War Peace Crime and Punishment in Southeast Asia

Question 1

 Equality Labs, based in Oakland, Calif., advocates for the civil rights of the caste formerly referred to as “untouchables” in a millennia-old system of social hierarchy that originated in India, but has proliferated across South Asia. Many Indians have moved to the United States to work in tech companies, and several Big Tech CEOs are of Indian origin, including Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. Some employees allege the patterns of discrimination have been replicated within Silicon Valley companies.

Through its advocacy on content moderation, Equality Labs developed a strong network of Dalit tech workers. After the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Cisco alleging caste discrimination, their phone lines were flooded with reports about bias and the group once again began collecting data. (Although U.S. employment law does not explicitly prohibit caste-based discrimination, the DFEH argues caste is protected under existing statutes. Caste is a protected category in India, however. This leaves companies such as Google and Cisco, which have offices in both countries, with different standards for discrimination.) – The Washington Post, 2 June 2022

 Distinguish between the Brahmins, Kshatiyas, Vaishyas, Shudras and Dalits, and examine how the Indian caste system operates during daily life (in India).

Answer to Above Question on Caste System

Caste system is an important way of categorising people into different categories in India and it has been prevalent over the last 3000 years in some form. As per the Indian caste system, the individuals are classified into different groups on the basis of their birth, and these are mainly known as brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, shudras and dalits. A comparative analysis of these different groups indicates that brahmins are considered to occupy the highest value in the hierarchy whereas shudras account for the lowest. Dalits are also known as untouchable and they were considered outside the caste system. kshatriyas were the warrior caste and vaishyas were merchants.