Brahmins face reverse discrimination:WSJ
from the article:
On a salary of $100 a month, Mr. Parameswaran can’t
afford an apartment, so he sleeps in the classroom at night. “I am
suffering,” says the intense young man, using the exaggerated
enunciation of an English teacher. “Unfortunately, I was born as a
Brahmin.”
Although the role of Brahmins has never been
synonymous with accumulating wealth, many are affluent enough to
educate their children in the better private schools. On average,
members of the caste, who make up about 5% of India’s population of 1.1
billion, are better educated and better paid than the rest of Indian
people.The term Brahmin has come to be used globally to
describe those at the top of the heap with an attitude to match, as in
Boston Brahmins. Yet close to half of Brahmin households earn less than
$100 a month, according to the Center for a Study of Developing
Societies, a New Delhi think tank. For these Brahmins, the array of
state-mandated preferences for other groups present a high hurdle.
The reverse discrimination is rooted in Indian history
and politics. For decades, Brahmins were resented for their dominance
of the government, economy and culture. Indeed, political parties in
Tamil Nadu sprang from anti-Brahmin feelings. “If you see a Brahmin and
a snake, kill the Brahmin first” was an old slogan.
However this image also shows how the Brahmins are comparatively better compared to other castes, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Posted on December 29, 2007, in india, thought provoking and tagged indian society, journalism, media, wsj. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Gautam Ghosh 
Mr. Santhanam,
Marvellous. There’s no unity in Hindustan. Divided we stand! Indians esp. Hindus are not united at all. Even the manuwaadis are not an exception. What stops other rich Brahmins from helping poor brahmins? It is their selfish nature. The brahmins are not at all united. They fight among themselves. It is enough to lead a simple life for the rich and help the poor. Now it’s time to wake up.
The situation that the brahmin community finds itself in
is self-inflicted. In fact this very notion of a
“brahmin community” is theoretical itself.
This is a community that has not stood up for itself in any respect whether it is education related or profession related.
There is no lack of well to do brahmins who have made it big due to their hard work and perseverance. Where is the support of its own community?
The problems stems from a self-preservation philosophy with possible extension to one’s family but not beyond that to the brahmin community as a whole.
For discussion sake, look at the Jewish community in the United States. It has pretty much the same problem of people labeling it as a “elitist” religion. The difference is that they are so organized as a community. They have their own colleges and schools, they are not waiting for a hand-out from some racist politician.
There is nothing that precludes well-to-do brahmins from helping their less well-to-do counterparts in the educational arena, with scholarships for deserving under-previliged brahmin students. If the community as a whole rises to the occasion to defend itself then we will not be seeing the
situation that you describe.
Racist and hate-mongering politicians have and will come and go but where is the response of the community. If a sitting white president in the US said that “if you see a black man and snake, kill the black-man” they would be hoisted up on a pole both literally and figurativel y. Such cannot be said in TN, where politicians in the DMK/ADMK/AIADMK
parties have routinely invoked racist plattforms to win elections. Yet there is neither a social or a legal response to the poisonous racist agenda.
This article is bull shit. When i find time to say why I will.