India\'s Caste System on Political

¶ … India's Caste System on Political Structure and Dynamics

India's political structure is based upon its social caste system. This system dictates the opportunities and cultural climate of the country as well as the social potential and limitations of each person in society. The system originated thousands of years ago as away to create and maintain order within the society. Originally, there were five separate levels within the caste system. Currently, most scholars agree that there are really only three castes, or social levels within the society. The caste system also dictates, to a large degree, the family structure and genetic makeup of the country. Since people are discouraged from marrying outside of their own caste, or social group, it is highly unlikely that social mobility will become more common in India because of the caste system (Pruthi, 2004). However, the recent social and cultural rebirth of the nation, over the past few decades, has begun to place more and more emphasis on western ideas of equal representation and a democratic system of government.

Since there is no opportunity for social mobility, the political landscape of the country has also been altered quite dramatically by the caste system as well. People who ordinarily belong to the lowest level of society, sometimes referred to as the untouchables, do not have a voice politically (Cohn and Singer, 2007). The country is set up around the premise of a progressive, representative government, but in reality, the caste system makes it impossible to have a true representative democracy or the like. Also, the politicians in Indian society all belong to upper levels within the caste system, and typically make decisions based upon their own perspectives, experiences, and social goals (Cohn and Singer, 2007). In this way, the separation or stratification of Indian society through the caste system creates political barriers to involvement and representation. The political structure has already been decided at the time of birth, and the pool of politicians, whether democratically elected or not, is relatively small. This contributes to the stagnation of political ideas and reform, which is one of the largest obstacles in Indian politics and society to overcome.

Recently, more emphasis has been put on changing the political structure of Indian society. More and more advocates of social and political justice are beginning to speak up (Bailey, 2009). But the centuries old tradition of the caste system is still ingrained in the Indian psyche. Slowly, changes are being made to help the lowest class of Indian society through primitive forms of social welfare and political considerations. Some of this welfare is built in to the system itself, as it is expected that the lowest class Indian citizens will sustain themselves on handouts, which are also built into the system itself (Pruthi, 2004). But the caste system was developed and originally implemented at a time where political considerations and representative democracies were not something to be considered, or have not even been invented as a form of government.

The political structure in India is arguably not very different from other western democracies in that a few people, whether democratically elected or not, are making decisions and changing politics of a large number of people. The culture of power and influence that revolves around the interests of corporations and money that has been built in the U.S. politically is an excellent reflection of how Indian politics are built around the influences and desires of the wealthy and powerful, and not those of the rest of the society.