WHEN DISCRIMINATION BECOMES A HABIT

When oppression lasts for centuries, it stops needing active enforcement.

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A video recently surfaced showing an IAS officer receiving a petition from a woman. Before accepting it, the officer insisted, “You wear your slippers first, only then I will take it.” Though a small gesture, it carried a powerful message — an attempt to break an invisible but deeply rooted barrier. It made me reflect on another unsettling reality: in many rural areas, individuals from so-called “lower castes” still leave their slippers outside before stepping onto the streets or entering the homes of the so-called “upper castes”. Even when educated individuals urge them to break this practice, they refuse. The question then arises — has discrimination stopped being an external imposition and instead turned into a habit?

Caste-based discrimination in India has a long history, shaping social interactions in ways both explicit and subtle. Legal reforms and social movements have attempted to dismantle these divisions, yet many discriminatory practices persist — not always through force, but through conditioning.