My conversations with IT professionals, and Indians I met in social settings, about the current state of \u27caste\u27 in India and in Indian IT sector often went like this:1 \u27Why are we talking about caste in this modern age? Aren\u27t we perpetuating caste distinctions by continuing to talk about it? Isn\u27t it time to get rid of reservations as IT has done? Look at the progress the IT sector has brought to the country! It is merit, pure merit that matters, and not caste or any other background\u27. Such were the assessments, often angry and even dismissive, of many Indians and professionals who work in the IT sector.
These vociferous denials notwithstanding, the Indian IT occupational sector has become a new vector of caste inequality. A singular focus on \u27Merit, Pure Merit; assiduously honed in ideology and in practice, has ironically become responsible for reproducing caste structures in IT. How is this merit constructed and practiced in the IT sector:\u27 And how does caste factor into, even if implicitly, the merit constructions? Theoretically guided empirical answers to this set of questions are offered to clarify the broad assertion that Indian IT is the new caste inequality vector.
Pure merit in the Indian IT world, simply put, refers to technical skills and qualifications that are earned through a much heralded Horatio Alger model of personal aspiration, initiative, and hard work. It is the opposite of caste-reservation or caste-earmarked2 merit-merit acquired through the constitutionally mandated caste-based social redress and justice programs, popularly referred to as reservation and affirmative action.3 These programs were designed to reduce, and even to eliminate, the vestiges of centuries-long caste-based inequalities. But, how pure is \u27pure merit\u27 after all:\u27 Because, often left unspoken and not examined in the valorized abstract IT merit discourse is, the \u27symbolic4 merit\u27 -the fact that the cultivation and practice of pure-merit is deeply embedded in, supported by, and \u27hidden\u27 behind the social and material privileges of the dominant castes and middle classes. In this sense, symbolically embedded merit is, ironically, not that different after all from reservation merit. But, unlike symbolic merit, reservation or earmarked-merit is foregrounded on minority caste status and authorized by the government, but not culturally accepted in the broader societal context
