Internet has given castes a new dais. For identity-hungry castes this new domain called the 'Web' has just added fire to the frenzied factionalism. Ashok Kumar finds out.

Indian subcontinent is not only a land of various flora and fauna, but also, undeniably, the land of thousands of castes. You as a person can love these castes or hate them but you certainly cannot ignore them because it is they, which define the bottom lines of socio-politico-cultural-economical India.

Sounds outdated, on the face of it! You might even question the validity of above proposition in the economically liberalised and upwardly mobile developing India which boasts of one of the best tech schools in the form of Indian Institutes of Technology and Business schools like the branded Indian Institutes of Management.

But the achievements of these world-class institutes and other science-generated heights does not in any way negate the absolute presence which the age-old caste system of India still wields on the enlightened and the ‘not so enlightened Indians.’

In today’s world and times whatever matters has to find its presence on the worldwide website. Standing by this fact how could the varied castes of India who certainly has a say in almost all the trades can be oblivious of the presence of Web. Take any major caste of India and it has its presence in the form of its own Web pages or Websites.

The moot question, then arises, is, what is the drive, which makes these Websites, a necessity in todays’ era. And what all is spread on these Websites in the form of content and information and how do these Websites give the respective castes an edge over others, who are yet to discover themselves on this unexplored domain.

... contd.