Sumit Gautam>> There is no scientific, intellectual, social and logical basis for caste system. The caste system is profoundly illogical and is also against the basic tenets of the Constitution.
“This is not permissible. Right to dignity is a fundamental right and a basic human right. Human dignity is one of the basic features of the Constitution. The Constitution of India also guarantees a casteless and classless society”.
But in our society we the people, who are from upper castes, have never seen, experienced and never got discriminated on the basis of their caste. Some people support this evil of our society in the name of culture, heritage, God’s, pride, honor, and whatever they can name it, but this is only to justify their mental thrust only.
Caste is a delicate issue. It’s ubiquitous, and we are full of it. We should start to change things from individual level. But when you go to people and deny caste, they may not react favorably. I think if a decisive percentage of people, especially elites, start marrying out of their caste, we may see a casteless Himachal in a generation’s time. At least we (every individual) must play his/her part to abolish cast system.
Now what I want to tell you is that, why we need to abolish caste system. The caste system was created to make social groups. People are grouped because of their occupation. But with advancement in literacy and reservation most castes have now become strong. Many elite classes now earn less than the business men. Basically time has changed and people can now understand their backgrounds better.
Reservation system is also being misused
Most backward and scheduled classes are now taking advantage of this reservation. Also communal tensions are increasing because of the caste system. And the system is not driven by the nature of the occupation rather by the family in which a person takes birth. Moreover God created us all equals as humans, what matters is our thinking and character and not our parent’s occupation.
And also reservation system is also being misused by peoples; peoples who actually need it are still not getting enough exposure and opportunities, whereas there is some other who doesn’t need reservation are still getting perks, so reservation should be on the basis of financial condition of the family and also to people who belong to the tribal area of Himachal Pradesh.
Caste system grew in Himachal, as a means of socially binding individuals together. People who took birth in a particular class of occupation were grouped together and named in that manner. Soon with development of a legal system there was a need to make a rigid caste system which could be followed by all the Indian citizens.
This gave birth to general class schedules classes and backward classes. Reservation system was started to encourage the oppressed classes and give them liberated living. But with passage of time this caste system has become hollow and fragile. Something which was made for social grouping has turned to social divide with all groups developing hatred for each other.
So, the end there is only one solution to this problem, we all need to take a step further to abolish this evil system of our society.
RISE ABOVE CASTE, CREED, COLOR, AND RELEGION. WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF MODERN AGE. AND I BELIEVE WE WILL DO IT SOMEDAY.
(Author Sumit Gautam is a regular reader of In Himachal. He can be reached at ovemelong.sharma888 @gmail.com)
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity