While Surinder S. Jodhka’s Caste in Contemporary India examines questions of untouchability, social mobility, and Dalit activism, a particularly telling portion in the book is on how caste is seen in the very shining example of modern India: the corporate sector. Even HR departments, involved in the crucial tasks of recruitment and promotions, are filled with upper caste people, he finds, and while merit is the main criterion for recruitment, caste prejudices play a crucial role in judging the soft skills of candidates. Gidla recounts in Ants Among Elephants how as a student at an engineering college in Warangal, she found a professor deliberately failing lower caste students. Like in Gidla’s book, where she says Indians will ask any number of questions to find out what caste you come from, a villager sneakily tries to find out Saroja’s caste. He peers into her face and says: “This is not a face from our caste, Mapillai.

Source: The Hindu April 01, 2018 18:45 UTC