Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Supreme Court: India top court upholds quotas for poor
It is not uncommon to allocate quotas, though it is controversial, for government jobs or education opportunities to certain people, races, and gender. But it is a bit more complicated issue in India. India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The system which divides Hindus into hierarchical groups based on their work and duty is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old. From the top, the hierarchies were teachers and intellectuals, warriors and rulers, traders, laborers, and then outcastes who do all the menial jobs like street sweeping and latrine cleaning. For centuries, caste dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in the hierarchy until 1950 when Independent India's constitution banned discrimination on the basis of caste. In an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities then announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes. That was originally meant to be a temporary affirmative action to improve the opportunities for unprivileged groups of people but has been extended and amended by politicians to buy votes. Then if you put the economic scale to the quotas, things get complicated because not all the upper cast people are wealthier than those in the lower castes. India’s affirmation action seems to be a complex of social, economic, and political factors.
Read the article and learn about India’s complicated and disputed affirmative action.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63538698
Supreme Court: India top court upholds quotas for poor
It is not uncommon to allocate quotas, though it is controversial, for government jobs or education opportunities to certain people, races, and gender. But it is a bit more complicated issue in India. India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The system which divides Hindus into hierarchical groups based on their work and duty is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old. From the top, the hierarchies were teachers and intellectuals, warriors and rulers, traders, laborers, and then outcastes who do all the menial jobs like street sweeping and latrine cleaning. For centuries, caste dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in the hierarchy until 1950 when Independent India's constitution banned discrimination on the basis of caste. In an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities then announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes. That was originally meant to be a temporary affirmative action to improve the opportunities for unprivileged groups of people but has been extended and amended by politicians to buy votes. Then if you put the economic scale to the quotas, things get complicated because not all the upper cast people are wealthier than those in the lower castes. India’s affirmation action seems to be a complex of social, economic, and political factors.
Read the article and learn about India’s complicated and disputed affirmative action.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63538698
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