“Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence, caste system cannot be eradicated in India.” Comment. (Answer in 150 words)

Caste has not disappeared; it has shifted from a purely ritual hierarchy into a flexible social, economic and political identity. Modernity has transformed its expression without eliminating its inequalities.

New forms

• Caste associations mobilise education, reservations, welfare and political representation.
• Urban occupations and inter-caste contact weaken some traditional restrictions, while marriage networks and residential clustering preserve endogamy.
• Electoral parties aggregate caste blocs; digital platforms create new mobilisation and assertion.
• Caste intersects with class, gender, tribe and religion, producing differentiated experiences.

Can it be eradicated?

Constitutional equality, affirmative action, education and urbanisation have challenged hierarchy, but discrimination, violence, unequal assets and manual scavenging persist. Eradication requires both legal enforcement and transformation of social norms, land and opportunity structures.

Keywords: UPSC GS1; inclusive development; constitutional values.

Caste’s adaptive capacity makes abolition difficult, but it does not make change impossible; democratic mobilisation can convert inherited identity into an instrument of equality.