WASHINGTON, D.C., August 26, 2021 (The Diplomat, by Shareen Joshi): The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center recently released a landmark survey on religion and society in India. Administered to 29,999 respondents in 17 languages between November 2019 and March 2020, the survey is certainly a formidable endeavor. The final report provides fascinating insights into the coexistence of religiosity, pluralism, and secularism in modern India. When it comes to analysis of caste, however, this survey disappoints. Pew argues that “India’s caste system, an ancient social hierarchy with origins in Hindu writings, continues to fracture society.” But caste has been defined narrowly and interpreted broadly. The assumptions are far removed from both lived experience and academic understandings of how caste really works in India. This is unfortunate – history teaches us that how we define caste, and design surveys to ask people their caste, can inadvertently create feedback loops that intensify social divisions.

At first glance, Pew’s statement is well-supported by the specific numbers. Nearly all Indians (98 percent) identify with a caste, regardless of whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, or Jain. About one-quarter (24 percent) say all their close friends belong to their caste, and 46 percent say most of their friends are from their caste. Surprisingly, 82 percent of Indians say they have not personally faced caste-based discrimination, and less than a quarter see evidence of widespread discrimination against disadvantaged communities. But as Pratap Bhanu Mehta reminds us, these numbers could mean that India has “not have even progressed from exclusion to discrimination.”

Much more of this insightful article at “source”.

https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/what-attempts-to-measure-indias-caste-system-get-wrong/

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