Caste and the caste based quotas in education and jobs

The whole idea of caste basis, rather than poverty or economic need as the basis, for quotas in education and jobs was appeasement politics by Govt. to get votes from caste blocs (getting the education and job quotas) and the politicians probably having no clue on how to help the real needy people, such as the Govt. help wrongly administered as caste based quotas and reservations in education and jobs to caste farmers and carpenters etc. even when not poor, while no Govt. help or quotas and reservations allowed to brahmins etc. even when poor.

Incidentally, having the job with Govt. became a lucrative occupation for people at large mostly after India's Independence. Before that (prior to the Independence and well into the 1950s), the majority of people (including the caste farmers, carpenters, leather workers, shop owners) did not send their children (sons basically) to school to get educated by spending years before getting into the small paying jobs while working for others.

They (farmers, carpenters etc.) instead had their children / sons getting into the family occupation (farming, carpentry etc.) right away at young age while staying at home and starting to make a decent living by the age of 14, get married soon after and become a parent by the age 16.

A brahmin kid, on the other hand, would spend years learning in a distant school (pathshala), and be back home by the age 25 or so, and then start working and get married, etc. That's why there were / are very few brahmins in each village, with not many others wishing to become brahmins. The reason is simple, because the brahmin occupation had a tedious and time consuming education / training first and it generally yielded uncertain and not very lucrative earnings afterwards.

Most brahmins, with ancestral priestly occupation, lived in villages earning small amounts of money working as brahmin priest, and supplementing their income to support the family by raising crops (grains and vegetables) and keeping cattle (for milk etc). There were very few brahmins earning large amounts of money and being rich while employed as priests in big temples or near Ganges etc. or even directly as a purohit for a ruler / king.

A typical brahmin during ancient times and even recently, living / working usually in a village as a priest, is shown in the 1955 movie Pather Panchali (by Satyajit Ray) as Harihar Roy (Durga and Apu's father).

: Subhash C. Sharma

Thanks, Popop1987!