[ezVoodoo]

But India is still a Semi Slavery society. The untouchables, anyone? The Hindu caste/social grouping system tells millions of people that they are contaminated and their fate is doomed upon birth. This is the most powerful racist/slavery/brain-washing machine that the human being has ever made, no?

It is so hard to believe such brutal system still exist in human society. Yet, the country enforcing this claims to be the best friend of the west. Well, actually if you think about the BLM moment in western countries, it starts to make some sense...

[udhan]

Lets look at the larger picture. India outlawed untouchability the day constitution was adopted. No ambiguity, no ifs or buts. Not just that, state and people adopted corrective measure to reverse years of discrimination in the form of reservations. Reservations continue to this day and have only increased. Please give me some example where people have gone to this extend to correct historical social injustice. Not a single person I have met in my life denies that cast system is problem needs to go away. I have seen real change in people's attitude. Cast for the most part has vanished from daily life of majority of Indians. You can see its predominance today mostly in marriage. It will fade away with time as well.

Indian election system has continuously improved over the years. Election violence has reduced the minimum and power transition is always peaceful.

Upward mobility has improved. Many government services have improved tremendously. I can go on and on. Point is everything is improving albeit not at the China's pace. But I will take freedom that I enjoy here anytime over somewhat faster development pace.

[as1mov]

I won't disagree with you, but would rather give people some context who are reading your comment and have never lived in India.

Like everything else in India, even this phenomenon exists in extremes. There are cities like Bangalore/Delhi/Hyderabad (almost all Tier 1 cities) where the IT sector flourishes, the concept of caste is almost invisible; bear in mind this is coming from someone who is from those lower castes.

Then you have other places where it is still socially accepted. My parents home in one of northern states is one of them. Communities/small villages are clustered based on castes, people might be forbidden from entering certain places like temples. Caste based marriages are still the norm there. It's certainly improving, but it takes time like everything else. My father still lives there and occasionally tells me about how things are changing, for instance he recently told me about a Muslim family who have been living there for the past decade, something that might not have been possible even 20-30 years ago.

[GordonS]

> There are cities like Bangalore/Delhi/Hyderabad (almost all Tier 1 cities) where the IT sector flourishes, the concept of caste is almost invisible; bear in mind this is coming from someone who is from those lower castes.

I haven't had the "caste conversation" with my Indian friends for a few years now, but last time I did, they all said marrying outside of their caste would never be accepted by their parents. Friends from Mumbai, Delhi and Pune all said the same. Have things really changed so much in the past 5-10 years?

[ra7]

Is this a meme? Have you actually spent time in India? Caste based discrimination is illegal, so the country isn't "enforcing" any of it. In fact, there are several measures to counteract discrimination (like reservations, which is a whole other topic).

This just seems like a poor, uneducated opinion for the likes of HN.

[virattara]

India is striding away from these practices. The ground reality is quite different today, unfortunately, the outside world has this impression from historic books or articles about India which are largely outdated now. There is very little information on the internet regarding the improvements and the shift of the young generation here in India away from such practices.

[vijaybritto]

One needs to be completely blind to make this heartless claim. Are you being sarcastic or something?

https://scroll.in/topic/5593/caste-crimes

The above list is a sparsely updated list of caste crimes in India. What do you mean casteism is outdated? A dalit and a brahmin are equal in this society?

If so kindly show us a place where its the case!

This is the PRESIDENT of the country being shoved upon entering a temple! https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/opinion-the-jagannath-te...

So, kindly stop lying

[praveen9920]

Im not sure if this is the case. India is transforming the caste system into modern form rather than striding away. There is still systemic discrimination happening across India based on caste. It is predominant in rural india than urban.

For ex: caste based marriages and honour killings are best example for these instances.

Indian urban liberals try their best but they don't know the reality on ground

[dev_throw]

Sorry, but this is an irresponsible conclusion. Today's "untouchables" are largely due to socioeconomic class differences rather than systemic caste oppression, which has been outlawed for a while.

The same inequality is growing quickly in the USA when you consider the percentage of wealth the 1% has.

[manjalyc]

> But India is still a Semi Slavery society.

> The Hindu caste/social grouping system tells millions of people that they are contaminated and their fate is doomed upon birth.

Sure, maybe 100 years ago. But attitudes have been changing and there are numerous government programs designed specifically to bring up those in "lower castes" with the ultimate goal of equality for everyone. Indian culture is still very different from Western culture and far deeper ingrained into the average person. Change does not happen overnight. Everything happening in India in a broader view points to a trend of more equality and freedoms, not less. More governmental programs seek to address issues of inequalities, especially caste discrimination, than at any prior point in Indian history. Of course there are still issues, I won't argue there are no flaws, but calling it a Semi Slavery society these days is delusional at best, malintent at worst.

[fakeyguy]

for all practical purposes this doesn't exist any more. It's jsut that western media focuses on it a lot.

[vijaybritto]

This. This is so true.

India can never be a superpower until we are born inequal at birth!

There will be growth only in a society which has some sort of equality.

Anyone can look at the amount of upper castes in positions of power, land ownership share and executive positions in the country. You have to compare it with the population distribution among castes and you'll see the inequality immediately.

The main problem here is that it's not even in the mainstream public discourse cause the narrative is always set by the upper castes.

People were trending black lives matter as if they care about humanity. It was so hypocritical!

This won't stop unless caste is uprooted from the society.

[setum]

What is the distribution of land ownership based in caste, any citation?

> The main problem here is that it's not even in the mainstream public discourse cause the narrative is always set by the upper castes.

mainstream public discourse is set by whoever can set it, it is free for all. In my understanding it is generally the left leaning literate class, talking for suppressed classes. True, most of them have descended from upper-caste, but have since devowed their caste and have become caste-agnostic.

> This won't stop unless caste is uprooted from the society.

Caste is largely getting uprooted from society, I don't see this bringing social equality. In truth, now there is a upper-caste among lower-case -- the early beneficiaries of the reservation with whom others in the lower caste can't compete.

[joekunin]

I wonder if this was also part of the reason Buddhism didn't become the predominant belief system in India.

[ezVoodoo]

We hope to see a Dalits Lives Matter(DLM) movement in India TODAY. That is, if this country cares human rights and equality at all.

[together_us]

To be fair, groups like that exist and work closely within the political spectrum for influence, not just in protest and agitation as in BLM. There have been several Dalit leaders and non-Dalit leaders for backward class upliftment.

[churchillracist]

> But India is still a Semi Slavery society.

Unlike the USA and other western countries? Have you been in USA recently? In fact, if one did the genuine stats incorporating analysis of wage slaves and issues around food stamps, I'd wager that slavery is more of an issue in USA.

> It is so hard to believe such brutal system still exist in human society

It is so hard to believe that James Byrd Jr was dragged behind a truck until his head popped off due to the friction with the road. That was not in the 1800s. That was in 1998. This wasn't in some Appalachian village, it was in Jasper. Yes, a sunset town. And that murderous knee for 8 minutes 46 seconds on George Floyd. That was in 2020. In Minneapolis. Not some tiny Indian village. Do we really need to keep going? We should look in the mirror.