Caste them out-I

Prof Deepak Lal wrote in the Business Standard in 2009:

• Second, the caste system, which saved the mass of Indians being inducted into the deadly disputes of its changing rulers, in return for a customary share of the village output to the current overlord. Democratic practices introduced by the British fit these ancient habits like a glove.

• …the data from a rural household survey by NCAER finds that, at the ward level, the “parochial (caste) politics (of Panchayati Raj) appears to simultaneously increase both the competence and commitment of elected leaders, as indicated by the characteristics of the elected representatives and their enhanced delivery of local public goods in response to constituents’ preferences”.

Also read his other article Caste, gene and history wars