In India, dangerous stuff often pays less due to caste and other considerations. Manual sewage cleaners have a really high death rate in India and are paid peanuts.
https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/2...
Somehow the poverty and destitution seems to be always blamed on the natives.
Moreover Caste system is a European system introduced by the British to divide up communities.
"The varnas originated in Vedic society (c. 1500–500 BCE). The first three groups, Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishya have parallels with other Indo-European societies, while the addition of the Shudras is probably a Brahmanical invention from northern India."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India#Vedic_va...
Caste and any discrimination is abhorrent, and like others have commented is a more recent phenomenon. In old times and today, anyone can become a priest/Brahmin by learning. [2]
1. Same wikipedia page
2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/amaravati/first-bat...
In Europe the king was the representative of god and got his powers through the church. Then came the merchants, landowners who funded the state. Artisans took the next rung. The unskilled workers took the most menial jobs came last.
We call this today as the class system but this was the original caste system imported from Europe and applied on the native population of India.
While one can not deny that there were/are different communities and a kind of class hierarchies in India just like in the rest of the world. The rigid caste system is actually the work of the Church. In India each community had its own gods and its own chieftains and priests.
how much would you pay for a coconut?
Caste works in a similar way, but is determined by birth.
You still see casteism and classism in Indian today, although it may be more subtle.