Caste system in India:

“The history of caste system in India is very old; it is about 2500 year old. The caste system
came into existence on the basis of the Varna system later on contemporary caste system.
Initially there are four varnas but afterward one more discriminated class also considered as
5th varna. These are the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and Ati- Sudras. Last one also
called as the untenable. The last two castes doing menial jobs with the latter being considered
“untouchables”, Even their presence was considered polluting and thus was to be avoided.
The three higher varnas are often referred them to as “caste Hindus” (upper caste Hindus) or
as “twice born”, since (the men of) these castes enter an initiation ceremony (the second
birth) and are allowed to wear the sacred thread. Together, the upper castes constitute 17-18
percent of the population. The Ati-Sudras are roughly 16 percent of the population.
Numerically, the largest varna is Sudra, constituting nearly half of the population.”

Dalit in India:

“Dalit are the depressed class of India, which is exempted from to take any benefit by the
higher caste from time immemorial. Dalit are socially, politically and educationally backward
because these people always used as the medium of work for the higher class. Before
independence Dalit had no rights and they were exploited to hire as begar (They were work
for the higher castes at no payment, even they were not able to say about the payment). Even
today same is happening in the rural areas where the people follow the same way of
exploitation because of the lack of awareness and the dominancy of the higher classes. Often
the newspaper contains the news like, 1”
 Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers.
 Dalit tortured by cops for three days.
 Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar.
 Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool.
 7 Dalit burnt alive in caste clash.
 5 Dalit lynched in Haryana.
 Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked.
 Police egged on mob to lynch Dalit.

1
Available at, www.dalitnetwork.org/go?/dfn/news/C144/( Last visited on, November,27,2010)
“The total population of the Dalit is about 1/5 of the total population of the country. Dalit are
continuously suffering the birth- based discrimination and humiliation. Although many
committee and convention were held like, International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and of domestic laws designed to abolish the
vestiges of various caste systems and to protect the economic, social, cultural, civil, and
political rights of all, can the process of attaining economic and physical security, and human
dignity, but there is no significant improvement in the real sense. 2
Mainly Scheduled Castes is legal parlance for Dalit.
There is hidden apartheid in India like normally Dalit children are frequently made to sit at
the back of classrooms in rural areas.”

2
Available at,http://www.dalitindia.com/(Last visited on, November,26,2010)
Arguments in favour of the reservation:
 “The depressed caste is exploiting from the very beginning and remains poor and
away from their rights and hence development likes development in social, political

and educational. Reservation is most probable way to compensate to these societies.

 Castes are divided on the basis of the menial work, today’s reserved castes are those
-who always being limited to their work and because of this their mental development

not is taken place as efficient as compare to other. That is why they required some

concession with respect to their performance.

 Reservation should be there because the reserved classes are economically poor and
the fee of educational institution and the real expenditure of contest the election is

very high, if they don’t have reservation they cannot afford this amount of

expenditure at all and result these people never get any opportunity to become a nexus

part of all the development activity.

 Reservation should be provided on the basis of economic condition of the people and
for a particular fix time like for 20 year with strict sense of outcome so that all the

societies can come almost on the same platform and they can compete with each-

others.

 Affirmative action policies they argued not only directly benefit lower castes through
higher incomes, but have a larger impact on public policies when individuals from

lower castes are given a voice in the decision making process. Other commentators on

these pages have followed a similar line of reasoning.”