it flowed from the peaks of the heaven bearing Himalayas to the boundless ocean in the East. It was a land just like they had imagined, and in some respects even more enchanting. There were thick forests, mountain tops, glaciers, rivers, fertile river banks, a vast desert, a long seafront, beaches, and a land extremely rich in animals ranging from the fearsome tigers to the enchanting peacocks. In short, it was a land that any such clan would finally want to settle down in.

And that is just what they did. They realized that they had reached a land from where there would be no need to move on. It had everything they needed. So this clan of nomads slowly became a clan of established settlers. Now, when you finally decide to settle down in life, what do you do first? Plan. So, these settlers too, did the same thing. They planned their villages, farms, defenses, trader posts and sanitation. In spite of such a rich land, they realized that the best resource they had was themselves – the people. So naturally, it was essential that they employ this resource well. The clan elders sat in conference together and discussed about their population. They had years of experience of a nomadic life with them, and generations of wisdom passed along from father to son and mother to daughter.

They discussed various strategies to ensure that their civilization runs smoothly. The farms will need to be cultivated, the villages and kingdoms will need to be defended, the produce of the land will need to be traded and bartered with neighboring lands, the villages will need to be cleaned, the knowledge and lore will need to be documented and rituals and rites will need to be performed. As the discussions progressed, they soon realized that to ensure that the villages are mostly self-sufficient units; all its needs will need to be satisfied by itself. Hence, as a natural solution, the population will need to be categorized into groups who would participate in a given occupation, such that each village would have its set of soldiers, priests, traders, farmers and cleaners. Just like in any of today’s editions of the Empire and Earth computer game, this would ensure equitable manpower in all occupations. Then, they went one step ahead and made a rule of men inheriting their occupations by birth.

And this is how we got our present day Caste system friends. An extremely well thought out solution to efficient running of a village. And what has it become today? A system to separate man from man, a system to discriminate against a section of the society, a system that makes India sound like a land with a most backward society and a narrow mindset. But we are not backward and undeveloped! If you look at history, you’ll see that our elders were thinking and discussing about running a civilization when other parts of the world were so undeveloped that they were living in caves and hunting for food.

So where along the way did we exactly lose it? When did a system designed simply to bring about smooth running of the civilization become a thorn in the foot of that same civilization? Or rather like a cancer that is systematically eating the very core of our society?

Well, somewhere along the way, we made mistakes - grave errors that are coming to haunt us now. And those mistakes happened when this system was twisted and made to piggyback upon religion and race. A system which was designed to delegate duties was corrupted to become a system to dole out power to a certain ‘class’ of people, who became the so-called “upper caste” in the new caste-aware society. The whole intent of the ‘varna’ was trashed and ‘caste’ was created. To ensure that in future, nobody would try to enter an occupation out of their birth and challenge the ones already in it, the caste system was made rigid. Persecution, segregation and tyranny became accepted rules and norms. Generations upon generations of ‘shudras’ were crushed under the feet, oppressed and choked to their eventual death by this system. Why did no one raise their voice then? Was it because the so called “upper castes” were not hurt by it and so approved it? Or was it because they did not understand what these people were going through? It was both.

Well, the sins of the father sometimes do re-visit the son. It looks like it is payback time now. Opportunities were denied to the “lower castes” then and opportunities are now being denied to the “upper castes”. When whole generations of ‘shudras’ were being crushed to death by the caste system, not even a single scream of these oppressed souls reached the ears of the “upper castes”. Now today, they feel the pain themselves.

What is the solution to this? How long will this go on? And to what end? Do none of us realize that the caste system has lost its need and significance now? The system is archaic, it has served its purpose a long, long time ago. What is now left, is a haunted skeleton bringing nothing but horror to anybody that tries to use it. When India became independent, we had our chance to end this system. We had our chance, and we blew it. When we should have passed a law prohibiting racial and caste based segregation, (something America did not long ago in 1964) we instead passed a law giving reservation to the “lower castes”. We were missing the whole point! Reservation was not the answer. Putting an end to the caste system completely was the answer.

How many people from the Brahmin caste today work in the occupation they are supposed to do under the law of the caste system? What percentage of the kshatriya caste are soldiers today? If they are not expected to stick to their birth-occupation, then why should the shudras be expected to? If the duties of the caste are no longer mandatory, then so are the benefits. If America can realize that the solution to put an end to persecution against the blacks is passing and enforcing Civil Rights Act which prohibits racial segregation, why can’t we understand that the caste system has lost its purpose? In fact, by giving birth to reservation, we are once again enforcing this system upon a society which has lost all use for it. Antiquated social norms are practically receiving full governmental support each time an Indian fills out a form where the first question is: “Check the box to which caste you belong”. Why do we then protest when we are denied opportunity based on birth? Why is it then wrong if a Med School seat is given to a candidate because the candidate belongs to a certain caste? So practically once again, our careers and life will be decided by our birth and not by our skills. HOW ARE WE THEN BETTER THAN OUR FOREFATHERS WHO MADE THAT RULE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Did the British give reservation to those who wanted to continue the practice of sati? NO. They banned it. Even at that time, there was a huge hue and cry and protest and the British were called as agents of the devil by the narrow minded people. But I’m sure everyone will today agree that it was essential to ban it and that it was the right step. So then why not throw out the caste system too into the trash bin?

I’m sure people who speak against this line of argument will now say, “but the reservation is needed because the people from the “lower castes” are generally poor and cannot afford to compete with others”. But then, the cancer of poverty does not strike by asking the caste of the person! If poverty is the issue, then what we need reservation for is the poor, not the “lower castes”, because I can today show you thousands of people who belong to all strata of the caste system and are poor and also thousands who belong to the “lower castes” and are rich. So if equal opportunity needs to be ensured by reservation, it needs to be an income level based reservation and NOT birth level based.

An hour is approaching when we need to act on the correct solution to the problem and not some stop gap method like reservation which is in fact doing nothing to solve the issue at hand. Just like sati, child marriage, polygamy and dowry have been made crimes punishable by law, it’s the turn of “caste system” now.