For most Indians(Read Upper Caste especially) casteism means Reservation.The cause and effect of such a policy is always ignored.
People who have access to message boards in Rediff are generally metrocentric and would not have had a first hand experience with casteism.They see equality in buses, trains, shopping malls and schools and believe Casteism is a vestige of the past.
I am a Dalit myself and not the kind you might visualise in your thoughts-Poor,badly dressed, illiterate etc.I hold academic degrees and drive a CRV and take luxury cruises every year.
True, I should not be a benefactor of reservations and I agree to that without any debates.But what is happening here is that I am an anomaly.My kind of Dalits constitute maybe 1% of all Dalits in India.
The rest as you all know are below the poverty line.Here are some statistics for thought-
80% of all dalits are landless labourers and survive on one meal a day.
A majority of these Dalits are bonded labourers.
The highest incidence of rapes are on dalit women etc
Now,I would daresay if any other community in India can exhibit such dismal statistics about themselves.Brahmins cleaning toilets in Delhi a one off case has raised so many eyebrows in the recent past !
The statistics are dismal not because we have low IQ's or are lazy like some people in the forum have pointed out.Opportunities, social deprivation,intense poverty, public humiliation etc.
