Caste and Meritocracy in India

811/2026 Bishnupriya Gupta, Kaivan Munshi, Swapnil Singh

The caste system in India acts as a barrier to meritocracy. For centuries the lowest castes were disadvantaged socially and economically. Evidence from the colonial censuses of the early twentieth century shows large differences in literacy and occupation between the highest and the lowest castes. After independence, India adopted affirmative action in state-funded education and public sector jobs that benefited people in the so-called scheduled castes and tribes, who were the disadvantaged groups. We show that since the 1980s, there has been convergence in education and occupation between the upper castes and that population.

Global Economic History