India clashes with Britain over Equality Bill racism law
India is set to clash with Britain over Westminster's new Equality
Bill which outlaws caste discrimination as a form of racism.
Dean Nelson, in New Delhi
Published: 6:50PM BST 31 Mar 2010
The bill, which has been passed in the House of Lords, has been
welcomed by campaigners for India's "dalits" or "untouchables", a
caste which suffers extreme violence and persecution, but has been
rejected by their government.
There are more than 250 million dalits in India, many of whom are
denied water, access to schools, and in some cases the right to pass
through villages by upper caste Hindus who believe their presence, or
even their shadow, pollutes them. Some dalits in India still work as
"night soil carriers" – transporting human waste from latrines.
Ministers in London have become increasingly concerned about
discrimination and persecution against lower caste Indians in Britain
following a report last year which claimed thousands had been
ill-treated because of their caste.
The report, by the Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance, surveyed 300
British Asians and cited cases of children being bullied at school,
bus inspectors refusing to work with lower caste drivers, and
employees being sacked after their bosses discovered their caste
status.
Until now victims of caste discrimination in Britain have had no
recourse to law. India also has legislation outlawing caste
discrimination but is fiercely opposed to any comparison with racism.
The Indian government has made its views known to British delegations
at the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva and at a European
Union-India Human Rights Dialogue last month.
"India's position on this issue has been clear and consistent. Caste
and race discrimination are two separate issues and there is no case
to equate the two. We are opposed to attempts at international fora to
equate the issues," said an official source.
Until the mid-1990s India had back moves to include all discrimination
based on descent as a feature of racism in the International
Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. But it changed
its position in 1996 when it is understood to have become concerned at
onerous reporting obligations under the convention.
India's leading campaigner for dalit rights, Dr Udit Raj, last night
welcomed the Equality Bill and said it would increase pressure for the
UN to recognise caste as a form of racism.
"The United Kingdom has done the right thing. The new law will give
moral boost to the people discriminated on the basis of their caste
and will force the UN to include caste as a tool of discrimination.
The government of India has been adopting dual standards. At world
forums they accept Indians are victims of caste but when it comes to
local politics and policies they cash in on caste politics," he told
The Daily Telegraph.
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