Relevant for SOCIOLOGY Syllabus
Challenges of Social Transformation:
Caste Conflicts
NEWS IN SHORT:
- A couple who was married nearly 28 years ago was beaten up by the relatives of the husband, who reportedly belongs to a so-called upper caste, in Gadag district of Karnataka.
- The incident comes to light at a time when Karnataka has seen a sharp spike in atrocities against marginalized communities.
- The woman belongs to the Valmiki community which classified as a scheduled tribe.
- This shows an increase of over 54% since the previous year when a total of 1,504 cases were registered, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:
Syllabus: Caste System: Features of caste system. Systems of Kinship in India: Family and marriage in India.
- The concept of caste system and religious discrimination are like a bane on the path of India’s progress. For centuries Indian society has been divided on the basis of caste system and religion (Malhotra et al, 1977).
- The caste system is a special type of social stratificationfound mostly in ancient and modern India’ but elements of it, and even well-developed systems it is found in various parts of the world.
- The word ‘caste’ is derived from a Latin word caste meaning breed. It is divided into 4 varnas (color) later which on came to mean castes; they are, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra.
- A study conducted in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh found that as many as 936 people in the sample favored marriage of their sons and daughters only within their caste, while only 29 people were not very particular about marriage within the caste.
- This rigid or conservatism with regard to inter-caste matrimonial alliance was not confined to the few influential castes groups alone. It was uniformly prevalent among all caste and among the different level of society.
- Kapadia in a study of inter-caste marriages in India interviewed 513 university graduates. It was found that 51 percent parents expressed their willingness to cheer children marrying outside their own caste.
- Only one-third were against this departure from custom. Post graduate students were only moderately in favor of inter-caste marriage.
- Urbanization and industrialization have certain effect in braking down the barriers of caste.