Castes of India, unite

The decline of the social order means the rise of the market

Contributed by Hari Kumar Chezi Ganesan lives in two homes: in San Jose, California, and in Chennai, a thriving Indian seaside metropolis. He runs a computer processor company...

Hari Kumar took part in the preparation of the material

Chezi Ganesan lives in two houses: in San Jose, California, and in Chennai, a thriving Indian seaside metropolis. He runs a computer processor company with a turnover of $6 million a year.

The Chesi family has come a long way. His grandfather had no right to stand next to people from the higher castes, and the women of his Nadar caste were once required to expose their breasts in the presence of men from the higher castes, which emphasized their low status.

“Today, castes no longer play any role,” says Chezi Ganesan, whom we met in one of the most prestigious clubs in Chennai. “Those barriers are a thing of the past.”

The example of how the Nadars have evolved from a despised day laborer caste into the business elite of one of India's richest states reveals an important aspect of India's current problem of caste society that has stood in the way of progress in many parts of the country.

India is experiencing an economic boom, its annual economic growth is in double digits. This is especially noticeable in the south of the country, where people earn more, get better education, live longer and have fewer children.

Among the factors that have determined the success of southern India - such as the stability of the system of government, the better condition of the infrastructure and the favorable geographical position, providing proximity to the globalized economy - the main one was the collapse of the caste system, which began 50 years ago.

“The breakdown of the caste hierarchy severed the traditional link between caste and profession, which unleashed enormous entrepreneurial potential,” says Ashutosh Varshni, a professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, who studies the role of castes in the development of southern India.

The Indian Constitution abolished the caste system that had served as the basis for the structure of Indian society for thousands of years. The country adopted a quota system designed to help equalize castes. However, caste prejudices are still alive, and many areas of life are still dominated by representatives of the upper castes.

In the south of the country, the struggle of the lower castes for a better life focused mainly on economic development and education, while in the north of the country, the political organizations of the lower castes focused on the struggle for political power.

In the north of the country, caste is so important that for the first time since India's independence, political parties have been able to push for caste to be included in India's national census. Behind this innovation is the hope that, using data on the size of a particular caste, the respective caste parties will be able to obtain from the government an increase in quotas for their representatives to receive public office.

In the state of Tamil Nadu, the Nadar caste occupies a position in the caste system just above the untouchables, who are now called Dalit. Researchers and analysts are closely examining the history of the rising status of the Nadar caste to understand the role caste barriers play in holding back India's economic progress.

In contrast to the northern part of the country, where caste-based political movements appeared relatively recently, the lower castes began to struggle with the dominance of the higher castes at the beginning of the 20th century. Since these movements originated before the country became an independent state with elected power, they focused on issues such as human dignity, education and self-reliance, Varshni said.

Nadars created business associations in order to provide entrepreneurs with loans that were not issued to them in ordinary banks. They founded charitable organizations to pay for the education of poor children. They built their own temples and marriage palaces to avoid discrimination from the upper castes.

As a result, in the south, the lower castes, having deprived the upper castes of their economic monopoly, have enjoyed political influence since the country's independence. In Tamil Nadu, 69% of government positions and places in the higher education system were assigned to people from the oppressed castes. This helped bring people out of the lower castes into "decent society" quickly.

When India's economy liberalized in the 1990s, the south was much better equipped to take advantage of globalization, says Samuel Paul of the Center for Public Policy, a research institute that studies the widening gap between India's north and south. “The south was ready,” he says.

Nadar businessmen like Manikavel were able to stay afloat as economic prosperity swept over India. Manikavel's father started a small printing press in Chennai, which in his best years brought him $40,000 a year. Educated at one of India's top engineering schools, Manikavel has grown the business into a $1 million annual business that designs e-books for major US publishers.

“We are considered to be a backward community, but we have a better opinion of ourselves,” he says. “We are no worse than others.”