Can Caste be eliminated in India? don't people just have to change their last name?

1. Why last names alone don’t solve it

• Many Dalit and oppressed-caste families do change or drop their caste-marking surnames (e.g., adopting “Kumar,” “Raj,” “Ambedkar,” or just an initial).

• But caste identity is still traced through village of origin, occupation, family networks, marriage practices, and even accents or dialects.

• In rural areas especially, people know each other’s caste without surnames — land ownership, temples, and social segregation make it visible.

2. What it would take to really eliminate caste

• Inter-caste marriage: Ambedkar called this the most effective way to annihilate caste. Mixing families and bloodlines breaks the cycle of inherited hierarchy. But these marriages still face huge resistance, even violence.

• Land and resource redistribution: Caste is tied to who owns land and who does “manual” or “polluting” work. Unless land, jobs, and wealth are shared more equally, caste hierarchies keep reproducing themselves.

• Educational and economic mobility: Reservation (affirmative action) has helped create Dalit middle classes, but the stigma remains. Mass, quality education and secure employment are crucial to undermine caste divisions.

• Cultural transformation: Caste survives through rituals, religious practices, and social customs (endogamy, separate dining, hereditary priesthood). Ambedkar and the Navayana Buddhists emphasized rejecting Hindu casteist practices entirely.

• Legal and political enforcement: India has strong anti-discrimination laws, but weak implementation. Ending caste requires serious enforcement against atrocities and discrimination.

• Urbanization and globalization: Cities, migration, and global exposure dilute caste somewhat, but new forms of “coded” caste discrimination also emerge (for example, in tech jobs, housing, or matrimonial ads).

3. Ambedkar’s View

Ambedkar argued in Annihilation of Caste that caste isn’t just about labels — it’s a system of graded inequality rooted in endogamy and Hindu religious authority. For him, the real solution was:

• Rejecting caste-based Hindu social order.

• Converting to religions like Buddhism that reject caste.

• Building political power among oppressed castes to push for structural reforms.