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Indian School

Caste is a touchy topic in India, not least because it is a concept so very hard to explain, so hard for on outsider to grasp the nuances of, and yet it is so much a part of the westerner’s stereotype of India.

I want to emphasise that discrimination based on caste has been against the law in India for almost 60 years. Anti-racism laws in the West are of more recent date.

That does not take away from the horrors of castist behaviours and violence based on caste in modern India. There is scarcely a day when you do not find some reference to caste injustice either on the front page or buried somewhere in the fine print of the daily paper.

The magnitude of the issue only came home to me when I was part of a Women’s Journey team to study women and caste violence in 2002. Before that I had glossed over the issue like many others with my social advantages do. Many Indians who have not encountered caste discrimination, let alone suffered from it, are shockingly oblivious to it.

Whatever the constitution of India says, we are not an egalitarian society. Hierarchies are deeply embedded in our psyche. Most of us are comfortable with authority, either wielding it or being subject to it. Obedience, respect and conformity are deeply held values.

Caste has no place in the modern world which is based on completely different values. Yet snobbery based on class and underlying caste identity persists.

About the author

Madhavi Kapur is the head of the Rewchand Bhojwani Academy, one of the schools featured in Indian School. She has been a principal for 21 years and has worked as consultant to school projects across India.