There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation. In 1948, negative discrimination on the basis of caste was banned by law and further enshrined in the Indian constitution however, the system continues to be practiced in parts of India. From then on, the colonial administration began a policy of positive discrimination by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes.
Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy. Between 18, the British formulated the caste system into their system of governance, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to Christians and people belonging to certain castes. The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration.
The collapse of the Mughal era saw the rise of powerful men who associated themselves with kings, priests and ascetics, affirming the regal and martial form of the caste ideal, and it also reshaped many apparently casteless social groups into differentiated caste communities. The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the rise of the British colonial government in India. The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system. It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India as enforced through its constitution. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of classification of castes. His writings, and speeches during such tours, discussed the discriminated-against castes of India. Mahatma Gandhi visiting Madras (now Chennai) in 1933 on an India-wide tour for Dalit (he used Harijan) causes.
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