Introduction
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar viewed cities as a potential escape from the rural 'den of localism,' reflecting early modernisation theories which predicted that urbanisation, anonymity, and market capitalism would dissolve traditional caste hierarchies. However, empirical reality demonstrates that caste has not disappeared in urban India; instead, it has transformed from overt ritual purity-pollution practices into subtle structural, spatial, and economic mechanisms of exclusion.
Spheres Where Traditional Caste Restrictions Have Weakened
Urbanisation and secular institutions have considerably diluted the outward ritualistic aspects of caste:
- Commensality and Daily Interactions: Public infrastructure such as metro systems, shared transit, commercial food courts, and secular workplaces enforce physical proximity, eroding traditional notions of ritual touch and commensality taboos.
- Occupational Mobility: The rise of a services-driven modern economy alongside initiatives like the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) has enabled upward occupational mobility, partially breaking the link between hereditary jati and occupation.
Spheres Where Caste Persists and Mutates
Rather than dissolving, caste reproduces itself within urban institutional and economic networks:
- Residential Segregation: Empirical research by Trina Vithayathil and Gayatri Singh demonstrates that residential segregation by caste in major Indian metropolitan cities rivals racial segregation in American cities. Gated communities and housing societies frequently employ 'vegetarian-only' clauses and surname-based screening as implicit proxies for caste exclusion.
- Caste Endogamy in the Digital Era: According to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), over 90% of urban marriages remain strictly endogamous. Far from weakening this pattern, modern digital matrimonial websites deploy explicit caste, sub-caste, and gotra filters that systematise endogamous matchmaking.
- Discrimination in Private Labour Markets: Audit studies conducted by Sukhadeo Thorat and Paul Attewell showed that Dalit applicants face significantly lower callback rates than upper-caste peers with identical educational qualifications, revealing implicit bias in corporate recruitment.
- Persistence in Hazardous Sanitation: Despite legal bans and mechanisation drives, municipal corporations continue to rely almost exclusively on specific Dalit sub-castes for manual sewer cleaning and waste management, institutionalising hazardous labour along hereditary lines.
- Cultural Capital and the Framing of 'Merit': In elite corporate boardrooms and premier higher education institutions, inherited upper-caste social capital, linguistic fluency, and informal networks frequently operate under the legitimised veneer of neutral 'merit,' marginalising first-generation urban entrants.
Conclusion
Caste in urban India has transitioned from an overt ritual hierarchy to networked privilege, implicit bias, and spatial segregation. Dismantling the myth of the caste-blind city requires comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation covering private employment and residential housing markets, alongside aggressive affirmative interventions.