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California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

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Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#311
post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I'll take your word about US politics. But I don't see a disagreement ... the Indian right still represents the liberal end of the Indian spectrum on economic policy. Whether that is far or near in US terms does not constitute a disagreement.

It is by no means "libertarian" if the current government has strengthened public food distribution systems and other policies like MNREGA. That is not what libertarian means.

Ah, that. Thanks, I corrected the use of "libertarian" to "liberal" in my GP comment. I am sure that is not perfect either, but should be good enough to answer the original question ... "left" in India is more about economics than liberty.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a brahmin would point out that he is brahmin TWICE in his comment. We know that you are a brahmin and feel 'proud' of your caste. You sir, are the reason why casteism exists in India.

That's a disclaimer, someone may miss that 'some of us' part while reading and think I am saying that as an outsider. You are the anti-brahmin hypocrite generalizing your experience with some of them to blame them. People like you are why there is still lot of SJW bullshit in India. A person with ½ of my competetive exam scores, and double the income easily gets a seat in NIT because reservation based on caste. The g…

For over 2 millenia dalits were not even allowed to enter schools or gain education. Ambedkar was famously the only dalit student in his school.

If dalits and other lower castes were not allowed to enter schools for more than a thousand years , then doesn't that mean that brahmins and other upper castes had 100% reservation in education for more than a thousand years? Why complain about reservation now when it was you guys who started it?

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#313

Readers who are not from Indian subcontinent may find this difficult to understand or beleive, let me throw some context. Indian caste system is probably the longest running abuse,racism, human rights violation in the human history. Even,now in some parts of the country people from lowest caste are made to carry human waste on their head[0]. After independence,thanks to rights offered by constitution & reservation by…

You are painting only one sided picture and that's obvious from username you have chosen. India has 1bn+ people, you can't generalize this. There are bunch of Brahmin people at higher level who actively work to uplift others and they do this without being atheist. There are 12 types of beliefs defined in Indian spirituality, it's not binary as in atheist vs believer. Also, food for thought - are all Brahmins in India…

> India has 1bn+ people, you can't generalize this.

Have you seen the matrimonial ads in India?

Why am I getting a feeling that you are a Brahmin and you are not happy that people from lower castes have their own quotas in govt jobs/education.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't people just change their last name? I imagine if suddenly everyone's last name was Gupta, that kind of discrimination would become difficult.

I am from the state of Tamil Nadu. Unlike other states, we don't use a last name. The official forms and documents of state government/schools will not have a last name field. If pressed for last name, we just use fathers name. The first time I had to give a last name was when I was >20 years old when applying for passport from the Indian government. (Federal govt. not the state govt.) My last name is my fathers firs…

If you think caste discrimination does not exist in TN just because of this, you are fooling yourself. Politically powerful castes like Vanniyars and Gounders still discriminate against Dalits and other castes, especially in rural areas.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#315

I’ve got a “hot button” about castes. I hate ‘em. Comes from growing up overseas (I live in the US), and having servants. These were the people that raised us, and were, for all intents and purpose, “family.” Except they weren’t, and when I found out how they lived, it broke my heart. I was also raised by a British mother, who was an awesome woman, but came from a middle-class Liverpool (“scouse”) family, and spent h…

As someone who was born a lower caste hindu, I don't really mind the british caste system at all. Because the british caste system is fluid. If you are born to servant parents and study hard to become a doctor, you end up at the top of the caste system. Not in Hinduism. Even if you become a doctor, but were born a dalit(lowest caste), you will remain a dalit and so will your future generations. There is no escape fro…

> If you are born to servant parents and study hard to become a doctor, you end up at the top of the caste system.

I think this is the opposite of a caste system.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The social movement started several years ago. Its called the quota system and it has been enforced at various levels of government jobs and education. People just get promoted with no regard to their actual performance in all kinds of government jobs. This type of reservation on the basis of caste is regressive. What about someone who is supposedly from a "higher" caste but is still not economically well-off. Such p…

Fair points. I don't have historical data, but my observation is that the issue of brahmins controlling/dominating lot of sectors was a real problem at some point and the reservation system was a populist response that did provide some benefit for oppressed castes, but created a whole bunch of other problems and unintended consequences. And its still remains such a hot button populist issue no political party would d…

iyer or iyengar is their traditional surname probably. same way as a family name in the US. why discriminate against iyers because they want to have a surname of their choice? most folks would be proud of their surnames. Is there a community that feels horrible about their surname?

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you realise Jain is a religion. Yes, people do stereotype people based on their background. In a country where just 70 years ago, people were shipped off to the caribbean as bonded labourers and as slave replacements. People and communities form tribes and where you are in your life depends a lot on how wealthy and influential your parents/grand parents where. A big problem is the the leftist politics of painting…

> A big problem is the the leftist politics of painting everything as social problems, instead of dealing with them as they are. I don't understand. If caste-based discrimination is not a social problem, what is it then?

We are no longer forced to follow our father's profession or live in our villages.

Caste names are very local, when you move to a city or another state where people speak a different language people will have no way of knowing.

I am NOT a brahmin and I am not taking a privileged position, however the people claiming to be SJWs real goal is to make these divisions larger.

A lot of educated and intelligent black Americans, do not support BLM precisely for this reason. The far left benefits from all the violence and politics, whereas ordinary black people will pay the price of greater mistrust.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#318
post #99

I live and work in India and I would like to throw more light on this. Me and my friends like to joke around that you will never get your dues, either pay raise or promotions unless you have the last names jain, gupta, sharma, verma. I had a guy on my team who was very capable but did not have the right last name, he was being harassed for promotions for 4-5 years. On the other hand the manager class was entirely "ja…

What if you change your last name to either of these?

An even better approach is to just change your religion. I was born a hindu dalit but I converted and so have many of my friends and family. Religious conversions have become so common in India that states have started to bring out laws to curtail it. Casteism is a construct of Hinduism and other religions don't suffer from it in the same way as Hinduism does. So you can change your religion , your name and claim that you have no caste. Hindus have no problem seeing a converted christian as equal to them, but will refuse to see people from their own religion as equal.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#319

I am an Indian and have been in US for many years. There is one thing I have noticed among brahmins, during their Naturalization process many of them change their last names to Iyer or Iyengar (two sects of Brahmins). I am referring to guys from the southern part of India where I am from. Its not a common practice there. My interpretation of this is these folks have a perceived sense of superiority feeling about thei…

The quota system is actually called 'reservation' and it's not specific to South India. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India Though the percentage of the seats reserved varies with each state.

the atrocity is prevalent in the entire nation?!

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#320
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who was born a lower caste hindu, I don't really mind the british caste system at all. Because the british caste system is fluid. If you are born to servant parents and study hard to become a doctor, you end up at the top of the caste system. Not in Hinduism. Even if you become a doctor, but were born a dalit(lowest caste), you will remain a dalit and so will your future generations. There is no escape fro…

> If you are born to servant parents and study hard to become a doctor, you end up at the top of the caste system. I think this is the opposite of a caste system.

It's the opposite of the hindu caste system, but pretty much in line with the british caste system where caste is based on profession and not by birth.
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