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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2014/Paper II/Indian Society, Caste & Civilization
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2014 15 Marks Model Answer Available

Persistence of Caste in Contemporary India — 2014 Paper II

Question · 2014 · Paper II · 15 Marks

Do you think caste persists in contemporary India ? Critically discuss.

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question: Assess whether caste continues to structure contemporary Indian society while recognizing changes produced by modernization, democracy and mobility.
  • Structuring the Response: Establish areas of persistence, examine transformations in caste, and critically distinguish between decline of traditional caste functions and persistence of caste identity.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: Endogamy, hierarchy, caste politics, occupation, urbanization, dominant caste, reservations, caste associations, mobility and discrimination.

Model Answer

Introduction: Caste has undergone considerable transformation in contemporary India, but it has not disappeared. Its ritual and occupational dimensions have weakened in many contexts, while caste continues to influence marriage, politics, social networks, identity and access to resources.

Evidence of persistence

  1. Marriage and endogamy

Marriage remains one of the strongest domains of caste continuity.

Despite increasing individual choice, matrimonial arrangements frequently remain:

Caste → Sub-caste → Marriage network

Even urban and educated families often prefer caste endogamy.

  1. Political mobilization

Democratic politics has not eliminated caste; rather, caste has often become a basis of:

  • electoral mobilization;
  • political representation;
  • pressure groups;
  • demands for reservation.

M.N. Srinivas showed how numerically strong and economically powerful dominant castes could exercise considerable local political power.

  1. Caste associations

Modern caste organizations perform new functions such as:

  • educational support;
  • political lobbying;
  • matrimonial networking;
  • community welfare.

Thus caste has adapted to modern institutional conditions.

  1. Continuing social inequality

Caste continues to affect, though unevenly:

  • access to land;
  • social networks;
  • housing;
  • educational opportunities;
  • experiences of discrimination.

Untouchability is constitutionally prohibited, yet caste-based exclusion has not entirely disappeared.

Areas of transformation

Modernization has weakened several traditional characteristics.

  1. Occupational mobility:
    Traditional caste-occupation relationships have considerably loosened.
  2. Urbanization:
    Cities increase interaction across caste boundaries in:
  • workplaces;
  • education;
  • neighbourhoods.
  1. Education and industrialization:
    Achievement-based occupations have expanded opportunities for mobility.
  2. Constitutional democracy:
    Legal equality, reservations and affirmative action have challenged hereditary hierarchy.

From ritual hierarchy to political identity

Contemporary change can be represented as:

Traditional ritual caste → Occupational weakening → Political/social caste identity

André Béteille demonstrated that caste, class and power increasingly overlap in complex rather than identical ways.

Hence caste may decline as a rigid system of occupational interdependence while remaining important as an identity and political resource.

Critical perspective

It is therefore misleading either to claim that caste remains completely unchanged or that modernization has destroyed it.

Processes such as:

  • Sanskritization;
  • political mobilization;
  • urban networking;
  • affirmative action

have often transformed rather than eliminated caste.

Conclusion

Caste persists in contemporary India, particularly through endogamy, identity, political mobilization and unequal social relations, while its traditional occupational and ritual rigidity has weakened. Contemporary India therefore reflects not the disappearance of caste but its

2026 What are the major debates related to the concept of jajmani system? 2026 Does caste as a social category exist among the non-Hindu communities in India? Illustrate your answer with suitable examples. 2025 Caste domination, factionalism and political power 2025 Characteristics and communication between Little and Great Traditions

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