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Politics : Idea Of The Day

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To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (42615)	5/20/2002 9:10:48 PM
From: arun gera	Read Replies (1) of 50167

>India’s caste system is such that it is the only culture in the entire world that continues to relegate human beings to the lowest rung of society.> I am not sure about "continues". Caste is not a big factor in urban areas. I am waiting to see a scholarly paper of the current status of castism in India. All we here about caste is what probably was true 50 years ago. have you noticed how powerful the Dalits (parties like Bahujan Samaj) have become. And try getting a maid in the cities these days! Maybe they are all migrating to the middle east, as you said. The caste system has its weaknesses. The caste system served the divisions of labor in an older world. I don't know if it ever worked perfectly. But it has survived for thousands of years, so it must have something working for it. And I am not sure it has vanished even for those who have moved on to the other religions. I am sure Muslims in India have a certain caste system among themselves. I have noticed it in Sikhs. Indians of all religions seem to marry in their own communities. > In the West the concept of individual rights and responsibilities has made class systems and archaic remnant of the past> Not true. Except the poor may not be as poor as the Indian poor. Actually I saw a review of a book by a British socialogist who claims that class sytems still prevail in western countries. > and in Islamic civilisation while there is difference in how a believer and a non-believer are treated, the latter can always overcome his discrimination by converting.> Is that a real choice? Persecuted Parsis (Zoroaster's followers) fled Iran and have settled in India for a millenium. And Hinduism does not prevent anybody from converting. And Hinduism does not force anyone to convert. And still the conversion rate from Hinduism to other religions is not that high. And it has been tried. Ashoka tried to spread Buddhism in Asia about two milleniums ago. Christianity came to India as far back as second or third century AD (???). Jainism and Buddhism were there before Christ. Muslim rulers started invading India a millenium ago. The Protugese were there for 500 years. Still Hindusimm survives in large numbers. Arun That recourse does not exist in Indian society because by virtues of one’s birth, their social status has been set for life.> And Islam was late in arrival. Jainism, Buddhism came before. They all were reactions to the caste system in some ways. And there are have been so many reformers of Hinduism over the centuries.

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