Dear Sir, Those were the days when people were respected by their calibre, quality, wisdom and worth - not by religion, caste, creed, sex, proximity to powers, as in today. So if Valmiki is regarded great, it is because of his work, not his caste. These castes are of recent origin, not from Ramayana days! Regarding reasons why these people have gone down, go through government statistics of SC ST growth after 60 years of independence - the earmarked 15 or 7.5 percent is not filled with these people in any cadre in government or PSU. As a matter of fact more than the prescribed percent is kept in Group D the work they are claiming as reason for their today's backwardness and directly due to the so called Forward Castes (Brahmins?). In PSUs, 74% are in Group D service against less than 10% in Group A service. This is not due to high-handed behaviour of forward castes - crooked and cunning politicians are to be blamed for today's plight of the SCs and STs.
