The term "backwards"

I know it has been a while since my last post, and I do promise to write about all that I have been busy with in that time but at the moment I feel the need to express my great frustration over the term "backwards."  This is my last week of classes and therefore I will write more after my finals end at the end of this month.  =) "Backwards" is a term which you will encounter countless times in India.  They use it legally, in conversation, and in literature.  It is used to describe non-developed or non-modernized peoples, classes, or castes.  There are Reservations (like Affirmative Action in the US) that set up quotas for Dalits (people who used to be known as "untouchables"), tribal people and women.  What bothers me most is that they continue to call these classes, castes, and people "backward classes/castes/people."  It just seems extremely judgmental and demeaning, in my opinion.  How would you like to be called backwards?  Forwards, backwards, sideways... it all depends on perspective and opinion anyway!   I think the term was first introduced by the British when they colonized India but it really surprises me how it is still used today.  I asked our program coordinator (mind you, she is not from the backwards class, either), if people from these "backward" groups felt offense at being called "backwards."  She said that because of the Reservations, people only see the benefits that come with that word.   I just still can't understand why others don't see the abomination of using that word.  UGH!  It bothers me SO MUCH!  Especially when I read it in academic journals or in government or law-related circumstances.  It just seems SO offensive to me.  GRRRRRR.   "Backwards" is a word that places those you are referring to on an unequal and inferior level than yourself.  You are not only saying they are inferior but then you are also saying that their way of life is wrong.  So how can one continue using it if they want equality for all?  How come those who are fighting for equality don't insist that they not be referred to as such anymore.  Maybe, in the long scheme of things, there are other battles to be fought that are more important.  But in my opinion, this word represents the societal mentality that needs to be changed.   So anywho, that's my rant on "backward-ism."  I am doing my final paper for Contemporary India on the Tribes of India, the affects of modernization/globalization/development on them and their responses to these projects.  Thus my ranting was prompted by yet another mention of the "backward" classes in one of my readings.  It makes me want to do things backwards just to prove they aren't necessarily bad or wrong.  =p I'd better get back to my paper but as I said, I will write again and post pictures after finals are over.   Have a great week, everyone! Love, Kaia (^_^)