India Didn’t Abolish Caste. It Just Made It Polite and Invisible.
India often congratulates itself for having moved beyond caste. In urban drawing rooms, corporate offices, and English-speaking circles, caste is treated as an embarrassing relic something our grandparents practiced, not us. Yet the more aggressively we deny caste today, the more power it seems to retain. The uncomfortable truth is this: caste in modern India has not disappeared; it has simply become invisible, sanitized, and socially acceptable to ignore.
The old markers of caste occupation, village segregation, overt untouchability may have weakened in cities, but caste itself has adapted. It now operates through subtler mechanisms: networks, surnames, marriage preferences, social capital, and institutional silence. Modern India did not dismantle caste; it rebranded it.
The Myth of the “Casteless” Urban Indian
Urban, educated Indians often claim caste does not matter to them. This claim collapses under minimal scrutiny. Ask the same people about marriage, and caste instantly re-enters the conversation. Matrimonial websites used overwhelmingly by the urban middle class are explicitly structured around caste filters. Even “liberal” families quietly insist on “same community” matches.
This contradiction reveals something critical: caste is not rejected, only publicly denied. It is practiced privately, defended subtly, and justified as “cultural compatibility” rather than discrimination.
Caste and Employment: Bias Without Accountability
In theory, corporate India is meritocratic. In practice, hiring still depends heavily on referrals, elite educational institutions, and informal networks all of which are deeply caste-skewed. Upper-caste dominance in leadership roles is rarely questioned because caste data in the private sector is almost never collected.
When discrimination cannot be measured, it cannot be challenged. The absence of data becomes a convenient shield. This allows caste bias to persist without ever being named. Unlike overt discrimination, modern caste bias hides behind “culture fit,” “communication skills,” and “background.”
Reservation Backlash and Convenient Amnesia
Few issues expose India’s caste hypocrisy more clearly than the backlash against reservations. Reservation policies exist because caste inequality is structural and persistent. Yet beneficiaries of inherited privilege frequently frame reservations as unfair advantages rather than partial corrections.
What is conveniently forgotten is that upper-caste Indians have enjoyed generations of informal reservation through land ownership, access to education, social networks, and inherited confidence. When historical advantage is normalized, corrective policy is branded as injustice.
English, Exposure, and the New Caste Capital
In modern India, caste is often masked by English fluency, urban exposure, and global aesthetics. These markers create the illusion of equality while reinforcing older hierarchies. A Dalit student fluent in English may gain access, but the burden of representation remains disproportionately heavy. One mistake becomes proof of incompetence; success becomes an exception story.
Caste today is not only about exclusion it is about who is allowed to fail without consequence and who is not.
Why Silence Is the System’s Greatest Ally
The most dangerous evolution of caste in modern India is silence. Talking about caste is considered divisive, uncomfortable, or outdated. But silence does not create equality it preserves power.
By refusing to acknowledge caste, modern India ensures it remains unchallenged. The system thrives not because people actively support it, but because too many benefit quietly from its continuation.
Conclusion: If Caste Is “Over,” Why Is It Still Deciding Lives?
Caste in modern India no longer announces itself loudly. It whispers through privilege, access, and denial. Until India is willing to confront caste not as a historical artifact but as a living system embedded in institutions, culture, and everyday decisions the promise of equality will remain performative.
A society that refuses to name its inequalities cannot dismantle them. And a modernity built on denial is not progress it is evasion.
