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A comment on California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste. Parent comment

Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by sk0g on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @12:59AM (#23697894)
I lived in India for a bit, and no shit they wouldn't share it. It's a horrible form of discrimination, worse than racism in some ways, IMO.

You could, historically, spread your "untouchableness" by contacting people of other castes, for example. Marrying your child to someone from a lower caste is seen as a shameful move to many people.

White people would absolutely not understand this, yes, but what is there to understand? This is just discrimination based on your family + skin tone to some extent, and the sooner it dies, the better.

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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by youeseh on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:11AM (#23697958)
Discriminating based on caste is racism. Actually, the Brits used the caste system to their own advantage* and discrimination based on caste didn't become outlawed until the Indian constitution was written post-independence.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by sbmthakur on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @07:40AM (#23700355)
Brits also developed the concept 'Martial race' in India, which meant that certain castes are capable of fighting and others are not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_race

Today it's widely understood that this was done to reward those who supported the British during the 1857 rebellion and to utilise caste-based segregation in British Indian army against any future rebellion.

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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by twic on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @03:43AM (#23698900)
Britain has had a very strong class system, which was perhaps at its peak around the time of the empire, so it would not have been a big leap at all to understand the Indian caste system.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by thewhitetulip on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @04:40AM (#23699281)
They wanted to divide the country so they used it. They didn't actually need to understand it.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by sk0g on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:20AM (#23698002)
Didn't realise! I'll edit my comment to remove that part. I was going to mention sati, but decided against it.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by youeseh on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:48AM (#23698169)
Well, I'm glad you didn't mention Sati, because it would have really dated your knowledge of Indian society.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by sk0g on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:54AM (#23698195)
It was going to be in relation to the British rule helping abolish it, but it's not completely gone still, is it? During travels through small towns in the western part of India, I heard about a local case around 2010, but allegedly the widow did it voluntarily, and without outside influence.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by aaomidi on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:17AM (#23697987)
Thank you. People are very much misleading today.
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Re:California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on I... by ashtonkem on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @02:48AM (#23698507)
In many ways, it’s similar to the hierarchy if feudal titles in medieval Europe, with the serfs being legally tied to the land. It’s just shocking to see such a feudal anachronism continuing so long after the initial conditions that created it have ceased to exist.
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