Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Saturday said that Reservation is a beacon of hope to weed out age-old caste inequalities.
He further said that the Caste system is rooted not just in historical inequalities but also in the complex realities of today.
“We must acknowledge the inherent complexities in law which perpetuate inequalities. We must broaden our perspectives. The notion of popular sovereignty must include plurality at its core. The intricate caste system is rooted not just in historical inequalities but complex realities of today. Affirmative action emerges as transformative action. It acts as a beacon of hope to weed out age-old caste inequalities,” the CJI said while delivering the keynote address on the topic ‘Identity, the Individual and the State: New Paths to Liberty’ at the 36th LawAsia conference in Bengaluru.
Caste continues to hold influence and expands to economic opportunities for different caste groups, he added.
The CJI in his speech also said that no knowledge can be neutral or objective. “No knowledge is ideologically neutral and is contingent on objects of power. We see our own transforming idea of liberty,” he said.
For the removal of underlying systemic discrimination in our society, we need to ensure that people are not boxed into different identities, the CJI added.
