Employing cleaners to clean the system.

Lack of jobs and poverty are a great leveler, writes Prof Dipankar Gupta. In UP upper castes have been applying for posts of 'safai karmacharis', which means 'cleaners'. Actually, they have to sweep streets, clean drains and even climb into sewers, if they get blocked. Not something any upper caste would ever dream of doing, certainly not talking about. Any man doing such a job would have no hope of ever getting a bride from his own caste. Not just upper caste, graduates and some with PhDs have also applied for these posts. For 114 jobs of 'safai karmacharis' 19,000 applicants were graduates. Earlier we read about 2.3 million applications for 368 posts of peons. Whereas fertility rates in other states are falling below replacement levels UP was second only to Bihar in fertility rates in 2011, according to the Census Commission of India. 75,000, or 21%, of our beggars have completed Class 12. Prof Gupta thinks that upper castes working as cleaners, mixing with Scheduled Castes at work, living with Scheduled Caste neighbors in accommodation provided by the government and children playing together as they grow up will gradually eliminate caste barriers. Eventually, marriage between castes will become common place. Will it? People are applying for these jobs because they have to survive. Government jobs are permanent, meaning you cannot be sacked till retirement, pay a handsome salary of Rs 15,000 per month, have health benefits and pay a pension till death. Some people will hire a person to do their job at a lower salary, but without the other benefits, while they take on a second, more respectable, job. Already valmikis, who are Scheduled Caste, have demanded 100% reservation for these jobs for their people. So, we can expect some friction. Everyday 68,922 people reach the age of 25 years in India, that is 2.1 million per month. So what to do? The glib answer is to create loads of respectable jobs that pay living wages but the world is staring at a future where robots or artificial intelligence will take over vast numbers of jobs currently being done by humans. The only solution to the current crisis is to actively discourage the birth of children, but politicians are dependent on their castes for votes. The government is trying to provide skills to young people and giving them cheap loans to encourage them to start their own businesses. Why is it that Indians excel in the US but cannot innovate here at home? The quality of education in India is very poor and even that is not available to vast sections of children. It is shocking that only 31% of the richest section of society in urban India attend college. Why attend college if you have to apply for the post of 'safai karmachari'? No wonder our best brains leave.