Saturday, March 7, 2009

Caste Discrimination Protest


I was recently in India for a wedding, and while walking in New Delhi I saw a march against caste discrimination. This was February 16 2009. There wasn't much media attention, but the target seems to have been a bill that would eliminate reserved posts in academia for certain castes. This is somewhat like affirmative action programs in the US, and there is an informative article on the subject here.







Once they saw me with my camera, many wanted their pictures taken. They got a kick out of seeing themselves on the screen afterward.








Ramalinga Raju was the head of Satyam computers who was arrested for embezzlement and fraud - some compare him to Bernie Madoff. Others point out that caste cronyism and nepotism are rife in Indian companies, which may lead to more Satyam-style scandals.