Absolutely agree with your views. The voices that we hear in the media - online and offline are the voices of only the uppercastes - as they have access to it. The problems of the lower castes persist even today. Take the case of matrimony - if we really weren't a caste-oriented society, why is it so diffcult for a lower caste person to marry someone from an upper caste? In many matrimonial advertisements, people openly say that SC/ST people should not respond. When it comes to promotions and good postings, people people in high positions (read high castes) ensure that only their own brethren get the best. In MBA colleges where students have to form project teams, the SC/ST students are left searching for partners. So everyone is aware of the caste dimension, but the upper caste people pay lip-service to equality. Absolute equality in an uneven playing field will only make the disadvantaged castes go more backward. Reservations are one mechanism by which the lower caste people get into positions of power and can effect a graudal social change. People say it is been 60 long years of reservations. But compared to the 1000's of years of social deprivation of the lower castes, 60 years of support will not really bring the SC/STs to a level of equality, where they do not need crutches anymore.
The day people do not look down on an SC/ST, the day the so called higher caste people do not mind marrying lower caste people, the day, people do not take (false) pride in their
