The history of freedom struggle unequivocally establishes that we fought unitedly against the colonial yoke and aspired for equality, freedom and justice. The constitution of India was therefore, framed at the touchstone of social and economic justice, equality in status and equal opportunity to all so to establish an equalitarian social order. An egalitarian society provides opportunity to everyone to utilize individual abilities to fullest extent in order to attain a respectable position in society irrespective of religion, caste, sex, creed etc. The instrument of law comes to rescue people from traditional socio-economic discrimination often through the channel of positive discrimination to bring back in the main stream those who are traditionally discriminated on one pre text or the other. There is no denial that tremendous improvements occurred in our country ever since India become free yet the question remains that weather we have been able to achieve socio-economic equality aspired by the makers of our constitution?

This book explores contemporary patterns of economic discrimination faced by Dalits and religious minorities like Muslims in urban labour market as well as other markets in rural areas. It examines reasons contributing to inequality, consequences of exclusion, and suggests possible remedies.

Focussing on patterns of intergenerational stability, this book traces the unequal structures of opportunity in India. The author addresses questions and approaches towards social mobility (or the lack thereof) through interactions between social class, caste, and gender while adopting a rural–urban perspective, capturing changes over time, and the implications of social mobility on a national scale. This book plugs in crucial gaps in the research on social mobility, which has been marked by the lack of precision regarding the extent of mobility in contemporary India. Using a broad lens of both caste and class, this up-to-date statistical analysis, which uses national-level datasets and advanced quantitative methods, enriches the sociological as well as the anthropological literature, while also locating India within the larger context of social mobility research in the industrialized and industrializing world.

Is the caste system disappearing? Are traditional hierarchies being replaced by competing equalities? Do globalization and liberalization automatically result in diminishing disparities? Are modern labour markets intrinsically meritocratic and efficient? Challenging the dominant discourse and demolishing various myths, this book provides answers to these and other critical questions on caste in its contemporary avatar. Linking the economics of caste with its politics, sociology, and history, this innovative book provides a stimulating assessment of continuities and changes in caste disparities over the last two decades. Deshpande uses rich empirical data to uncover how contemporary, formal, urban sector labour markets reflect a deep awareness of caste, religious, gender, and class cleavages. She convincingly argues that discrimination is neither a relic of the past nor is it confined to rural areas, but is very much a modern, formal sector phenomenon. This insightful book is an important step towards a multidisciplinary dialogue for understanding (and mitigating) inequalities based on birth and descent.