How prevalent is the caste system and religious discrimination in India?

I’m from Tamil Nadu and I can say I never faced serious problems because of my caste, even though my community is labelled as a backward caste by the government. To give you an overview, my parents hail from small villages, but thankfully educated. Many of my relatives (my parents’ generation) live in rural areas and villages, but still don’t discriminate people or got discriminated(at least in my knowledge) and quite liberal in their views even though they weren’t well educated due to poverty. We even had inter-caste and inter-religion marriages in our family(with parents’ approval), but never faced serious backlash. Majority of my family were accepting, some opposed but eventually accepted. Since my childhood, the topic of caste has always been a taboo in my home and school. Students or teachers never ask others of their caste or where they originally come from. I know some students formed friendships based on their caste during my higher secondary education, but it never posed a problem like discrimination or got violent in the name of caste because students knew very well they will get expelled from the school. Me or many of my friends never faced problems due to our caste/religion, at least in our experiences during School, college or in workplace. I know there are exceptions and people still ask others of their caste casually in my state too, but the numbers got reduced(hopefully). I know this might be a result of the Dravidian movement and if it is, I’m grateful for that. But this post isn’t about the politics. These are just my experiences. I am wondering how people from other states have been doing in terms of caste, as I can still see news here and there about violence due to caste/religion. Is caste/religion still a thing that plays a role in education/ job in the current generation? I’m not talking about reservations, but what a middle class individual in the current generation in your region/state will face on their daily lives due to their caste/religion. How is the mindset of the educated youths? Is there a hope for salvation or not?