Sunday, March 14, 2021

Silicon Valley imports India's castes

One of the dirty little secrets of Silicon Valley is how the major tech companies have become dependent on imported Indian labor. There are also a lot of workers from China and other places, India has the deepest caste system, and the companies love it.

Bloomberg Business Week reports:

How Big Tech Is Importing India’s Caste Legacy to Silicon Valley Graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology are highly sought after by employers. They can also bring problems from home. ...

The caste system traces as far back as ancient India. It comprises four core strata, with the Dalits lying outside and below. (The word “Dalit,” in classical Sanskrit, means “broken.”) These divisions still permeate life for many Indians, dictating how they work and worship, eat and marry, own land and vote. More than 200 million of the country’s 1.3 billion people are classified as Dalits.

Supposedly the castes in India go back 3000+ years when the area was invaded by Aryans who then maintained distinctions from the local population. See Wikipedia for details.

People often think that racial differences can be overcome after several years of assimilation. India has had three millennia or more, and yet differences still persist after then move to the other side of the world.

No comments: