Has Caste lost its relevance in understanding the Multi-cultural Indian Society? Elaborate your answer with illustrations.
Based on 31 evaluated answers to this question on CollectorBabu: here is what aspirants most often missed, the mistakes that cost marks, and a model answer.
What most aspirants missed
- Jati versus varna: caste operates as thousands of jatis, not just four varnas, and this is rarely distinguished.
- Intersection with religion: Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims face discrimination and are excluded from SC status, which directly answers the multicultural angle.
- Caste-based political mobilisation: Mandal Commission and OBC consolidation, BSP and RJD vote bases, and the caste census demand.
- Continued violence and discrimination: NCRB atrocity data and honour killings, such as the Pranay case (2018), to prove social relevance.
- Caste in urban and everyday life: matrimonial advertisements, caste filters on online portals, and housing discrimination in cities.
Common mistakes
- Answers argue that caste has disappeared, or that it is entirely relevant, without a reasoned verdict that weighs both sides.
- The word 'multicultural' is ignored, so the answer treats caste in isolation from religion, region and gender.
- Examples are name-dropped without data, years or case names, which weakens the illustrations.
- Contradictory claims are left unreconciled, for example saying caste has dissolved and then describing discrimination in factories and housing.
What the better answers did
- Opens with a clear verdict and a sociological anchor such as Beteille or Ghurye, then shows how relevance has changed rather than vanished.
- Uses concrete illustrations from politics, violence, marriage and constitutional provisions, each tied back to the claim.
- Explains the mechanism of relevance, such as caste as social capital or caste as legal identity, in place of listing facts.
- Keeps regional or state-specific examples short and directly linked to the argument, rather than long tangents.
Introduction
Open with a direct verdict that caste has changed form rather than lost relevance, then signal the planes (political, economic, everyday) you will use to test it.
Conclusion
Close by arguing that multicultural India must be studied with caste alongside religion, region and gender, so the reader sees the verdict as a reasoned position.
Model answer
Caste has not lost its relevance; it has changed its form. Beteille's observation that caste and class now work together is a useful starting point. Caste is no longer only a ritual hierarchy but a social and political identity that shapes how a multicultural society organises itself. Its relevance must be judged across institutional, political, economic and everyday planes.
Where caste still matters
- The working unit is the jati, not the four varnas. Thousands of jatis differ in status, occupation and marriage networks.
- Atrocities persist. NCRB records over 50,000 crimes against Scheduled Castes in a year, and honour killings such as the Pranay case in Miryalaguda (2018) show caste enforced within marriage.
- Politics runs on caste. Mandal Commission recommendations led to OBC mobilisation, parties like the BSP and RJD built vote bases on caste, and the demand for a caste census shows its continuing salience.
- Matrimonial advertisements and caste filters on online portals show that endogamy persists even among urban professionals.
How caste has changed
- Urbanisation and education have weakened ritual purity norms, and inter-caste marriage is rising, though it remains a minority practice.
- Caste now intersects with religion (Dalit Christians are excluded from SC status under the 1950 Presidential Order), gender (Dalit women face double discrimination) and region (caste patterns differ between Kerala and Uttar Pradesh).
- Caste networks act as social capital in business and employment. Ambedkar's call for the annihilation of caste explains why these networks reproduce inequality.
Constitutional response
- Articles 15 and 17 prohibit discrimination and untouchability, while Articles 15(4) and 16(4) permit reservation.
- The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 penalises atrocities. These measures show that the state still recognises caste as a basis of disadvantage.
Caste has lost its ritual dominance but not its relevance. It is now a live variable in politics, the economy and private choices. Understanding multicultural India therefore means studying caste alongside religion, region and gender, not treating it as a relic.
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