The Constitution of India and several laws made under it have attacked the Indian Caste system with a view to weaken it, particularly for eliminating the evils of the caste system, including the inhuman evil of untouchability.
The objective of the following features of the Indian Constitution has been to attack caste and casteism in Indian society and politics.
1. The Preamble to the Indian Constitution, which is a very valuable part of the basic structure of the Constitution, affirms full faith in popular sovereignty and recognises the sovereign equality of all the people of India.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
2. The people of India have united made, adopted and enacted the Constitution of India. By it they have declared India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic consisting of all the people of India without any discrimination.
3. The State in India is governed by the objective of securing the welfare and development of all the people of India without any discrimination based upon caste, colour, and creed, and religion, place of birth or sex.
4. The Constitution seeks to secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all the people of India.
5. In its Part III, the Constitution grants and guarantees equal fundamental rights to all the people. These include the right to equality, the right to freedom, the right to freedom of religion, the right against exploitation, cultural and educational rights of the people and the right to seek the protection of courts for the security of their rights.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
6. Every person in India has been granted the right to religious freedom. A person can adopt and follow any religion. He has even the freedom not to follow any particular religion. All religions enjoy equal status.
7. No person can be denied access to any shop, public place, hotels, restaurants, parks, theatres, wells, tanks, bathing ghats and tourist or picnic spots.
8. Each person has the freedom to persue any business, trade, industry or occupation.
9. With a view to make them active, full and equal partners in the Indian socioeconomic politico-cultural system, special safeguards and privileges have been granted to persons belonging to weaker sections of society the system of protective discrimination has been adopted for securing social equality.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
10. Untounchability has been made a crime. Practice of this evil practice entails punishment for the guilty.
The need for diluting the rigid higher and lower demarcations between caste groups must be nourished and encouraged by strengthening the process of national integration. Rapid industrialisation can lead to a transformation of caste based divisions into clan based distinctions.
All these features have been included in the Constitution for attacking the harmful and negative features of the Indian caste system.
Caste is only an identity mark and it cannot be permitted to be a basis for any discrimination against any person in society. Indian Political System has been governed by the objectives of securing social economic and political justice, equal rights and freedom for all and unity and integrity of all the people of India irrespective of their caste, religion, language and sub-culture.
Under the influence of the process of continuous development, Indian liberal democratic system and the social system have been undergoing some positive changes. From a caste based stratified society, Indian society can develop as a class-based developing society.
However such a change can come only gradually and through a process of evolution. India democracy has been trying to maintain an environment which can be greatly conducive for such a transformation of Indian society from a caste-based into a class-based society.
