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My Caste

cs.toronto.edu

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Re: My Caste

#91

Post by hef19898 »

crop_rotation wrote: post #81
banshiram123 wrote: post #59

[flagged]

Caste based reservations in the private sector will be the end of any chance of India becoming a more prosperous nation. In public sector, the reservations are not limited to getting a job, but the promotions as well. In some public sectors, the promotion schedule gets accelerated basis caste. Sure, a lot needs to be done for a more equal society where everyone has the same opportunities, but private sector reservati…

Yes, because history showed us that equal societies, compared to centemporary pears, fare muchuch worse than those discriminating. Or rather not.

Re: My Caste

#92

Post by h4ch1 »

banshiram123 wrote: post #59

[flagged]

Reservation is necessary for 2-3 generations to uplift, anything further than that is just the reverse of casteism.

Tell that to my OBC friends who paid 5% of our school fees while they were dropped in Audis.

Re: My Caste

#94

Post by jccalhoun »

LordShredda wrote: post #2

Would it be possible for the government to 'phase out' last names and instead rely on other forms of identification? Instead of putting in your name in an application form, you just list an id number and your address. Then when you show up, you only mention your first and middle name.

I would guess there are a ton of ways to tell what caste someone is. Where they are from, accent, one article I remember reading mentioned a person was Buddhist not Hindu and keeping that secret to avoid caste discrimination https://www.wired.com/story/trapped-in-silicon-valleys-hidde...

Re: My Caste

#95

Post by crop_rotation »

teachrdan wrote: post #5
LordShredda wrote: post #2

Would it be possible for the government to 'phase out' last names and instead rely on other forms of identification? Instead of putting in your name in an application form, you just list an id number and your address. Then when you show up, you only mention your first and middle name.

I just posted this on a probably-dead thread about caste discrimination, but the short of it is the folks who wish to discriminate by caste have a variety of ways to determine what your caste is. From the Vice article below: Indians will not ask outright what caste you are, as it’s seen as overly discriminatory, but they use more subtle methods to identify your place in the caste structure. “Sometimes they ask, ‘Are…

This sounds like someone who has no idea about India.

Being vegetarian tells you nothing about somoene's caste at all, either by choice or birth. You might make a wild guess but it has very less chance of being correct. Vegetarianism permeates throughout society in both upper and lower classes.

Asking someone's village name to know anything is laughable. There are about a million villages in India, and most villages have mixed caste populations, so this is just so laughably absurd. Even if you meet someone in a local city, you will not get to know their caste by their village name, let alone meeting someone in a big Indian city or the US. Asking someone's village gives you same amount of information as doing Math.random(1e6).

> see if the person is wearing a Juneau

This is something that has almost stopped and at this point almost nobody wears it since it involves a lot of extra effort. It would be very very long ago when the % of peopling wearing it was high enough.

> Higher-caste Indians will also search social media accounts to ascertain a job candidate’s religious views or diet.

This again sounds like a handway statement that is somehow intended to show how one can easily find someone else's caste.

Re: My Caste

#96

Post by PixelForg »

soligern wrote: post #53

Honestly I think this is majorly overblown. Having lived in both India and the US and being in my late 30s, I’ve never seen caste come up in any conversation even once. That’s tens of thousands of Indian people at the very least. Feels like this person is hyper aware of his caste and seems to take steps bordering on paranoia.

I wasn't even aware of my caste (ST) until I joined intermediate(equivalent to 11-12 grade). I feel like I'm lucky that I didn't face any sort of caste discrimination. I guess it depends on which part of India you live in.

Re: My Caste

#97

Post by petesergeant »

isanjay wrote: post #33

I worked in 3 different companies (Hyderabad, Bangalore) in South India and did not see any evidence of caste discrimination. Or even people talking about discrimination in office. While I did see discrimination in college, which was in a rural town in South India.

> I worked in 3 different companies (Hyderabad, Bangalore) in South India and did not see any evidence of caste discrimination

Are you of a member of a discriminated-against caste? If not, it may simply be it wasn't visible to you.

Re: My Caste

#98

Post by darth_avocado »

flownoon2 wrote: post #68
soligern wrote: post #53

Honestly I think this is majorly overblown. Having lived in both India and the US and being in my late 30s, I’ve never seen caste come up in any conversation even once. That’s tens of thousands of Indian people at the very least. Feels like this person is hyper aware of his caste and seems to take steps bordering on paranoia.

The author says that: 1. OBCs are estimated to comprise 40-45% of India's population and 2. Exactly one out of 180 CS faculty members across five IITs belongs to OBC category Those two facts alone make it sound like a pretty big deal to me, even if it hasn't been a part of your experience in India. Or do you think he is wrong about those numbers?

The numbers could be right, but you couldn’t exactly argue discrimination tbh.

27% seats are reserved for OBC students in IITs

There is a similar quota for people in OBC categories in govt jobs (which IIT professors are). Maybe there are plenty of OBC professors, but not in CS? Or that they don’t openly identify as OBC? Or maybe, people just don’t qualify/apply to the position?

Re: My Caste

#99

Post by alfalfasprout »

isanjay wrote: post #16
teachrdan wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just posted this on a probably-dead thread about caste discrimination, but the short of it is the folks who wish to discriminate by caste have a variety of ways to determine what your caste is. From the Vice article below: Indians will not ask outright what caste you are, as it’s seen as overly discriminatory, but they use more subtle methods to identify your place in the caste structure. “Sometimes they ask, ‘Are…

> Indians will not ask outright what caste you are. My team lead asked me in a Teams call, lol. At that point, he doesn't even know what I look like (because of covid, and we don't do video calls). (I am not OBC though) > Higher-caste Indians will also search social media accounts to ascertain a job candidate’s religious views or diet. I don't believe this at all. Feels like overexaggerating.

This is absolutely a thing and I have witnessed it. And I'm not even Indian.

Re: My Caste

#100

Post by silentsea90 »

Just as India is large and complex, so is everyone's experience. 59.5% of IIT seats are reserved for backward castes - that is HUGE in a nation full of students competing for the 40% seats available for the general category. The entrance exam score gap between reserved and general is massive (numbers are public) and it shows in their relative academic performance. One could make an argument that the Indian Government should step in earlier (early - middle school up to high school) by funding better education to reduce the academic gap between students from backward castes and the rest. The author here if anything points to the effect of poverty/poor education in one's early years as opposed to there being a systematic campaign to exclude backward castes in academia esp in the west where hardly anybody understands the caste system. I can't speak much to academia in India though.
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