Caste and Meritocracy in India

Bishnupriya Gupta, Kaivan Munshi and Swapnil Singh
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Bishnupriya Gupta: University of Warwick and CAGE Research Centre
Kaivan Munshi: Yale University
Swapnil Singh: Bank of Lithuania and Kaunas University of Technology

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: The caste system in India acts as a barrier to meritocracy. For centuries the lowest castes were disadvantaged socially and economically. Evidence from the colonial censuses of the early twentieth century shows large differences in literacy and occupation between the highest and the lowest castes. After independence, India adopted affirmative action in state-funded education and public sector jobs that benefited people in the so-called scheduled castes and tribes, who were the disadvantaged groups. We show that since the 1980s, there has been convergence in education and occupation between the upper castes and that population.

Keywords: caste; literacy; occupational mobility; affirmative action JEL Classification: (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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