Tuesday, May 01, 2007

prof vaidya on the economic impact of caste groupings

may 1, 2007

caste, as i keep suggesting, is a valuable tool for creating economic groupings.

alas, casteism and reservations is also a great tool for the left to divide hindus.

http://www.newsinsight.net/columns/full_column22.htm

2 comments:

Ghost Writer said...

Rajeev,
great tool for the left to divide Hindus
This is only true given certain conditions
1- The state arrogates to itself all resources - or - as the Marigold Brothers would have it - "means of production"
2- The state - (or state players) - dole out such resources; not to the benefit of the masses but to the benefit of state players.
3- To further strengthen this "arrogate-dole out" circle; the state sets up mutually conflicting groups as opposed to individuals. This enhances the benefits of "state players"
4- The resources that the State arrogates to itself diminish over time (as opposed to grow over time) . This accentuates items 1, 2 and 3

The way out is to reduce the space given to the state and enhance the space given to the communities. Ironically, casteism will die as castes are strengthened. The reason is that they will not be configured as permanently aggrieved, mutually competing groups.
It is the dead hand of the state that has to be removed.

san said...

Rajeev, caste inevitably becomes an hereditary identity, especially among the tribalist/clannish-prone Indians.

And hereditary oligarchies inevitably create anti-competitive monopolies which lead to stagnation, frustration and revolution.

There are no checks, balances or safeguards in that type of system. No one has yet devised a way to counteract the Indian tendency for heredity egomania.

Indians have too many character flaws to be trusted with practicing the idea of caste honestly. History has proven this.