I am also familiar with many upper-caste people who have changed their surname to something generic (like Kumar) to avoid revealing their caste. This doesn’t just apply to job seeking in private enterprises. They do this to avoid any kind of attention drawn to their surname, and hence caste. This attention can then play out differently in different scenarios.
Surname change was to avoid revealing caste. No appropriation of "lower caste" to get favorable quota.
I have no evidentiary way to conclude if change ended up helping me or not. I just never had to face caste based discrimination.
I shared the experience, so folks on this forums come out knowing more than what is typically seen in media.
No rhetoric. There is no denying, that problem is real.
The problem of people from dominant castes facing discrimination on the basis of their surnames is wholly imaginary.
Is just the first step. Bribing the right authorities is next.
> Otherwise millions of people would be turning into lower castes
How do you know they aren't already?
I'm sorry but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Reservations in India follow a formal documented process and do not apply to private enterprises. Changing one's surname will make zero difference.