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My Caste

cs.toronto.edu

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Re: My Caste

#401

Post by unmole »

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?

Can you think of a ethno-religious group, one that has been persecuted for centuries, that is over represented in US academia, media and finance?

Is it a big deal that this is the case and does it imply a grand conspiracy? Or are there other explanations?

Re: My Caste

#402

Post by newusertoday »

mmmmmbop wrote: post #340
janiman21 wrote: post #338

[dead]

I know very little about the caste system, but it does strike me as odd that only 1 in 180 professors is from a group representing 50% of the population. It becomes even more suspicious if there's a quota for admissions as you say. At some point between admission and tenure, there seems to be a great filter. How do you explain that, if not for discrimination?

Does it also strikes you odd that asians represent far more percentage in IT jobs than their representative population? it can be explained in number of ways, mostly immigrant population, self selected population that is privileged to have money to come overseas, culture of emphasis on education than rest of the population etc.

So while striking odd part is correct. Assuming that only explanation is discrimination is incorrect in my opinion.

Re: My Caste

#403

Post by amankapoor »

Any guesses why author begins by using the word caste, then uses the word category for a major part, and finally ends with the word caste?

Re: My Caste

#404

Post by newusertoday »

I find it odd that op thinks that his caste is discriminated against and also want to perpetuate this system by asking people from this group to reach out to him for help. This would just lead to replacing one group by another assuming this forms a positive feedback loop. So unknowingly op is as much a part of castist group as others. quite strange what do you guys think?

Re: My Caste

#405

Post by rramadass »

I am late to the party but people here need to understand this whole issue from a factual data-based viewpoint rather than from biased anecdotal articles.

For Western audiences the article they should read is Social Realities of Indian Americans: Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey by Carnegie Endowment - https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/06/09/social-realities-of...

The above is the third in a 3-part series on Indian-Americans. Links to the other two are in the article and are worth reading.

This whole (non-)issue in the US is entirely due to the shenanigans of "Equality Labs" of dubious origins/connections/research (the data is from a survey they did on Reddit!). See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37333207

Re: My Caste

#406

Post by rramadass »

wtmt wrote: post #45

The caste system in India is layered like onions. The author says he was born as OBC (Other Backward Classes), but that's not the lowest in the overall scheme. SC (Scheduled Castes) are considered lower in the hierarchy. ST (Scheduled Tribes) are considered even lower (there are variations across states and regions, so please take this with a pinch of salt). While the atrocities and punishments by "upper" caste peopl…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37333418

Re: My Caste

#407

Post by rramadass »

Xelynega wrote: post #379
wtmt wrote: post #45

The caste system in India is layered like onions. The author says he was born as OBC (Other Backward Classes), but that's not the lowest in the overall scheme. SC (Scheduled Castes) are considered lower in the hierarchy. ST (Scheduled Tribes) are considered even lower (there are variations across states and regions, so please take this with a pinch of salt). While the atrocities and punishments by "upper" caste peopl…

Why is this relevant other than as an attempt to misdirect blame from the "caste system" to "the writer of the article"? I read the article as a critique of India's caste system evidenced by the lack of representation for a class that represents almost half the population. What does the actions of individuals in this group(that makes up half the population of India) have to do with that point?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37333418

Re: My Caste

#408

Post by rramadass »

aildours wrote: post #201

Consider reading [1] (also linked in OP) for a detailed article about a very talented lower caste person who gets hired at IIT Kanpur, only to be met with overt caste-based discrimination and harassment. You'd find it hard to claim caste-based discrimination doesn't exist after reading it. On a perhaps unrelated note, the author is Manindra Agarwal, who you may know as the A in the AKS primality test. [1]: https://ka…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37333418

Re: My Caste

#409

Post by rramadass »

ghotli wrote: post #272

I hope this comes across as me being merely ignorant of the situation on the ground in India but I do have a question. I've seen caste based discrimination here in America first hand. It's gross and I have absolutely no patience with those participating in it. If I were to go to India with this attitude, would I be met with compatriots that also have zero interest in putting up with it? Is there a reason that such a…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37333418
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