UNI

New Delhi, Mar 28: Indians want to see their country punch its weight around the world, but are worried the caste system is holding it back, a BBC poll suggests.

Almost two-thirds of respondents in the World Service poll on 'attitudes' pertaining to national identity and the Indian marketplace said India being an economic superpower was important, but 55 per cent thought caste issues were still a ''barrier to social harmony''.

This is contrary to widely-held beliefs about the weak effect of caste on India's future.

''This poll shows that caste is not a fading social problem but that caste abuse continues to restrain India,'' said Joseph D'Souza, President of the Dalit Freedom Network.

''Caste segregates India in every social arena: from marriage to hiring practices to politics, caste is dividing India and will continue to divide India until transformation begins among the lowest castes to negate the ill effects of caste discrimination.'' For the purpose of survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,616 Indians was interviewed and the poll found that a majority (71 per cent) are proud to be Indians.

The BBC poll also revealed that among major religious groups, Indian Christians were most proud of their national heritage.

Asked if they agreed with the statement ''I am proud to be an Indian,'' 73 per cent of Christians responded positivisly followed by 71 per cent of Hindu and 60 per cent of Muslim respondents.

Most also thought it was important that India should be a political (60 per cent) and military (60 per cent) superpower.

A majority were optimistic about many aspects of the modern Indian state - more than half (55 per cent) think the Indian justice system treats the rich and poor people fairly, a statistic which some may find surprising given perceived failures in the police and courts.

Nearly as many (52 per cent) think being a woman is no barrier to success any more.

The survey, conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan and its research partner in India, also found that twice as many people (48 per cent) would rather work for a private company than for the government (22 per cent).

But on other topics respondents were less positive.

Forty-seven per cent agreed that "corruption is a fact of life which we should accept as the price of doing business in today's world", although younger people were less tolerant of corruption than older people.

And though Indians agreed on the need for India to be an economic superpower, they were less sure they were seeing the fruits of recent economic growth.

Asked whether India's economic growth over the past 10 years had benefited them and their families directly, exactly the same proportion (45 per cent) said that it had, as disagreed.

One in two - 50 per cent - felt that ''people in India don't take their religion seriously enough'', while two in five (40 per cent) believed that "young people have lost touch with their heritage and traditions".