Pleaseanswer no. 4
4. 'The struggle against the caste system was not fully successful under British rule in India'. Comment on the statment.
Dear Student,
The Hindus were divided into numerous castes (jath). The caste, into which a person was born, determined large areas of his/her life. At the bottom of the ranking, scheduled castes (or untouchables caste) came, they constituted about 20 percent of the Hindu population. The Brahma Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, the Social Conference, and nearly all the great reforms of the 19th century attacked on the caste system. All his life, Gandhi ji kept the abolition of untouchability in front of his public activities. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who belonged to one of the scheduled castes, devoted his entire life to fighting against caste tyranny. The Brahma Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, the Social Conference, and nearly all the great reforms of the 19th century attacked on the caste system. Ambedkar organized the “All India Depressed Classes Federation” for the purpose. In South India, the non-Brahmins organized during the 1920s the “SelfRespect Movement” to fight the disabilities, which Brahmins had opposed. So, the struggle against caste system was not fully successful under British under India. Later the Constitution of Independent India has provided the legal framework for the final abolition of untouchability. It has declared that “untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden and punishable.
The Hindus were divided into numerous castes (jath). The caste, into which a person was born, determined large areas of his/her life. At the bottom of the ranking, scheduled castes (or untouchables caste) came, they constituted about 20 percent of the Hindu population. The Brahma Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, the Social Conference, and nearly all the great reforms of the 19th century attacked on the caste system. All his life, Gandhi ji kept the abolition of untouchability in front of his public activities. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who belonged to one of the scheduled castes, devoted his entire life to fighting against caste tyranny. The Brahma Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, the Social Conference, and nearly all the great reforms of the 19th century attacked on the caste system. Ambedkar organized the “All India Depressed Classes Federation” for the purpose. In South India, the non-Brahmins organized during the 1920s the “SelfRespect Movement” to fight the disabilities, which Brahmins had opposed. So, the struggle against caste system was not fully successful under British under India. Later the Constitution of Independent India has provided the legal framework for the final abolition of untouchability. It has declared that “untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden and punishable.