India: quotas vs. the caste system: affirmative action can be an even more emotional issue in India than in the United States.

The problem of caste prejudice in India is as ancient as the country's Hindu texts. In the last 15 years, an economic boom has lifted millions of people out of poverty, and India is now home to one of the world's largest and best-educated work forces. But for those at the bottom of Indian society, caste discrimination has limited access to education and jobs.

The Indian government recently proposed extending college and private-school quotas so that nearly 50 percent of admissions would be reserved for lower castes: The intense reaction it inspired shows how difficult a challenge spreading the benefits of prosperity to India's needy majority can be.

Opponents say additional quotas, also known in India as "reservations," would lower the quality of the best universities and divide students along caste lines.

"Why are we still thinking in terms of caste-based reservation?" asks Poojan Aggarwal, a third-year medical student in New Delhi, the capital. "We should talk now of total meritocracy."

To protest the proposal, doctors and medical students in New Delhi went on strike for several days in May. But the government hasn't backed down.

India's caste-based quotas are nothing new. As authorized by its 1949 Constitution, India has long set aside 22.5 percent spots at public universities for people from lower castes. The new proposal sets aside an additional 27 percent for a group known as "other backward classes" (O.B.C.'s), mostly people from the laborer and servant caste (shudras), nomads, and various tribes.

In the Hindu caste system, there were four varnas, or classes, that determined lifelong status and occupation. Within each varna were hundreds of jati, or subcastes. The system was outlawed when India gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947. But attitudes rooted in this ancient tradition have been slow to change in a population that is about 80 percent Hindu. (Most of the remaining 20 percent is Muslim.)

ECHOES OF U.S. DEBATE

India's current controversy recalls the decades-long debate over affirmative action in the U.S., where the concept was introduced in the 1960s in an effort to remedy the effects of centuries of racial injustice and gender discrimination. Affirmative action programs in college admissions and employment have often been an inflammatory issue, raising objections from those who believe that it results in "reverse discrimination."

The Supreme Court struck down rigid quota systems in university admissions in 1978 as unconstitutional, but it later ruled that race could be used as a factor in admissions decisions, and as a means of achieving diversity in a school's population. America's courts are still wrestling with affirmative action and its implementation today.

Unlike affirmative action in the U.S. today, India's system is entirely based on quotas, which apply to government jobs as well as school admissions. In recent months there have also been suggestions to introduce quotas into the private sector, prompting opposition from business leaders.

Supporters of quotas say that only explicit set-asides can open doors. "Caste is qualification for few; caste is disqualification for many," says Bhalchandra Mungekar, an economist on India's Planning Commission. "A small, microscopic elite of Indian society is determined to perpetuate its monopoly over the privileges."

While caste no longer necessarily dictates one's occupation, it does determine to a large extent whom one marries, socializes with, and in many cases, votes for: O.B.C.'s are a powerful voting bloc in Indian politics.

600 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE

The issue of college-admissions quotas is particularly significant in India because such a large proportion of India's population is so young: More than 600 million people in a nation of 1.1 billion are 25 or younger.

Most members of India's Knowledge Commission, which advises the prime minister on higher education, oppose the additional quotas. They have suggested that the government explore other means--like improving primary and secondary education--before resorting to more quotas.

Indeed, caste is not the only obstacle to getting ahead in India: low income, poor public services, and other factors also deny millions of Indians access to a sound basic education and economic opportunity.

The Hindu Caste System

The hierarchy was based on four varnas, or social classes, listed below from highest to lowest.

Brahmins--priests and teachers

Kshatriyas--warriors and rulers

Vaishyas--merchants and farmers

Shudras--laborers and servants Dalits, or untouchables, had no caste and traditionally performed society's dirtiest tasks. Foreigners and non-Hindus were considered untouchable as well, but were not always treated the same way.

By Somini Sengupta in New Delhi Somini Sengupta is New Delhi bureau chief for The New York Times; additional reporting by Hari Kumar for The Times; and Suzanne Bilyeu.