A Letter to Arvind for making India a Casteless Society.

Dear Arvind,

We Indians pride ourselves by talking of Unity in Diversity but we are one of the most divided race of people.
We are divided on the basis of castes, sub-castes, languages, regions, religions, gothras etc. etc.. It is really astonishing that we have remained together for 68 years.
One of the biggest divisive forces has been castes and sub-castes.
Although we attained independence 68 years ago, the caste divide remains or rather increases each year.
I have a suggestion to remove the caste divide.
We Indians basically have two parts in our names. 
Some may have even three or four parts when father's, grandfather's and village names are added.
Generally there are two parts.
The first part is the christened name given during name giving ceremony.
The second part is the Surname which gives an idea of the caste of a person.
Like my name is Radheshyam Sharma.
The first part, Radheshyam, was given to me by my grandfather.
The Sharma part gives an idea of my caste.
Some of my cousins have taken the name  Sahal instead of Sharma as this was the name of our caste in the village in Rajasthan.
It is the second part of the name which divides us.
If we could get rid of the second part as has been done by Dr. Harshvardhan and his son Mayank, India's caste problem would be solved.
However, having a single name raises the problem of unique identity hence I would suggest we have a dual name system.
The first part could be your own Christened name and the second part could be the Christened name of one's father.
Like my father was Gopinath Sharma.
So I could adopt the name of Radheshyam Gopinath.
This principle is followed in south India.
I remember in school, we had a boy by the name of Vardachari Janardhan.
His father's name was E. Vardachari.
I don't know what E stood for but I understand it was Janardhan's grandfather's name.
Thus we see that the problems associated with caste have considerably reduced in south India.
All Delhi voters (96%), have voted for you, irrespective of caste, religion, language, status.
You have the mobile numbers of a majority of the population to whom we called during the Call Campaign.
We should ask the people their opinion regarding changing the names of all the people who would want to adopt the new names without the caste.
Street corner meetings, mohalla sabhas could be held to explain the purpose to the people.
If they agree, we could have a mobile referendum and if a majority agree,a law could be passed for people living in Delhi. All the people could change their names through an Affidavit. Certified copies of the Affidavit could be submitted to all departments which require KYC.
This would be boon to ladies who have to change their surnames to that of their spouses after marriage. All their certificates, passports have their maiden names. Immediately after marriage, they have to change everything to include their spouses surname. This becomes even more of a problem if she marries a second time with a spouse who has a different surname. All these problem would not arise if she kept her christened name and her father's first name throughout her life.
If a man can keep the same name throughout his life, why can't a woman do the same? Why does she have to attach her spouse's name?
I know, the BJP, Congress and all other parties would object as it would finish their vote banks but if the people of Delhi agree, let us make a beginning. 
What Delhi does today, the rest of India will do tomorrow.
Religion is a very personal affair and need not be broadcasted. I know our Muslim brethren face problems in getting accommodation, jobs etc because of their Muslim names. When filing their affidavit for changing their names, it should be left to them whether they want to adopt Muslim names or Hindu names.
As shown in the film "PK", it is the outward appearance and names which are a giveaway of our caste, religion and other idiosyncrasies. As pointed out by PK, if we just look at our faces but don't open out mouths to speak, it would be impossible to differentiate people from different parts of India. 
To alleviate the fears of our brethren who have suffered untouchability and other social evils through the ages, reservations could continue as per exisitng rules.
That is what I would call Unity in Diversity.

I do hope for a start we adopt this proposal in Delhi after taking the people into confidence.

Yours sincerely,

Radheshyam Sharma

188, Bangur Avenue,
B-Block,
Kolkata - 700055

Cell: 9331259878