"Fighting India's Caste System ... with Capitalism?" by Grace

Imagine being raised to know you were physically and spiritually unclean: an Untouchable.This is life on the bottom rung in the caste system of India: the “Dalit”. Their social status can be traced back to their traditional occupations and habits, which involved ritualistically polluting activities, i.e., coming in contact with body waste or dead animals. Being born into a family who had committed even one these “crimes” caused people to be excommunicated from entering many temples, most schools, and even the wells from which higher castes drew water.

Dalits have made great strides; for instance, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, who served as president of India from 1997 to 2002, was the first member of the Dalit to become a high-ranking official in the country’s government. However, one look at the statistics illuminates their current rejection and abuse: the country’s latest census shows that 4 or more dalit women are raped everyday, though they comprise only 16% of the total population. A 2005 government report states that a crime is committed against a Dalit every 20 minutes; it’s only gotten worse since the group has been rebelling against the caste system, staging protests, marches, and aggressively utilizing platforms like social media to show rally support for their cause. Everyday crimes against Dalits range in intensity from verbal attacks on the street to setting a family home on fire because the Dalit owners wouldn’t give up their farm land to wealthier citizens. Though staggering, the numbers detail only a fraction of actual incidents, since scores of Dalits do not register cases for fear of retaliation by the police and upper-caste individuals. Despite developments such as the Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989, the traditional divisions between caste groups persist as a snake hidden in the background of Indian society, poised and ready to strike down their bright prospective future and booming economy if they cannot emancipate Dalits, who are so mistreated. Many Dalit now champion capitalism as a way to climb the social ladder, the chance to build a new legacy on the firm foundation of rupees. This revolutionary ideology is met with fierce opposition from traditionalists and political activists in India, who question whether Westerners are trying to enforce our own culture via ethnocentrism. But, we Westerners carry the guilt of atrocities suffered by our brothers and sisters, and out of our hideous history comes the need to make a change. Certainly, empowering Indians will require them to create their own great cultural paradigm shift. Could a more capitalistic economic system be their key to success?

The worldwide evolution of humanity through interconnectedness (✨globalization✨) has led to questions which terrify the tyrants dominating the traditional caste system of India. Though our countries are inherently different, there are some scary similarities in the way we treat people who are different than us… Will the people of India one day look back on their history like we Americans do and ask: how did we treat other human beings this way? What do you think - should we try to save both victim and abuser from the corruption? Do we have a choice, as decent human beings, to allow our fellow humans to continue to endure this caste apartheid?