Nano Techonology in India
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Gandhi visiting Madras (now Chennai) in 1933 on an India-wide tour for Harijan causes. His speeches during such tours discussed the discriminated castes of India and appealed for the eradication of untouchability.
The caste system in India is a system of social stratification,[1] social restriction and a basis for affirmative action.[2][3] Historically, it defined communities into thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jātis.[citation needed]
The Jātis were grouped by the Brahminical texts under the four well-known caste categories (the varnas): viz Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras.[4][5][6][7] Certain people were excluded altogether, ostracized by all other castes and treated as untouchables.[8][9]
Although identified with Hinduism, caste systems have also been observed among other religions on the Indian subcontinent, including some groups of Muslims, Buddhists and Christians.[10][11][12] The latter are similar to the caste system reported in the Igbo-Osu Christian community in Africa.[13][14]
Caste is commonly thought of as an ancient fact of Hindu life, but various contemporary scholars have argued that the caste system was constructed by the British colonial regime.[2][15][16][17][18] Caste is neither unique to Hindu religion nor to India; caste systems have been observed in other parts of the world, for example, in the Muslim community of Yemen, Christian colonies of Spain, and the Buddhist community of Japan.[1][19][20]
The Indian government officially recognizes historically discriminated lowest castes of India such as Untouchables and Shudras under Scheduled Castes, and certain economically backward castes as Other Backward Castes.[21][8] The Scheduled Castes are sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature. In 2001, the proportion of Dalit
Gandhi visiting Madras (now Chennai) in 1933 on an India-wide tour for Harijan causes. His speeches during such tours discussed the discriminated castes of India and appealed for the eradication of untouchability.
The caste system in India is a system of social stratification,[1] social restriction and a basis for affirmative action.[2][3] Historically, it defined communities into thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jātis.[citation needed]
The Jātis were grouped by the Brahminical texts under the four well-known caste categories (the varnas): viz Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras.[4][5][6][7] Certain people were excluded altogether, ostracized by all other castes and treated as untouchables.[8][9]
Although identified with Hinduism, caste systems have also been observed among other religions on the Indian subcontinent, including some groups of Muslims, Buddhists and Christians.[10][11][12] The latter are similar to the caste system reported in the Igbo-Osu Christian community in Africa.[13][14]
Caste is commonly thought of as an ancient fact of Hindu life, but various contemporary scholars have argued that the caste system was constructed by the British colonial regime.[2][15][16][17][18] Caste is neither unique to Hindu religion nor to India; caste systems have been observed in other parts of the world, for example, in the Muslim community of Yemen, Christian colonies of Spain, and the Buddhist community of Japan.[1][19][20]
The Indian government officially recognizes historically discriminated lowest castes of India such as Untouchables and Shudras under Scheduled Castes, and certain economically backward castes as Other Backward Castes.[21][8] The Scheduled Castes are sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature. In 2001, the proportion of Dalit