The Peculiar Tenacity of Caste

It was not until the 1950s that academics in India began to acknowledge the role of caste in Indian life. Within two decades caste had come to stay in public discourse. The Emergency of 1975-77 and its aftermath were turning points in the public acknowledgement of the continuing significance of caste. It began to be argued that far from being antithetical to democracy, caste had an essential part to play in the advancement of democracy in India. In course of time the media took up the argument for the salience of caste in Indian society and this has now become almost a part of the conventional wisdom. However, there is evidence to show that caste is in fact losing its strength in India, though not uniformly or dramatically. With the media giving a sensational turn to caste in its daily coverage, the long-term changes in caste are being ignored.