The problem of Caste is not new. But for some reason it seems forgotten, casually slipped under the carpet by the leaders of our nation but most importantly by us.

I never did pay much attention to the question of Caste. We upper castes hardly do. This was a painful reality which I had been unwilling to face for a long time.

Only occasionally the issue of caste would come into my life in the ways of how our freedom fighters (especially Gandhi) fought for the abolition of untouchability and the upliftment of the downtrodden. Like many I thought they had done enough for Dalits through providing them with reservation and political representation.

How wrong it all seems now. The problem of caste just doesn't seem to leave our nation. Not in the near future for sure.

 At first I didn't want to like this book. and thought this was another one of those which would go back into the past and dig out certain events and label certain leaders as casteist/sexist/communalist.(I had my reasons for thinking this way because I was simultaneously reading Debrahmanising History: Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society). The question of liking it or disliking it seems rather trivial now.

We had expected the question of Caste would go away through the following:

1) Reservation in state legislatures/Lok sabha/panchayat/municipalities

2) Reservation in Government jobs/institutions/schools

3) Through their own mobilization and agitation for political representation and for fulfilling their demands (for eg creating their own political parties and organizations who'd fight for them)

4) With the 1991 reforms, we had expected capitalism to be the answer for this problem of discrimination.

Reality turned out to be somewhat different.

Reservation was never the answer. SCs, STs, & OBCs are as divided among themselves as the Generals. Reservation reinforced those divisions in a brutal way. It helped individuals but the Dalit masses remained untouched by its generous arms.

Political representation worked in a similar fashion too. Dalit leaders were carefully picked by leading political parties and placed at the reserved seats, making the dalits believe that they were being represented. Even dalit leaders who won power, like Mayawati became a part of that very system. Politics is a dirty business after all. 

 The deification of Ambedkar gives them the false belief of having won the battle. and it is also against the principle of Bhakti, which Ambedkar had so profoundly opposed.

 The neo-liberal reforms of 1991 took a little step towards giving everyone an equal chance at the game of entrepreneurship but when certain people are coming from a background of having faced so many atrocities and had the upper castes grow and prosper at the cost of their disadvantage, the entire question of equality and merit loses its significance.

This book raises more question than it answers. And the solution that it offers sometimes seem a bit idealistic but it is a start.

To me a sympathetic, reasonable & tolerant government/administration/general population/SC,ST, & OBC population is the way forward. Which is too much to ask these days. Everyone seems at fault here.

As long as basic needs like education and healthcare evade the masses, the question of caste is going to keep haunting certain groups of people.

Even rich and educated Indians take caste for granted, so I don't know how much truth is there in my conviction. But a universally literate population can't be fooled for long as is happening at the moment.