They are now associated with the middle-class and social advancement and make up around one fifth of India’s population. The lowest of the four ancient social classes, or Varnas-, the Shudras were ...

The social structures of these ... has shaped the contemporary demographic structure of India. Culturally, it reflects in the ...

India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification ... a grouping called the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) which fall between the traditional upper castes ...