I am an Indian who is from an OBC category. Caste related pieces in the western press miss the entire context around 1st-world-discrimination among Indians. It annoys me to no end, because discrimination is still a major problem in certain communities. But, the western media has cast it onto their agonizingly shallow concept of privilege and bigotry.

I will preemptively apologize for my directness. Euphemisms dilute.

I have written about it in some capacity on HN before. [1] But, I'll give you the 1 pager:

1. There are Indians and then there are Indians. The average undergrad at a UC is one of highly privileged 1st gen immigrant or 2nd gen Indian-American, both of who have no clue what caste even is. It is like trying to solve malnutrition in India, by feeding burgers to your fellow FANG engineer. In my 27 years surrounded by Indians, I have never been asked my caste, nor have my upper-caste peers made questionable comments in confidence.

2. Caste issues persist among those who pursue the hardest paths to success (eg: L1 sweat shop route) in the US. However, over the years, I have seen it develop into a 'crabs in a bucket' style circular firing squad. The more they believe in the 'zero sum nature' of an engagement, the more willing people are to stifle someone from the outgroup in an effort to get ahead. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there.

3. In truly poor communities in non-urban India, caste is a reality of life. India is a shit-hole nation (as a famous man once said). Desperate times in shit-hole places nudge good people into vile behaviors. Even past the explicit discrimination, generational poverty is crippling. On the bright side, things are getting less worse as a fast pace. But, to paint any rosier picture about this would amount to lying.

4. Sloppy affirmative action breeds resentment. (America, take notes) It hurts me to say this, but the proof is in the pudding. At my moderately-prestigious-Indian-university, I saw liberal 'general'(upper-ish caste) students turn resentfully anti-affirmative-action as they saw the bar be dropped so lower every year, in the Indian zero-sum career market. People are not judged for their caste. They are judged because their caste reveals that they got an easier path within a narrow academic structure. (This ofc, ignores the crippling poverty and social barriers these people also have to overcome. But, sociology 101 is not in our gen-eds).

5. Caste is dead, long live caste - Caste is so 1990s. The entire societal hierarchy shifted under the feet of sub-par social commenters and they never even noticed. A decent portion of 2nd generation American-Indians don't fraternize with 1st generation Indians. IITians stick to IItians. Masters H1b-OPT candidates look down on those who came through the L1 consultancy sweat-shop grind. I could write an entire book on this. It is a brutally merit status system, where merit is defined within a narrow academic context. (Indians are not unique in this phenomenon. I frequently see this among urban american communities too. Sorting into groups based on internal perceptions of status happens whenever a community reaches size threshold. If anything, it is a rather familiar social stratification)

Shoe-horning the caste issue into hyper-polarized and shallow american power struggles is worsening the issue. India has been making rapid progress in terms of helping lower-caste communities. From representation in every local + national body to economic assistance to educational assistance to a harsh anti-discrimination law. In 70 years of independence, we have come a long way. The progress may be on a low base, but the delta is huge. UCs and California Liberals (with all connotations it carries) are wielding caste as a weapon for political means. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30059449