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Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians

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Re: Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians

#651
post #481
post #214

ITT: (Possibly) "Upper caste" Indians claiming: 1. This is due to a few bad apples 2. Reservation is the real problem (no it's not) 3. I don't do it therefore it doesn't exist I can tell you by experience the amount of concious and unconcious bias regarding caste amongst Indians both in India and abroad is ridiculous! I'm light skinned so people assume I'm "upper caste" and speak with me as such. My last name doesn't…

As a 24yo Indian guy living in the US, I find this comment very confusing. How do I even find out what "caste" I'm in? I've literally never heard that word used in a conversation with other Indian people ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You will likely find out when you are about to get married. I also never knew my caste till my profile was created on matrimony sites and lo and behold, my parents finally told me what caste I was.

I am happily married with my partner who is from another caste and we don't plan on carrying forward this caste nonsense with our children.

Re: Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians

#652
post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends how things work over there. Castes are associated with jobs and I have seen some articles that some 'teacher' cast has higher intelligence, just like eg ashkenazi jews. It could be that being pretty unsuccesful at your caste-assigned job would have left you unemployed and thus not being able to support a family, thus not being able to marry. thats obviously speculation, of course.

It does not make any sense, no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can see those "articles", but don't forget that those are going to be based on IQ tests, and those are correlated with intelligence and... wait for it... education. If I was of the superior caste that's what I would try to make people believe: "we are superior, and we are here because we are smarter than you. Best of luck in your next life".

Someone with a high iq will be more capable of following a certain education path. So education and iq being correlated usually means the iq measure is working as intended. If however going to a great school improves your iq that proves the specific iq measure used is flawed (as its supposed to measure innate intelligence, not education). As for the other part, I agree my line of reasoning is rather unsympathetic.

Re: Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians

#654
post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How the empty seats of SC/ST in the IITS reflect that they are disadvantaged? They have much less cut off, many SC/ST give the exam, their fees is much much less than the general category, they get scholarships. How are they disadvantaged ?

My brother living in his hamlet has no electricity after 8pm, has 0 access to coaching and has little to no access to books or anything related. This is circa 2000s though. The village has affluent upper caste people while the lower caste people still do menial jobs Reservations are meant for them. But the city folk who have the most knowledge and access to money abuse this system while real poor lower class people a…

True that the reservation system gets abused a lot in India. Living in North India, I frequently see rich families enjoying reservation benefits even when they don't need it. They don't realise they are eating up positions for the people who really need it. And the children of these rich families that the reserved seat as something they are entitled to and not affording any respect for the opportunity.

It's infuriating that reservations have become so abused, but any step by any party to change it would be met with such a fierce opposition that it's literally impossible to change.

Re: Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians

#655
post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The merit(score) of a student is dependent on factors other than the student's aptitude such as the financial status of the family, guidance received at young age etc. The students from lower-caste communities usually are also from low-income families and lack proper guidance (partly because the parents are not educated) compared to students from upper-class communities. The reservation in academia is relevant to upl…

This is pretty wrong. Caste reservation are not about economic inequality, but social representation. They are kinda like reparations. If they were just about economic inequality, you would just have free jee coaching, not caste based reservation.

My point was that 'social representation' and 'economic inequality' are related.

They don't have enough social representation in social institutions because of economic inequality caused by Caste system over long period of time.

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