"Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence, caste system cannot be eradicated…

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"Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence, caste system cannot be eradicated in India." Comment.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Caste is changing its form, from ritual hierarchy to associations, vote blocs, quota lobbies and online networks, but this shows mutation rather than permanence. Endogamy, with only about 5% of marriages inter-caste per the IHDS, is the hard core that policy must target.

**Introduction**

Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph showed in 1967 that caste in democracy reappears as voluntary associations, and the decision to count caste in Census 2027, the first full count since 1931, confirms it has changed form rather than faded.

**New Identities and Associational Forms of Caste**

1. **Caste associations**: The Vanniyar Sangam (1980) grew into the PMK in 1989, turning a birth group into a political lobby for jobs and seats, a pattern Rajni Kothari called the politicisation of caste.
2. **Quota assertion**: Landed castes seek backward status, as in the Patidar (2015), Jat (2016) and Maratha agitations, the last struck down in Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil (2021).
3. **Digital and diaspora networks**: Caste matrimonial portals keep endogamy alive online, and caste travelled abroad, prompting Seattle to ban caste discrimination in 2023.

**Can Caste Then Be Eradicated?**

SKETCH: forcefield | Ending Caste in India
center: Caste-free society
driving: Article 17, Urbanisation, Education, Inter-caste marriage
restraining: Endogamy, Vote banks, Quota politics, Online networks

1. **Hierarchy is weakening**: Article 17, the PCR Act (1955) and the SC/ST Atrocities Act (1989) have eroded purity and pollution in public life.
2. **From hierarchy to difference**: Dipankar Gupta argues castes now stand as horizontal identities, so identity survives while the ladder weakens.
3. **Endogamy is the hard core**: The India Human Development Survey found only about 5% of marriages inter-caste, so caste reproduces itself each generation.

**Conclusion**

Caste is mutating, not dying, but the "hence" overreaches: new forms mark the decline of ritual hierarchy, not its permanence. Ambedkar's annihilation of caste stays achievable if India targets discrimination and endogamy, letting identity fade into difference within constitutional fraternity.

"Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence, caste system cannot be eradicated in India." Comment.

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