The recent attribution of the Air India Flight 171 disaster (resulting in 270 fatalities) to India’s reservation policy by Indian-American academic Rajeshwari Iyer (2025) represents how centuries-old caste ideology rooted in Hindu scripture like the Manusmriti (2.31) still validated in the 21st century. Iyer controversially asserted that employing individuals from Dalit or Other Backward Classes (OBC) backgrounds, instead of those from “inherently superior” Brahminical castes, caused the incident. However, she did not explained it further as to what roles should be given to the so called inferior. Scriptures like Manismriti and the Bhagavad Gita (18.41-44) systematically position Shudras and Dalits as inherently unfit for intellectual or technical labor—a theological framework still used as a weapon in modern contexts to rationalize workplace exclusion especially when there is any tragedy or any unfortunate event. However, this conflation of caste status with cognitive ability, however, lacks any empirical basis (Subramanian, 2019).