NYT has a very interesting article about Dalits in India.
It is about a transformation taking place in India:
Mr. Prasad was born into the Pasi community, once considered untouchable on the ancient Hindu caste order. Today, a chain-smoking, irrepressible didact, he is the rare outcaste columnist in the English language press and a professional provocateur. His latest crusade is to argue that India’s economic liberalization is about to do the unthinkable: destroy the caste system. The last 17 years of new capitalism have already allowed his people, or Dalits, as they call themselves, to “escape hunger and humiliation,†he says, if not residual prejudice.
There is some truth to this. Prosperity in a society usually helps in killing some social problems. Also, urbanization helps people just people — their history or caste does not travel with them if they don’t want it to.