Caste system is a hereditary system of social and occupational segregation based on notions of purity and pollution. It legitimized and reinforced the existing structure of social inequality. Recent times show a paradoxical situation- as on the one hand, caste system has weakened, on the other, caste-based identities have strengthened due to political mobilization.

Caste is an institution uniquely associated with the Indian sub-continent. The English word ‘caste’ is actually a borrowing from the Portuguese casta, meaning pure breed. The word refers to a broad institutional arrangement that in Indian languages (beginning with the ancient Sanskrit) is referred to by two distinct terms, varna and jati. It is generally agreed , that the four Varna classification is roughly three thousand years old. However, the ‘caste system’ stood for different things in different time periods.,

The institution of caste as we know it today has been profoundly impacted by the Brtish Colonial rule as well as developments since independence:

Changes during British rule/Colonial period

• The colonialists conducted methodical and, intensive surveys and reports on the ‘customs and manners’ of various tribes and castes all over the country so as to  govern them effectively. The 1901 Census sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself. Before this, caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid
• The land revenue settlements and related arrangements and laws served to give legal recognition to the customary (caste-based) rights of the upper castes.
• At the other end of the scale, towards the end of the colonial period, the administration also took an interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed classes’ at that time. For e.g. the Government of India Act of 1935 gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state.

Caste considerations had inevitably played a role in the mass mobilizations of the nationalist movement. The dominant view in the nationalist movement was to treat caste as a social evil and as a colonial ploy to divide Indians.

Changes during Post-independence period

• After independence, the state was committed to the abolition of caste based inequality and explicitly enshrined this into the Constitution. The political promise of the constitution was accompanied by fast paced economic changes. Thus, without sufficient measures to promote equality in the economic sphere caste inequalities remained strong, caste based .
• The development activity of the state and the growth of private industry also affected caste indirectly through the speeding up and intensification of economic change. Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules.
• Urbanisation and the conditions of collective living in the cities made it difficult for the caste-segregated patterns of social interaction to survive.
• Caste proved to be strongest in cultural and domestic spheres. Endogamy remained largely unaffected by modernization.
• The democratic politics in India is deeply conditioned by caste, thereby making caste considerations important in electoral politics. In fact, 1980s witnessed the emergence of caste based political parties.
• Reservation in jobs and education has contributed to caste consciousness and in fact strengthened caste based movements that seek reservation.

Factors leading to weakening of caste system

• Change in hierarchical structure: Caste hierarchy based on purity and pollution has weakened because of secularization. Additionally, wealth is replacing birth as the basis of social prestige.
• Breakdown of Jajmani system: Jajmani system involved exchange of goods and services, with each jati contributing its share based on occupational specialty. However, it is dissipating due to traditional breakdown of occupation and industrialization.
• Sanskritization: It is a process by which low Hindu caste groups/tribes change their customs, rituals etc. emulating a higher caste group to attain vertical mobility.
• Disruption of traditionally ordained occupational system: Due to globalization and rise of services sector.
• Anonymous urban life: With increasing migration, city life is becoming anonymous where caste identities of co-habitants is seldom known.
• Modernization of education and legal system.