The Indian Caste System and Its Discriminatory Practices

The caste system in India is a social class structure which has led to great social injustices through class discrimination. The caste system has been present in the modern-day country of India since approximately 1500 B.C. and thus has deeply rooted itself in Indian culture as a matter of tradition. The Indian caste system is based on hereditary ties and thus a person is not able to ascend to a higher class through their own work or ambition. Though there are similar caste systems present in other countries particularly on the African continent, the Indian caste system tends to be the most rigid and widely seen, thus it draws the most attention. There are four classes in the Indian caste system and they are, in respective order: priests and teachers, rulers and warriors, merchants and traders, and finally the workers and peasants whose born duty was to provide service to the upper-three classes. However, there were some Indian people who weren't even entitled to become part of the caste system and were a part of their own social class structure and they were known as "Dalits" or "untouchables". These untouchables held highly undesirable, disgusting, and often dangerous jobs and as such were highly looked down upon by those in the caste system. Though the peasant class often suffered from discriminatory abuse, the untouchables were discriminated against the most. Those people who were thought of as "untouchables" were not allowed to worship in the same places, or drink water from the same sources. Among the untouchable class there were also varying degrees of "outcastes" and they would often discriminate even amongst themselves.

The Indian constitution has recently outlawed the caste system and the blatant discrimination of people based on their relative social structure. However, as the structure has been present in the nation of India for well over 3000 years, there are still several discriminatory practices and traditions that are present. For instance, most of the Indians who practice traditional beliefs have arranged marriages in which spouses are determined at birth through a mutual agreement between the two families. These arranged births are only allowed to take place within the same class, thus one is not able to marry into a higher class structure either. These traditional practices are most evident in rural villages and towns throughout India rather than the more modernized metropolitan areas in which traditional beliefs are not as actively expressed. In these metropolitan areas, inter-caste marriages do take place now and are relatively common, but people do take into consideration their prospective spouse's caste status, as there is still an informal social hierarchy.

Though the caste system and negative discriminatory practices are not legal in India, the government has instituted positive discriminatory practices much like Affirmative Action in the United States. These practices are in place to attempt to create positive opportunities for the lower classes to better themselves, and thus rid themselves of their social class and prosper. Otherwise, if such practices weren't in place, though the caste system is officially illegal, the system would still be in place informally because peasants and untouchables wouldn't be able to better themselves.