Policy and Planning for economic upgradation

The dynamics of the much discussed caste system in India has had profound and far-reaching effects on the very ethos and character of development efforts in the country. The division of society into four castes on inherently religious grounds is a theory of class which, on deeper insight, contains many more levels of reasoning related not only to an understood order in nature but also the mechanics of occupation, place in the hierarchy, the ordained structure of human endeavour and, not the least, the economic viability of the entire social and economic structure of nations. The caste system in relation. to class structure and cultural change has over the years. become the subject of a vast amount of literature, a large part of which can be termed as the Sociology of the Caste System.

The division of people into distinct classes with understood functions and place in overall society are not a phenomenon peculiar to India. The Japanese have their bura-kumin, the "untouchables", and ethnicity in South-East Asia has also bred many so-called sub-cultures and race distinctions. It is accepted, nonetheless, that in traditional society, particularly villages such as those in India and other Asian countries, there are even more subtle variations of the easte system. In fact, "caste" is, in other contexts, a purely social division based on such misconceptions as racial the arrogance of wealth and the much-vaunted educational advantage. But, at this point we may take a quick look at the dynamics of the caste system in India.