21. THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

The civil society maintains the caste. The mainstream maintains the caste. The communists maintain caste. See it all in their actions and results not in their innocent and incoherent utterances. All of them are very vocal about equality; a farce it is. Their voices keep on echoing and echoing but equality actually never reaches to the lower strata. The discrimination plays a paramount role in their lives despite the sophisticated charade put on by the others. Is it going to be different in the case of markets? The free market system on which the capitalism, the dominant economic system of the world, rests! Is it going to be fare to the fifth stratum? Before we seek the answer to this trivial question, let us see how the limited affirmative action has worked in India. This is interference by the state in its own sector on behalf of the fifth stratum. This intervention underlines the point that the state has been the biggest ally of the Untouchables despite all its limitations. The implication of the state policies in favor of the Untouchables has been somewhat defective but it has provided relief even if to a limited number of people.
The Constitution of India provides for 15 percent reservations of seats in Parliament and state legislative councils for the people belonging to the scheduled caste category or the fifth stratum for a period of 10 years, which is eventually extended at the end of every tenth year. These reservations have been extended in education and government jobs also which are also renewed every tenth year. These reservations are a matter of rightfully growing resentments in a righteous way among the eternally righteous upper castes. They act nothing but in righteous way, always! We know that such resentments are always justified in a dharmic way with a little bit of arguments thrown about the meritocracy. The main aim is to maintain Dharma - the subordination of the low castes to the high castes. The traditional monopolists who try to maintain their hegemony, suddenly, they find the virtue of open competition when it comes to the reservations.
These reservations were given for the wrongs done in the past. These facilities were, actually, provided as a compensation for the thousands of years of social, economic and educational crippling of these people. The deprivations crippled these people socially, politically, religiously, economically and mentally. The society actually goes on to deprive and cripple these people, actively, with no qualms or guilt. These reservations were, initially, provided for ten years in the hope that within this time span the Untouchables would catch up with the mainstream and become independent. However, such grossly unrealistic hopes were belied because even one man cannot come up in ten years and it was a question of millions of people. Thus, there was a need to extend them. This need stands there ever since. This may not last forever but the political compulsions and a need to show the liberal face of India to international community contribute in their continuation. These were the compelling reasons behind the limited affirmative action..
One additional factor for their continuation is that they provide a kind of safety valve to satisfy the aspirations of the educated Untouchables, which avoids the possible social tension and a resultant violence, another compelling reason. This threat to peace has been perceived in the scriptures also; the visionary they were. Another piece of compelling reasons! The development of a community having millions of members is a long drawn out affair and cannot be done in a small timeframe of ten years.
The universal franchise was also mooted at that time. These two changes were in direct contrast to thousands of years of tradition and culture of the Hindu society. The third such thing was the free distribution of land to the Shudra tillers due to land reforms. These three reforms (the reservations for the Untouchables, the universal franchise and the land reforms) can be said to be  the three great achievements of India after the independence. However, the landless Shudras were left out of this process. These three reforms encroached upon the traditional rights and privileges of upper caste Hindus. There must have been some reasons for being so generous, which runs mighty contrary to their history of not sharing even the village water well! The village water well is still not shared. And the altruism in the form of the cow dung grains in wages notwithstanding.
One of the compelling reasons was that the threat of Untouchables leaving the Hindu society was looming large, which could have affected the larger interests of the Hindus. The perspective of 20 percent of Hindus joining either Islam or Christianity was not very enticing. A straight forward reduction of 20 percent Hindus might have affected their political representation and hence the chances of power. They were not willing to give up the power they got after nearly 800 years courtesy British. This might have also paved the way to third partition. In this regard, it may also be seen that the Untouchable converts to other religions stood to forfeit their right to reservations. Thus, this might also be seen as a plug to stop the outward flow of Hindus. This prevented the conversions. The actual threat was dented to take the fangs out of it. The reason for the land reforms which distributed land to tillers for free, might be that those people who stood to lose their land (after due compensation) had actually sided with the British thus losing the sympathy of the freedom fighters. Again it was a safety valve to give vents to aspirations of the tillers whose dissatisfaction with the rulers might have created a lot of problems. One more factor was that the powerful landlords might have given a tough fight in election considering the resources and people at their command. It was necessary to take out the tillers away from them to prevent the landlords from acquiring political strength. 
Why these safety valves were necessary? For this, we have to see the world after the French revolution, the Russian revolution and the Chinese revolution where the elites were wiped out. The ferocity and terror engulfing these events terrorized the would be rulers of India. This pushed up the possible cost of survival for the elites, which forced them to cede some place to the lower strata. They could further maximize their superiority only at a certain and proven cost. They were living in a modern world! These people being in minority had received modern education and had a very high level of intelligence. They remembered the modern history well and knew the rule that those who forget the history are condemned to repeat it. It was realpolitik. However, some people consider it as a matter of charity and compassion of unknown proportions toward the very weak. But until now their history shows that they never possessed all these attributes. We need to find the reasons for such a generosity somewhere else. They needed to find some ways to pacify the radicals and would be radicals in the lower two permanently exploited strata forming the majority. They needed to find a way to contain the sleeping anger of the sleeping majority. This they did.
However, there are some objections to the policy of reservations. These objections have mainly come from the anguished and mentally tortured portion of the resourceful community of the upper castes. The reservations adversely affected the resourceful people who have everything in society and economy. They find that they have been discriminated against by the policy of reservations. Their rightful jobs and education seats are being taken away by the undeserving candidates from the lower strata who do not want to work hard and earn their seats through merit. This is a democratic system and such a system of reservations is against the fundamental equality provided by the Constitution. Anything, which happened in the past, is none of their concern. The crippling of people did not matter. The accumulated injustice still having its pernicious and insidious effects is not matter of their concern. The past is past and let us look at the future and move forward; this attitude leaves a crippled majority behind; the past cannot be ignored as long as its effects last. They are supposedly interested in making a meritorious and efficient India. The social justice and the atrocities are none of their concerns. Paralyzing 20 percent of Hindus is none of their concern. The collective boycott by resourceful community of lower castes is none of their concern, a grossly irrelevant issue. The caste system, which favors them, is supposedly non-existent. That they have all their own selectors in all the fields is none of their concerns. These selectors who select the people from upper castes do not enter into their calculations. Their future is at stake and only that matters. Of course, it is all in the name of making a meritorious India. The reservations promote the inefficiency in the system and frustration in the upper caste candidates. It promotes laziness and laggardness in the candidates from the reserved category. The commitments and sincerity of honest, bright and brilliant upper caste candidates are punished. It creates the brain drain from the country. The open market system is the best, which does not take into consideration the caste of a participant. All the participants are equal - but some are more equal than others - see the caste tells. The reservations promote the conflict, alienation and uneasiness among the different categories of people in any institute or office. This comes from the mouths of people enjoying thousands of years of affirmative action! The little thing they forget that the upper caste arrogance is a disparaging show of disparaging disunity in the Hindu society. The reverse discrimination is not the way to help these people. Cripple the people and what remains is yours. Keep them crippled and what remains is yours. These people should be helped through scholarship etc.; in other words, these wretched people should stay where they were until historically honest, moral and ethical upper caste selectors select them out of charity and compassion for the lower most jobs. You must see how many Untouchables are there where the jobs are not reserved for them; it would assure you of the honesty, sincerity and unbiasedness of the upper caste selectors who are free from any kind of low-level prejudice. They are high caste people with high ethics and high morals; they cannot be accused of having low-level prejudice fit only for the scum of the earth. If Untouchables are not found there then it means that these people are not fit for such higher kinds of jobs. They were also not selected, historically, due to the closed gates policy. The lower level people cannot be free of any kind of prejudice. Only high-level people can do it because of their cultured upbringing which does not include any iota of hate. How naïve one can be! Hopefully, the slyness is not embedded or fused in their altruistic ideas of the low caste emancipation. How could the slyness be attached to high caste people with high ethics and high morals? Simply it cannot be. Now do not ask for an honest answer.
A further important point is raised by the upper caste candidates. Why should they suffer for the wrongs committed by their forefathers? A point indeed - nobody should suffer for the crimes not committed by him. The justice demands it. Additionally, it is perfectly logical. If it is not logic on their side then it is the great sublime cultural heritage. They always find something to fall back upon; they are very resourceful people. Sly? Not sly at all - these high caste people! However, the point raised by them is very reasonable. The present generation of the upper castes should not be punished for the ghastly crimes committed by their dastardly ancestors. Oh sorry - they should not be punished for the small trivial acts of their esteemed, intelligent, moral, spiritual, ethical, honest, pious and pure ancestors who have left a great cultural heritage for their future generations, which touches the heights unknown to the mankind.
However, through this argument they disown their own forefathers. They are dissociating themselves from their ancestors. This kind of dissociation is not allowed by the Hindu society. A Chamar is always a Chamar since his forefathers were Chamars. A Bhangi is always a Bhangi since his forefathers were Bhangis. A Periah is always a Periah since his forefathers were Periahs. It is ordained by the Hindu society. There are born Varnas and born castes. The Indian Constitutions forbids untouchability but it hardly matters. If a Chamar wants to disown his forefathers then he is not allowed. If a Bhangi wants to disown his forefather then he is not allowed so. His identity will always be that of his forefathers. Now the pillars of society want the privilege of disowning the forefathers for themselves. What the world is coming to? How low the things are going to go? Sure, they will have to suffer for thousands of years in hell for disowning their forefathers but that is none of our concerns. They want to cut themselves off from their ancestors' atrocities but still enjoy the facilities provided by the foundation created and resources accumulated by their ancestors because of their privileged caste positions. Actually, it is a part of great civilization with its great cultural heritage. This great cultural heritage always seems to have benefitted the permanent castes at the top. It dislikes the lower two strata. And it even goes hating and making some people Untouchables. The present generations of the upper castes do not want to be known as the inheritors of the oppressors, tormentors, slanderers, killers, sly conmen, devious deviser and permanent cruel exploiters. But the accumulated exploitation persists. 
Then again the question is that why should the present generations of lower strata should suffer for the misdeeds of the ancestors of the present generation of the upper castes. Why, indeed, why? The present generations of low castes have to suffer because the damage done to their community by the glorified ancestors of present upper castes was permanent in nature. The social network that harms them is permanent in nature and it is not in their hands; it is in the hands of the upper castes. Anyway, when the disabilities were imposed on the basis of group, by one group on another group, then the group can be held responsible as long along it is in existence. The individual may die but the group may persist. If one entity exists then it can be held responsible for all the misdeeds done by it. The castes as separate entities still persist. One man in the past simply did not kill the other in a one sided manner. But the whole community was deliberately paralyzed. May be nobody cared in this compassionate society! The damage did not end with the demise of the two persons concerned, in the past. It enclosed the Untouchables in state of permanent degradation and the Shudras at a little less level of degradation. It was proudly and gloriously carried forward. No guilt, no responsibility, and a clear conscience shines brightly with the unimpeachable integrity - the purely Dharmic. Was it not? The merit reigns supremely as it reigned supremely in the times when the Untouchables were not allowed to read, not allowed to carry the arms, not allowed to own the property. The merit reigned supreme in the closed gates of Varna Dharma. All the positions of crucial importance were occupied by the upper castes from where they guided the wretched destinies of others - in a downward spiral through the dungeons having thorns. The reasons, for unimpeachable merit residing safely and securely within the fort of the Varna Dharma, are not known. Usually the merit does not need protection. But here you will develop doubts, please don't. In the traditional Hindu society and its network, the powerful people require the protection, not the weaklings. The sublime traditions man, the sublime traditions, the sublime crippling traditions! What to do? But then the ancestors of the upper castes were very intelligent. They knew what was to be done. Paralyzing whole communities was not below their ethics or morality; very ethical and very moral; not sly at all; not crooked at all. That is what the Varna Dharma has to teach. They always had high level of ethics and morality bereft of any slyness. There should be no doubt about it and they will surely do it in the future. This should be taken into account whenever any assessment is made.
The upper caste people do not understand the concept of crippling deprivation because they have never experienced it as a community. Both the Muslims and the British made peace with them and used them as conduit to further their own interests. They are living in a society which actively, vehemently and as a matter of principle, deprives the Untouchables of social, economical and political opportunities and leaves them surplus barely sufficient for their sustenance that is very near to starving level. The starving and weak people are a boon for the welfare of the divine Dharma. The source of this is the divinely ordained Varna Dharma devised by the pious and pure lawmakers. It neatly fits in their present preference for the open market system based on the efficiency and merit. The starving people without the network cannot be efficient. The same society goes on deliberately providing opportunities for the high caste privileged people on a lavish and permanent scale irrespective of the system. And the insulted majority is born to serve them. The privilege of walking freely on the streets of villages is not available to every fifth Hindu. It requires them to be born in a different caste. Taking birth in any caste should have been a voluntary process; but God, out of his absent mindedness, forgot to make it so. Instead, God created the lawmakers who created the Varna Dharma, Karma hypothesis and the purity paradigm, which condemned the majority of people to substandard life, dharmically. These people are preferred in the market place does not mean that others are also accorded the same extraordinary privilege. Certainly, the market is much more important than the village streets. The rules, which are applicable to the village streets, must strictly be applicable to the market also. The impurity cannot move into pure homes through the route of markets. Such a backdoor entry is strictly disallowed. What a shame backdoor entry through markets, we knew these heathen people have vicious and devious minds. These low caste sly people always think in sly terms like backdoor entry! God forbid what is going to happen.
Disabled God, the innately superior upper castes, the dogs, the lowly Shudras, the wretched Untouchables, the crippling society, the temple, the village, the market, the water, the distribution of resources, the education, the money matters and the servility persist at the same time; the discriminating system is omnipresent. How much God benefits out of it, is still to be calculated. Somebody has to do this tedious and aDharmic job. God must have gotten awfully rich but He has no need for any kind of riches, by definition. So where have such riches gone? Nobody knows! Nobody dares to know! Here the cowardice emerges as a pious attribute, people take pride in possessing such cowardice and it is also gospelled as one of the gracious elements of the great sublime Indian cultural heritage. See! Nobody asks a question! The infamous hell is waiting for the people who dare to ask the ultimate use of their hard earned money given for religious purposes. They will be born as leeches and worms in their next lives. Most of the time, their money and labor go to fill the coffers of the permanent exploiters. The soul never dies. But, this unpunishable soul must be punished for such questions. Sometimes unpunishable soul is cut, burnt and boiled in hell - punishing something which cannot be punished! The religious cowardice and the religious unanswerability are the glowing features pervading in their respective segments, the cowardice in the lower and the unanswerability in the upper.
However, we were talking about the market and the Untouchables. The open market is the place where  merit, efficiency and hard work are rewarded. The faceless market is the dictum of modern capitalism. And the upper castes insist on this. There must be some catch because these people have denied others the benefit of any such open system for thousands of years; they have always closed the doors of their system to others - yet these people want open markets!!! Every one of them is a gatekeeper to maintain the guard over these doors. There must be some catch! There is. The catch is that society doubles as the market. The faceless market has caste face. The Hindu market or generally the Hindu distributive system follows the rule - to each according to his caste. The discriminating society doubles as the discriminating market - simple Varna Dharma. The depriving society doubles as a depriving market. The crippling society doubles as the crippling market. The deprived sections of society remain the deprived sections in the market. Remember a manual excreta scavenger cannot run a teashop where his caste is known, the market forces will soon force him to close it, and Dharma will be served. Any talk of open competition in a closed gates society is the nonsense reaching for its highest peak. A feeling of flying high in sky would run through the higher strata. It confirms their high status.
The market forces, clearly, reveal the belief of the mainstream in the non-existence of caste or the irrelevancy of caste; only the merit matters! In the areas, which are ruled by the market and not affected by the policy of reservations, the presence of the Untouchables is almost zero. There the Untouchables are as existent as the non-existent caste. Only the upper castes and the upper castes prevail there; the preferred castes in the preferred segments; be it the agrarian economy or be it the industrial economy. To each according to his caste - and nobody believes in caste! Just a historical coincidence!!! And there are too many coincidences. No caste forces at work!!! No caste effect! The non-believers in the caste from the mainstream are found concentrated in the crucial areas. No entry for the lower castes. Period.
 The unofficial collective boycott of the lower castes prevails along with the collective non-cooperation. Any opportunity is killed before it makes a call on the doors of the Untouchables; if it manages to enter their houses then it is brought out and killed. Any more fairness would be harder to find. The opportunity waits for nobody; the killed opportunity cannot wait for anybody. Dharma looks brazenly at the sight of the plight of the Untouchables. A kind gesture! As a matter of decency, and because of the fear of the law, very few people from the upper castes make a voice about the unofficial collective boycott of the Untouchable. Further, if they do so then the myth of efficient and merit oriented market system would be broken. The merit to enter in their haloed circles has to be acquired by birth. The absence of Untouchables from such spheres is supposed to be a natural state. Their birth disqualifies them from entry in such open places; the places supposed to be open. The game ends before it starts. The presence of the Untouchables in the academic sphere, mass media, business and corporate sector is almost negligible. There are standing and unofficial instructions in the corporate sector that no Engineer or MBA from the fifth stratum is to be employed; the closed gate policy; the caste effect, the purity effect, the hate effect. The mercantile castes also contribute all their might to maintain Dharma. Earlier their contributions to defend the Dharma were mainly limited to practice of untouchability and the donations to the temples. With the development of industries and expansion of the markets, the major contributions to upholding of Varna Dharma are now made by the mercantile communities. There are clear cut unwritten instructions and the crisp whisperings that the opportunities to Untouchables should not be given; the killed opportunities cannot cry. If any opportunity which is above the caste status of the Untouchables knocks at their doors then it is kept away by the high caste people by making a stone wall between the opportunity and the Untouchables and no means are despicable for such a holy purpose. The techniques used for this purpose are not always clear and known only to high caste people. The outsiders rarely come to know about these techniques. The whispers, the curious eyes and insulting looks and then follows the direct or indirect denial of entry. The deprivation of the Untouchables in the open market system should convince anybody of the constricting hold that the Varna Dharma is having over the people where nobody misses a chance to defend it; and when required to deny it; they deny it. It is a holy work. And it is holy to deprive the Untouchables of any would be share in the market. The lowly do not deserve to have a chance to accumulate anything in their lifetime. They should limit themselves to lowly paid manual jobs. In this situation, their tears develop tears and the weeping begets weeping. Dharma brazenly looks on. Its work is being done! And they are good only for the leftovers.
The villainous nature of the impure and famished people goes against the virtuous and crippling nature of pure people. The famished situation and low status of the impure people gladdens the hearts of the crippling pure people. A chill moves up the spines of pure people whenever a thought creeps up that the Untouchables want something more than their crippled lives. Their minds do the calisthenics and more convoluted theories are thrown up by the fertile minds and data thrown up by the made up methods. All this is to keep Untouchables in their place. Any desire of the Untouchables stands to be the victim of executioners, suffocaters, misleaders, boycotters, and is ultimately doomed to die the way the Dharma wants it. Chopped in a choiceless world - it is, for some.
In academics, all the Untouchables related studies are done by the upper caste people. All the reporting on atrocities on Untouchables, are done by the upper caste reporters or journalists, and from their point of view - the most authentic in Hindu society - the authenticity matters, not the objectivity - anyway that would be asking for too much from the intellectually dishonest people. The Untouchable manager in the corporate sector is nowhere to be seen. And any covert entry by an Untouchable is bound to rebound on him only. In most cases it may result in immediate revocation. In other cases the carrier stops then and there which means no further promotion. Similarly are the missing Untouchable engineers from the private sector. It is in spite of existence of a large pool of educated MBAs and Engineers among the Untouchables due to reservation policy in education.
Actually, the caste gives such a bounce to high castes that the low castes should always be ready to be trounced by them in any field. They can have hope only in the fields where the high castes are not interested. The weight of caste weighs down the shoulders of the impure people.
Normally, the Untouchables get lowly paid and irregular jobs. One reason is that they do not have required skills and education for better-paid jobs; they are not allowed due to an enforced penury. Secondly, they got the lowly paid jobs because there is no competition from the upper castes. For them it is easier to get the jobs in the traditional occupations of their Jatis. In other word, it is easier for them to get the unclean jobs, which nobody else is willing to do. The polluted jobs for polluted people - a perfect fit for the market as well as society. Both the purposes are served at the same time. This points out the value of society doubling as market. The economy is in perfect harmony with the society. This alignment is crucial to Dharma. These jobs are unclean and they have heredity birthright over such jobs. This encloses them in a space where they actually do not want to stay. This is called job security by the esteemed defenders of the Varna Dharma or the caste system. However, this security of job does not get translated into the ability to make both the ends meet - respect or no respect. The traditional jobs cannot remove the poverty of Untouchables. An Untouchable is normally unwilling to do such jobs but he has to because other jobs are closed to him. Remember the closed gates and the forcing caste effect. The society follows him into the market also. Even with this job monopoly over the unclean jobs, they cannot make a respectable living. If they are able to ward off the hunger then it is a miracle.
The demand for goods and services in the unclean sector is not sufficient to provide the full time employment to one fifth of the labor force. This is not feasible in any kind of society or economy. Actually, it is a grand mockery of the market system and the so-called division of labor. Well, the enforced non-transferable division of labor. The caste system’s so-called labor specialization (the non-transferability of the jobs across the castes) is nothing but indirectly enforced disabling and crippling monopoly. The freedom is the first casualty here; it dies a horrible death here; one is not free to choose jobs. This is actually a monopoly on indirectly forced duties. See, the monopolies on duties!!! You and your children shall do the dirty jobs and no one else; got the monopoly; all right. Nobody else is willing to do the degrading jobs. Nor anybody would buy your services or goods if your heredity job is polluting and degrading. This is the monopoly which does not benefit the monopolist! The benefits of forced monopoly belong to somebody else!
After all, the twenty percent of the Hindu population belongs to the Untouchables. So how much demand can be generated for their unclean products? The answer is - not enough. Not enough to remove the poverty of 20 percent of the population. Therefore, within the caste monopoly over such dirty jobs, there is a huge oversupply of labor, which outstrips the demand by a large extent. The resultant oversupply leads to hugely depressed wages or payments for such jobs. This leaves all of them in poverty and hunger, barely able to sustain themselves; this weakening of the lower strata was the intention of the unimpeachable and noble lawmakers having sublime thoughts. This pushes the Untouchables toward other jobs. At the most, the jobs they get in rural areas are in the form of the casual labors in the village fields - jobs inside the houses are closed to them. The jobs they get are highly pedigreed-job - only very talented and skilled people knowing rocket science can cut the grass, dig and plough the field! For this, the labor specialization is needed! In other words they get the lowest paid jobs. They are also found in the hard and difficult jobs which others are normally unwilling to do so. Their traditional jobs are not sufficient to fill their hungry bellies in their skeleton system, which is very evident - a trivial issue for the high caste people. The economics of their jobs does not allow them to live a life without starving. Therefore, finding the solution of their problems within the Varna Dharma is impracticable contrary to the opinions of the defenders of the Hindu society and the Varna Dharma. Even their survival is not possible; dignity or no dignity - is another matter. How the Untouchables are going to make a living? They do it, as usually, at the mercy of the upper castes, by working in their land and factories and getting the leftovers or the pittance. The Untouchables have to take the employment outside their traditional and dirty jobs out of surviving necessities even if they are not interested in dignity. If they are skilled but uneducated then they can get better jobs provided the employer is unaware of his caste. If he is educated and gets employment in the private sector in a better-paid job, then it is all right as long as his caste is not known. But the moment his caste is known, he is shown the gate. The manner in which he is dismissed off depends on the nature of his employer. He may be told politely that he is not required. Or a few abuses, direct or indirect, may be added. The mercantile castes and other traders have a divine Dharma to uphold; they shall not be found wanting in this department. They do their caste duty dutifully, with all the piousness added. And there is no caste discrimination. Or there is?
Therefore, the education of an Untouchable is of little use if he is unable to get a government job. His entry to open market is artificially restricted. The caste effect comes between him and the market. It is demeaning for a Vaisya to employ an Untouchable in a highly paid job. Any such Vaisya, who gives an Untouchable a highly paid, is bound to take birth as a lizard in his unconformable next life. It is aDharmic. It is anti-traditional. It is anti-cultural in this land of great cultural heritage. Therefore, everybody avoids employing the Untouchables in highly paid jobs. After all, the purity of goods has to be maintained. Also they cannot earn more than others do; insubordination; to each according to his caste. Remember, they were not given the tilling jobs, as that would have made them a better earner than the Shudras thus violating the pious, pure and divine Dharma. How could those who were not allowed to enter the temples earn more than those were allowed to enter?  There has to be some dharmic justice! There has to be some logic of privileges. The privileges are caste related. The lower the caste, the lower are the privileges. The lower the caste, the lower is its social space. The heathen and polluted should not earn more than the impure Shudras. In that case earning more than the higher castes relative to them is not possible. The social forces, which double up as economic forces, deny this over and over again, like croaking of frogs - well, these forces have form and do croak on the national and international platforms. The upper castes deny the existence of casteism also. Controlling the resources of society and economy was not meant for the Shudras and the Untouchables. Money mattered but the control mattered more. The control made possible the transfer of wealth from the Vaisyas and the Kshatriyas to the truthful, noble and honest lawmakers.
Let us consider what is merit? The real merit is the result of a complex process of opportunities, resources, abilities, inclination and environment of an individual. A caste with more effective opportunities and resources is going to be more meritorious than others. And a caste with low on effective opportunities and resources is going to be less meritorious. And, if the lowest stratum produces real merit (coming to this stage is a Herculean task) then it can be killed by ignoring it and by closing the doors of a decent livelihood. And these opportunity killing people are bothered about the nation! They are the patriots! Beats my small head! Anyway, the brilliancy breeds brilliancy. No competition, please.
The merit, generally, means the capability to perform better than others on a comparative basis. There is another way to define the merit, which is the time honored and traditional method of this subcontinent. If a selector selects a candidate then he is meritorious. The caste-ineligibility weighs heavily against the Untouchables. Now what happens to a sincere honest and hardworking educated candidate from the fifth stratum when he competes for the jobs? He gets squarely beaten by the more meritorious general category candidates. Right? Not really. What actually happens is that sometimes he does get selected. The upper castes are not exactly overflowing with the grey matter. The real brain shows itself in utmost rare appearances even among the elites of the intelligent people. There may be differences due to various factors. But a large difference only on the basis of grey matter is a rarity. Even among people with excellent caliber, the real brains are infrequently seen. However, the brains capable of making a complicated machine, which is already made, are abounding. These mighty intelligent people, who sometime are genius, are responsible for running the machinery or grasping the ideas produced by others. Their grasping power is very high. Their capacity to make the world go round through their hard work and ideas is huge. But the real brain is real brain; it is very rare.
Coming back to a selected Untouchable candidate for a well-paid job, we find that he gets fired after sometimes, and it coincides mainly with the awakening of the impartial management his caste and its implication to Dharma. The ceiling for his promotion is set then and there. The man is going to rot in the same position all his life until some eventuality takes place. The upper castes are the selectors, jury, referees, umpires and managers. And what not! When so many controlling people are fighting on the side of the upper caste candidates then it is tough for them to lose. O’ God, bless the caste system. The unwanted people do not get entry in the privileged places where the bread is buttered on both the sides. However, the educated Untouchable youths are found doing their traditional jobs even with good qualification. Their presence in respectable jobs is forbidden. In other words, the charade of the open markets allows them to take part in the selection, but the farce of selection and its subsequent part forces him out. There are caste-better candidates than him; he stands no chance. Thus, they are excluded from the market. They are deprived of their rightful source of livelihood. The Untouchables are always at the end of employment queues, they will be selected when the queue is very short and the employer is not getting anybody else. This is a scenario where the educated Untouchable youths are likely to be hired last and fired first. For the upper caste candidates it is first in and last out. The Untouchables are pushed back the employment queues through the lateral entry of the high caste people through the social network. The dejected spirit makes legs heavy. And they wander from here to there.
There is no problem as long as an Untouchable is competing for the jobs where other competitors are of his kind. He is pretty well tolerated and even sometimes he becomes a prime commodity because of his unmatched skills at that level. Here his merit and efficiency will work. But the moment he competes at a higher level or where only upper caste candidates should go, his merit becomes meaningless. There is a social environment where the merit of upper caste is merit but not that of others. The social environment is burdensome to Untouchables. Firstly, one has to qualify. If one is not from the proper birth then he is summarily disqualified. His merit, if any, is simply thrown into the dustbin. He can go and show his merit where such kind of market and society is there, not the caste-oriented market. He cannot have merit in the market which is in harmony with the caste system and is a part of delicate social fabric. Thus if a meritorious Untouchable does not have a chance in the upper caste job market then what chances do average Untouchable candidates have? Well, almost insignificant. And this may force them to go back to their traditional occupations, which are already overcrowded. Or they might try their luck in the unskilled labor market. The lower level unskilled market is always open to them. Anyway, it is difficult to make both the ends meet there also. These types of movements of the market forces are a direct reflection of the nature of social forces. The presence of Untouchables is negligible in the areas not covered by the reservation policy. Actually, they are almost non-existence in such areas. Promoting Untouchable talent in any area is aDharmic. The selectors are answerable to the call of the Varna Dharma, extended caste kinship and responsible for maintenance of their superiority. The superiority can be maintained only by killing the low caste talent. The superiority of pure and powerful people should be maintained by paralyzing others. It is very fair since it is ordained by the divinely ordained crippling Varna Dharma, and, that which is divinely ordained can only be fair. The Varna Dharma effectively pushes out the competition; it has no place there. Incidentally, God, by definition, cannot be unfair. The unfairness has to originate from sources within this world. The artificial closed gates have to be opened artificially. The natural market system cannot work since the entry is closed.
A large number of upper caste students pass their 12th grade examination in third division, which is a proof that a stork's visit to upper castes is not the harbinger of arrival of a brain of inordinate efficiency. Their superiority is not a product of open competition. It is a product of a closed-door monopoly. A is superior and B is inferior. That is decided and settled. And E is a dunce fit enough to do the lowest level jobs from generation to generation. That is also settled, traditionally, and is a part of great unimpeachable cultural heritage. Needless to say that it cuts across the generations.
There are standing and strict unofficial instructions in the Indian Corporate world that any Untouchable is not to be employed as a Manager or on any well paid job. A Hindu is fused with his caste purity or impurity; these things cannot be taken apart. The Vaisyas are not very far behind in upholding Dharma. Actually, it is hardcore casteism. The Varna Dharma is upheld not only in social dealings but also in the true sense. They understand it better than the sociologists and experts on the caste who treat the Varna Dharma as a social phenomenon only; this is counting the trees and missing the woods. The Vaisyas are strictly vegetarians, on dharmic basis, and in this respect, they strictly follow the pure and pious Brahmans. However, to appear as non-casteists, they are in a permanent state of denial of the existence of efficient educated Shudras and Untouchables. And this denial state seems to be irreversible - a fait accompli. The modern liberal world does strange things to people. It forces people to hide their true cultural feelings. The denial of caste acts as a camouflage for their true feelings. Well, see the actions and the results, not their incoherent or coherent utterances about any irrelevance of caste or their non-belief in it. The actions are more reliable; and the words, you cannot be sure about them!
So long as the selectors are from the upper castes, the value of Untouchable merit is a cipher. Historically it has never risen more than worth of dirt in their eyes and the same state of affairs is likely to be maintained in the future. They think that dustbin is a proper place for it. They could have kept it to that level but for the arrival of the modern world with its enlightenment and revolutions. The efficiency of twiceborn is the result of thousands of years of privileges provided to them by the closed doors of the caste system resulting in the privileged monopoly. They are the privileged beneficiaries of the caste-based monopolized functions. The brilliancy breeds brilliancy within the closed gates. The bravery breeds bravery within the closed gates. The business acumen breeds business acumen within the closed gates. And they fell to adharmic warriors and traders! They reserved all the controlling jobs for themselves. They have not enjoyed the reservations only for 2 percent of the period of 2500 years. And they are the most vocal opponents of the reservations for the weaker sections of society. The present reservation is wrong but their ancestors who were the privileged beneficiaries of their own system of birth-based reservation were divinely right. They were all great. And the earlier reservations were part of the great cultural heritage as a scientific division of labor, not the indirectly forced harmful and crippling monopoly on others. They pushed out the competition from their circles - that is Varna Dharma effect. Only the present reservations are unscientific. The eternal beneficiaries of a closed system advocate an open system! This closed and stable system is supposed to be the cause of their and civilizational survival for the thousands of years, and not the insulated cowardly villages and their ghastly caste Panchayats. This closed system has been praised for its stability. The stability is more important than the condemned lives of millions of people. This praise has generally come from the elites from the different cultures in the world. May be these elites miss the safety provided by the caste system to Hindu elites and they desire it for themselves. There is no tradition of rewarding the merit of a man in the Hindu society; there is no earned merit; there is only caste merit in the traditional India. The majority being impure is not qualified for the rewards. Only purity can be rewarded. However, it would be interesting to note that how their (upper castes') efficiency is affected once they are totally deprived of social, economic, educational and political opportunities. Or suppose all of them become crippled at the same time…
Those who are Untouchables in society are also Untouchables in the market. The competition may be open to them but not the selection. The job market is closed for educated Untouchables and those who are getting education. Thus, the upper caste meritocrates insist upon open system because this will keep them away at some distance from these heathen people. They will not have to suffer the ignominy of working with the people from the fifth stratum like their kinsmen in the government sector. They can select their own good kind of men and work with them and live in solitude and serenity.
The efficiency of upper castes is clearly seen in the areas where there is no reservation. Take the case of sports where there is no reservation. Therefore, this is a merit based system. So the selections are naturally made on merit. Now if the proponents of the open merit based system are to be believed then their efficiency in this area must be unbeatable. These proponents are the proud possessors of God created unbeatable merit and unbeatable efficiency. They got it by birth. It is fused in them. Of course, it needs no reminder! Their uncounted defeats and abominable performances in the international arena are legendry. They are the shining part of statistics. If these statistics were in the control of the upper castes then these would be erased. Their proven unbroken timid failures make apparently no dent on their unrepentant claim on unbeatable divine efficiency. These strange meritocrates would come up with convoluted explanations, which would not be connected with their superior castes whereas the inefficiency of lower castes would always be related to their castes. Their God created unbeatable superiority depends upon so many factors. But the inefficiency of lower caste is absolute. The only troublesome point here is that the born superiority is also absolute, it does not depend upon the external factors. It is unbeatable under any conditions. Therefore, no reason can be extended to explain its failure. If it is fallible then it is not born or absolute – somebody is clearly lying. All these efficiencies were born in the closed privileged segments. And these efficiencies crumbled when faced the Islamic onslaught and the British imperial designs. The born merit fell on its face. Now they crumble in the arena of international sports. The caste merit falls on its face. They are efficient only when faced with the resourceless Shudras and the Untouchables; it is a matter of great pride. The sacred and pure Dharma is upheld. The great Varna Dharma was of no consequence when countering the non-assimilating foreigners. The martial strides turned into trembling knees when faced the invaders. And the invaders and the colonizers were cow-eaters!!!
There has been hardly any gold medal for India in Olympics for decades. If one goes by absence of inefficient reservation system in sports, then every thirty-sixth Olympic gold medal should have been decorating the Indian homes and that is minimum, actually it should be all the medals - after all the divinity designed them and they cannot be beaten by mere mortals from any corner of the world. If the wishes were horses…
The upper castes, at international level, would like to play in the closed privileged circuit where all the opponents are paralyzed by imposing direct or indirect disabilities on them. All their opponents should be crippled. They would then get all the medals and be proud of their merit, great cultural heritage and their born efficiency, the best players in the world, but this aDharmic world refuses to accept them as the world leader (Jagat Guru) and do their bidding. And all the millions of meritorious and efficient upper caste people have not been able to produce any worthwhile Olympic gold medals in the decades. They blame the system. But how could, the system made and run by the unbeatable born superiors, be bad? It is beyond the logical thinking if the assumption of divinely designed superiority is right. A tiger will always kill a rabbit no matter what. A rabbit will never be able to kill a tiger. God created superiority can always beat born inefficiency no matter what are the conditions. God created superiority never gets converted into inefficiency, it never gets beaten, it is unbeatable - that is how I understand it. If born superiority gets beaten by anybody then it is not born superiority. And everything, for example, being born according to the wish of God with the assigned Varna Dharma, is a big lie - the eternal liars; if you are looking for the killed truth then find it here right in the traditional Hindu society. The efficiency in the sports controlled by the upper caste is revealed in the absolutely fantastic performance where the number of medals won need to be counted in imaginary numbers only; ordinary counting would not do the justice. Australians with a population equal to one of the Indian cities get more medals then what the millions of upper caste people can only dream of. This depicts a fundamental superb unbeatable efficiency of the upper caste people. All these upper caste participants are selected on the basis of merit only, barring the instances where upper caste candidates are not available. Or the absence of competition among Hindus for thousands years has killed their merit. So these people with God created unbeatable merit are easily beaten by the normal humans who have no such divine pretensions! It almost amounts to faking the divine origin.  The fakers! And out with slyness and crookedness and viciousness and dishonesty! Outwardly not inwardly. Inwardly these attributes are kept in secured vaults of hearts.
The idea of the upper caste people for the development of other castes is that the traditional skills of other castes should be strengthened; so that they remain where they were. It indicates a rotten thinking in the name of tradition and, of course, great cultural heritage and a product of wretched and selfish minds, well slyness is absent here; it is hiding behind the suggestions.
The meritocrates of Indian Institute of Technology stand at the 460th position in the all-world list of producers of output or knowledge. The efficient Indian private sector produces 0.7 percent of world export markets. No brand of India is known internationally. And these mercantile castes are hell bent on defending the Varna Dharma. Oh, no! I am lying and they are right but the results speak otherwise. Do not go by the words of anybody! Yes, I repeat - do not go by the words of anybody!
There is not much of the original work produced by these proud inheritors of the great cultural heritage (with permanent cruel tendencies to oppress and exploit) and the meritocratic advocates of the open market competition. Here they can rule over largely crippled people.
Whenever the Untouchable candidates are dumped without any reasons then a laugh riot ensues in the upper strata. A laugh riot - a silent laugh riot where the eyes of pure people laugh and talent of lowly people weeps. Happiness amidst tears! It is wanted if former belongs to pure people and unwanted if it belongs to impure people.
The open market system, until the caste system is dissolved, can hardly help the Untouchables because it works as another front of the caste oriented society. The artificial gates created by Varna Dharma on the basis of purity should be demolished and should be countered by granting entries to the Untouchables through artificially created gates. Until the caste effect is present, there cannot be any fairness. They are accepted as buyers but not as sellers in the goods market. Buying goods from them would increase the surplus with them to unacceptable level because that would create aDharmic and anti-social tendencies in them; they should not dare to raise their down ward heads. However, selling them goods, even from a distance, is preferred because it transfers their paltry resources to the mercantile castes. This enriches the dharmic sections of society. However, the opposite does the opposite, movement of money from pure to impure, which is vehemently avoided. One more and very important reason is that their goods are classified as polluted and polluting goods for which there is no market. Remember, a scavenger cannot run a tea shop in the areas where his caste is known. The market forces or a lack of demand would force him to shut the shop. The Untouchables are paid, relatively lower wages and work in, relatively worse conditions. It is still not possible in a metropolitan city like Mumbai to run a sweetmeat shop under the signboard "Chamar sweet shop". Their goods can only be sold in the areas where their caste is not known. Or their goods can be sold by others who are caste-wise entitled to sell these kinds of goods. They can sell their milk to the milkman by caste who can sell this milk (polluted and polluting milk!!!) in the market! Their milk is polluted with little value in the market. Thus, they receive a lower price for their goods. Their entry is barred in the houses so they cannot also get construction work in the houses already occupied. They can get work only in the open spaces where their entry is not restricted. In the cities, the conditions are better because they can get work in the factories where only their kind of low caste people are doing the hard labor work of lower categories. In short they do not have the buyers for their labor except in the lower category jobs. They do not have the buyers for their goods except traditional goods. They do not have the capital to gain entry in the market - the Varna Dharma sees to it that they don't. Even if they manage the required capital then it is blocked in the market whenever their caste comes to be known. They just keep on earning their measly living through hard manual labor. This always keeps them at the lowest end of market and at the sustenance level. Dharma is happy. The caste restricts the movement of labor from one sector to another in response to a change in demand. Therefore, the Untouchables artificially remain in their old low paying sectors where labor demand is low and labor supply is high. On the other hand, the more paying areas where demand is high and supply is low are kept reserved for the high caste candidates. The result is the existence of the sectoral monopolies in favor of high castes. The high castes have to get highest paid jobs whether it is agricultural economy or industrial economy - the Untouchables have to make with the leftovers whatever be the technology. Any technology shall not fall in their hands. And the heredity occupations are enforced disabling monopolies in the case of Untouchables. This results in super-normal profits for the high castes and an endless exploitation of Untouchables. This is also called scientific division of (non-transferable) labor with hardly any logical movement of labor. The exploitation of the Untouchables is evident in their pathetic lives and on the other hand in a comfortable life style of the upper castes. The socially opposite groups are also economically opposite, a reflection of one's sufferings in others’ comforts. And the causation flows from social to economic as opposed to the Marxism flow. Not the other way round, like in the materialistic interpretation of history where the causation is from economic to social. The elements of great cultural heritage in this should not be forgotten. This great eternal Dharma remains unaffected by the types of economy or the so-called modes of productions. The sectoral monopolies reflect inefficiencies. Incidentally, these inefficiencies are not sought to be removed by the meritocratic proponents of the open market system. They are sitting at the gate of each powerful and profit yielding sector and allow anybody to enter only after verifying the caste. This enquiring is done most of the time indirectly sometimes directly. The indirect means of crippling Untouchables include stopping their payment in cities and poisoning their cattle and destroying their crops at night, if they have any, in villages. This is what necessitates the provision for the affirmative action. The artificial gates are to be created for them in the market system artificially closed for them - the same type of the force set in opposition direction to give the lower strata a chance. Along with artificial gates the spaces to operate are also needed. And this has to be provided until the really logical movements of labor start from one sector to another and across the castes. It should be place where the labor is not identified on the basis of caste. It should be place where the goods are not identified by the caste of sellers or manufacturers. The unfair artificial social barriers to entry are required to be eliminated. By the way, "unfair" - what is that? Never been known in the entire history of the Hindu society and never will be; any discussion on fairness and/or honesty is forbidden. The markets have minds of their own to operate - the superior minds of the unimpeachable pure upper castes. Nobody is known to have broken the hold of the caste over society and from there onto markets. The brilliancy breeds brilliancy. No competition, please, we will push it out.
And the deceitful impure people have forgotten their true calling. They crave for other people's callings, which is clearly forbidden in the Gita! How adharmic and how inharmonious! They cannot hoodwink the pure people into giving them better jobs. Therefore, the affirmative action is necessary until the caste system breaks down - and the purity-based evaluation of an individual is killed.