Should India change its caste-based quota system?
Government under pressure following violent protests by Jat farming community complaining of discrimination.
Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to Haryana state in northern India where protesters have been killed in riots.
Jats – a traditionally rural community of farmers – are demanding more government jobs and places in state-run universities.
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They complain of discrimination because of India’s caste system, not because they are from a lower caste but from a higher one.
The Jats say they are being shut out because of a quota system that gives more opportunities to Indians from lower castes.
Why are they demanding more opportunities? And what are the roots of the caste system?
Presenter: Mike Hanna
Guests:
Jaspal Singh – professor of political science at Indira Gandhi National Open University
Dipankar Gupta – sociologist and author of Interrogating Caste: Understanding Hierarchy and Difference in Indian Society
Diego Maiorano – specialist on poverty and inequality in India and Fellow at the University of Nottingham in the UK
Published On 21 Feb 2016