ABSTRACT
Social stratification became more formalised during the Mao era where the masses were segmented into peasants, industry workers, cadres, intellectuals and rural or urban, etc. and people were allocated places to live based on their Hukou designation. The liberalisation of the economy leading to increases in rural–urban migration has brought the disadvantages for those with a rural Hukou designation to the fore. The peasant and factory workers, once the bedrock of the communist state, are now the disadvantaged segments of society. Internal Indian rural–urban migrants similarly experience discrimination and harassment from the locals, but the unique Indian phenomenon of caste may also play a part in the experiences of migrants. Moreover, race and religion also play a part in both China and India in regard to social justice. The Falun Gong in China is regarded as a legitimate policing target and, in both countries, Muslims are regarded as the potential enemy within. In China, the police profile the out-group just like police forces all over the world in order to do their job. However, the PSB does not only patrol the borderline between the in-group and the out-group but they are in fact very much part of the in-groups’ ruling elite. This makes them not merely tools of the ruling elite, as in the case of the Indian police, but they are in fact at the very core of the PRC system.
