May I Seek Your Blessings Annotated Bibliography Aditi Bahali

Szczepanski, Kallie. "History of India's Caste System." About.com Asian History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://asianhistory.about.com/od/india/p/indiancastesystem.htm>.

A caste system is a social system in Hinduism in which you are born into a caste. There are four primary castes; Brahmin, the priests, Kshatriya, warriors and nobility, Vaisya, farmers, traders and artisans, Shudra, farmers and servants. Brahmins are considered to be of the highest caste, then comes Kshatriya followed by Vaisya, and lastly there is Shudra. Reincarnation and Karma are also beliefs of Hinduism, meaning that you are born into the caste that you are in based on your deeds in your pervious life. For example, a truly virtuous person from the Shudra caste could be rewarded with rebirth as a Brahmin in their next life. When the British began to take power in India in 1757, they exploited the caste system as a means to social control. The British allied themselves with the Brahmin caste and glorified it; however, they also outlawed Indian customs concerning the lower castes. After Indian gained its independence on August 15th 1947, the new Indian government instituted laws to protect scheduled castes. Scheduled castes are the lower castes in the system. There are also laws that include quota systems to ensure access to education and to government posts. This article was writing by a historian by the name of Kallie Szczepanski. I think this article was ok for general, basic information on my topic. The information seems correct, and I can validate that with my finding on other websites and my personal knowledge. The information however, is not by any means groundbreaking.

"The Caste System." Victorian Web. N.p., 6 Nov. 2000. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/caste.html>. During the British rule the caste system underwent great changes throughout the period, but the system never effectively eradicated. The first effect that the British had on the caste system was to strengthen it rather than undermine it, for the British gave the Brahmans back certain special privileged that were taken away from the Brahman caste when India was under the Muslim rule. However, the British thought that both members of lower-caste and upper-caste should receive the same punishment for committing the same offence. Under the British rule the lower-caste enjoied a improvement in their social standing. With wealth and education your social standing started to become less and less about which caste you were born into. A newly educated and affluent middle class mixed socially with people of the same financial statured and not class. After the British rule Indian society began to break down into a more westernized class system. I am not entirely sure about how reliable this source is; however, I do feel whoever wrote it has a good insight to the caste system of India and wrote about valid points. I may need to find another source, but this article did get me thinking.

Mollainathan, Sendhil, Marianne Bertrand, and Rema Hanna. "Affirmative Action in Education." Www.nber.org. National Bureau of Economic Research, Apr. 2008.

Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nber.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/papers/w13926.pdf?new_window=1>.

Many countries around the world mandate affirmative action in higher education, where groups that have historically faced discrimination are given preferential admissions. In the context we studystate controlled colleges in Indiamore than 50 percent of admissions slots are reserved for the members of lower-caste groups. The debate is focused on two main issues. The first issue centers on the question of who these programs actually target. If the students getting admitted in these slots are of a lower caste, but of a wealthy background the affirmative action is not helping who it is suppose to help. There is also the argument saying that giving admissions to unprepared students will only hurt them in the end because they will struggle in classes, and as a result be more likely to drop out. The education they receive may just be a waste of time, money and efforts for them in the end. However, there are also those students that are from traditionally lower caste families that excel in higher education once given the opportunity. This article I found is by far the most well writing and also the most reliable source. This article was written by Senhil Mullaninathan, who is a professor of Economics at Harvard University, Rema Hanna, who is the assoiciate professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Marianne Bertrand, who is a professor at University of Chiago. Senhil Mullaninathan was a student at MIT and also co-foounded the MIT Poverty Action Lab.