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Saturday, June 18, 2011

[ZESTCaste] In support of academic freedom

Those supporting academic freedom and cultural innovation and their autonomy from legal control can sign the solidarity statement online at http://kafila.org/2011/06/17/locking-up-gods-within-caste/ A summary of the writing available on the case against Thirumavalavan, Meena Kandasamy and Samya has now been posted at http://writingcaste.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/the-caste-of-gods/
You can also sign and send this email in reply to this address to add your name. Do circulate this email widely.

We call for all those who support democracy and free speech to express solidarity with Thirumavalavan, Meena Kandasamy and Samya (now Stree-Samya).

Kathavarayan and Madurai Veeran are among the gods who are acknowledged to be Dalit and are worshipped by many castes. Clearly, in the oral history of the people, the gods have castes and these castes are not determined by who worships them.

The twin brothers Ponnar Shankar inhabit the realm between hero and deity. They have been fictionalised, recreated for the silver screen, and are worshipped across communities. Their origin myth remains contested territory - it is variously read as symbolic of the conflict between agriculturists/warriors and hunters, as part of founding tale of the land-owning agriculturist Kongu Vellala Gounder sub-caste and, in a textbook example of how Hindutva functions, have recently been claimed as reincarnations of the Pandavas. Like other deities of the people, they are firmly located in a historical imagination among a society of human beings, and not in a mythos of gods.

In a footnote in Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers by Thirumavalavan, Meena Kandasamy describes Ponnar Shankar as Dalit. M Loganathan, an advocate from Nanje Goundanpudur and Students Wing Convenor of the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK), has been quoted in news reports as saying that there is evidence proving that Ponnar and Shankar are Kongu Vellala Gounders and claiming that depicting them as Dalits will lead to caste tension.

Dragging cultural contestations into the legal domain threatens the various, creative ways in which people innovate cultural practices and the equally creative ways in which research tries to make sense of them. Criminalising cultural expression and innovation is an attempt to freeze culture.

Locking up gods within castes is a tactic used by dominant castes to maintain status quo. This is an open threat against dalit belief, expression and right to self-determination. Like the repeated physical atrocities against Dalits, attempts to suppress their cultural and intellectual autonomy and self-assertion are part of a wider onslaught on democracy. This case is part of the drive to reconstruct India as a religious and cultural monolith, which it has never been.

The litigant had earlier complained that the film based on the Ponnar Shankar story, scripted by M. Karunanidhi, is misrepresenting deities but had contented himself with writing a letter to the censor board then. It is the leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, a well-known Dalit poet and translator and a publishing house that have been singled out for filing a case.

We are secretly pleased that a footnote* is believed to have such power. Academics in our ranks are even now rejoicing at the thought of how they may change the world, one footnote at a time. But, mostly, we are offended.

We are offended that a deity being named dalit can even be called an offensive act. We are offended at how legal backing is available for openly-casteist harassment. We are offended at news reports that present this case as a quaint little example of caste quibbling, without pointing to the long history of violence, without pointing to the continued conspiracy to maintain the status quo and culture of violence that this case is an outcome of.

Our histories are deeply marked by caste. We seek to emancipate our present by reclaiming these histories for the marginalised.

Re-writing history from the perspective of the marginalised is necessary and vital for the self-determination of dalit communities. Now, such an effort is being criminalised. This is a threat to democracy and the pluralist ethos. This is an offence against free speech. We stand in solidarity with Thirumavalavan, Meena Kandasamy and Samya, in support of the subaltern perspective and assertion they stand for.

*Here are some inflammatory footnotes about violence against Dalits:

Dalits have been denied temple entry, forced to work with hazardous material, treated as bonded labour and attacked for attempting to buy their way out of their bondage (subhead: Dalit Family Attacked over Land, September 2002).
In Kalapatti village, sustained violence against dalits, has lead to many of them to fleeing their homes. "On 16 May 2004, a Dalit settlement in the village of Kalapatti in Tamil Nadu was attacked by upper-caste members (Country Reports 2004 28 Feb. 2005; UN 23 Feb. 2005; DHRM n.d.; Frontline 19 June – 2 July 2004). According to the sources, approximately 100 houses were burnt down by a group of 200 people and Dalits trying to escape were assaulted, including reports of sexual assault of women (Country Reports 2004 28 Feb. 2005; UN 23 Feb. 2005; DHRM n.d.; Frontline 19 June – 2 July 2004)," notes the UN Refugee Agency website.

Signed

Jairus Banaji, Chittibabu Padavala, R. Kalaiarasu, Swathi Vadlamudi, Kuffir Nalgundwar, Malarvizhi Jayanth, Ajith Kumar A.S., Anu Ramdas, Anoop Kumar, Divya Trivedi, Karthikeyan Damodaran, Jaya Shobaneshwari, Satish Poduval, Khalid Anis Ansari, Afsar Mohammed, Divya Rajagopal, Bobby Kunhu, Jenny Rowena, Anil Tharayath Varghese, Sanil Zenbuddha, Smitha Patil, Sudeep Ben Aadil Almitra - Kozhikode, Sanjeev Sreedharan, Salim T.K., Rupesh Kumar, Manohar Kumar, Nabina Das, Afthab Ellath, Sruthi Herbert, Anand Navayana - Publisher - Navayana Publishing, Murali Shanmugavelan, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Vinay Sreenivasa, Anitha Ranjani Sampath, Rhoda Alex, Karthik Navayan, Poovi Gothai, Vikram Benny, Sushanta Sarkar, Kumar Varma Kayanikorothu - Andhra University, Rajashekhar Geddada, Thiben Ram - France, Sanam Roohi Reddy, Kiritkumar Pravasi, Prasheel Anand, Peggy Trawick, Shiva Shankar, Sujatha Surepally, Chellapandi - IHRE District Coordinator - Palani, Ponnuchamy, Arumugam, Ravichandran Bathran, D. Ravikumar, Jebamalai Raja, Benjamin P Kaila - Los Angeles - Friends for Education International, Gills John, Leena Manimekalai, Poovannan Ganapathy, Reny Ayline, Sadique Pk Mampad, Rama Hansraj, Chandraiah Gopani, Prabhu Mohapatra - Department of History - Delhi University, Nivedita Menon - JNU, Pramada Menon, Rajkumar Hans - History - MSU - Baroda, Janaki Srinivasan - Panjab University, Aniket Alam, Aditya Nigam, Sudarshan Papanna, Chinnaiyan Lakshmanan, Smriti Suman - Department of Political Science - Delhi University, Baskar, Yasser, K Sanjay Kumar, Abdul Khadar M., Shruti Sareen, Balaji Kulasekaran, Jay Sullivan - USA, Md. Ali - Correspondent - TwoCircles.net, Ravi Shankar, James Chang, Akshay Sharma - National University of Juridical Sciences - Calcutta, Kenneth Jackson - USA, Abhirami Sriram - Editor - Orient Blackswan, Karthika Naïr - France, Vinay Bhat, Nishanth, Munusamy Ganapathy, Prashant Tandon - Delhi, Sneha Krishnan, Bhargavi - Student, Rahul P.S., Inasu, Muraleedharan Raghavan, Mathi, Karthikeya Sivasenapathy - Tiruppur, Joe, Deepti Nair - Sub-editor - New Indian Express, Venkatesa Pandian, Nathaniel Roberts - Research Fellow - Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity - Germany

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[ZESTCaste] Outlook's piece on Dalit students' suicide

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277215

DALIT STUDENTS

A Dissonance In Saraswati's Divine Veena

The spectre of caste prejudice lingers on even in our most prized institutions

CHANDRANI BANERJEE

There are no happy endings in this tale, only tragedy. A series of heartrending stories have shone the spotlight on the plight of Dalit students in some of India's premium educational institutions. According to a recent report prepared by Insight Foundation, around 18 students belonging to the scheduled caste scheduled tribe (SC/ST) and other backward classes (OBCs) have committed suicide in institutes of higher learning across the country in the past four years. Senthil Kumar's parents are agricultural labourers and constantly on the move, managing to barely eke out a semi-decent living. Theirs was a life grounded in hope. Hope that their son will do them proud by becoming the first person from their village to obtain a PhD after completing his doctoral dissertation in physics from Hyderabad Central University. But even that flicker of a hope was abruptly extinguished when Senthil took his own life in 2008—unable, allegedly, to bear the discrimination that was meted out to him at the university.

Faculty members, students and members of the Dalit Solidarity group—S. Anand, Ravi Kumar and Suneetha Achyut—brought the matter to the attention of the authorities. Subsequently, a fact-finding committee was formed to conduct an inquiry. Its findings pointed to a lack of sensitivity on part of the institute. The inquiry's report states: "Inconsistency and subjectivity in the standards applied for coursework and for allocation of supervisors in the 2006 batch led to an understandable perception that has gained among the SC/ST students in the school of physics, that they are being discriminated against on the basis of their caste."

Suneetha, who was actively involved in mobilising the students to attract the attention of the authorities, doesn't mince words: "The fact-finding committee clearly mentioned in its report that inconsistency and subjectivity in the standards led to an understandable perception among the Dalit students that they are being discriminated against. Now, we believe the hint alone is enough, but if they're bent on overlooking it, then no one can actually be of any help."

Suneetha says Senthil's parents are still in a state of shock. They have received some compensation from the university—after the intervention of the activists. In that, they're one of the lucky ones. The larger point that the activists are looking to make is that there are cases where the parents have no idea that they can do something to get justice if their ward meets with a similar fate. "The bigger issue is that the authorities responsible are yet to even acknowledge that there is a problem. Looking for solutions comes after," says Suneetha.

Professor Vinod Parvala of Hyderabad Central University chaired the inquiry into Senthil's death. Speaking to Outlook, he says: "There is a need for social sensitivity, for sure. Even in our fact-finding report, we have pointed out some issues. The university's faculty is a class apart as far as their respective subjects are concerned, but they have no idea about the changes that've taken place in society. So they need to be sensitised." He adds that while some steps have been taken, there's more that needs doing. "The university has already issued some guidelines, but the age-old divides will only truly disappear once the thought process has been changed."

Seeking Answers Manish Kumar's parents want to know why. (Photograph by Nirala Tripathi)

In a more recent case, Manish Kumar, a student of IIT-Roorkee, reportedly faced a similar situation. The third-year student allegedly could not cope with being the butt of both the faculty's and the students' constant taunts and belittlement. He committed suicide in February 2011. "From day one, they made him feel inferior and attempted to convince him that he was unfit to be a student at such a premier institute. The students used to tell him that he should leave the institute and go somewhere else because he had a lower IQ," says Rajendra Kumar, Manish's father.


	"Institutions have to form social environs within which their dalit students don't feel alienated from the other students."Narendra Jhadav, Member, Planning Commission

"We had taken the matter up with the warden and the college assured us that proper action would be taken. The warden knows the names of the students who had troubled him (Manish)," he says. Frustrated with the lack of interest and action taken by IIT-Roorkee, Kumar filed a FIR with the Roorkee police. And even that hasn't been easy—the apathy shown by the police in registering a case forced him to go to court. Only after the court's intervention did the FIR get registered. However, there has been no progress in the investigation.

And then there's the story of Bal Mukund, a third-year All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) student from the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, who committed suicide in March 2010 after allegedly being a constant victim of the biases of the AIIMS faculty. He told his parents about the alleged discrimination and filed a complaint with the authorities in Delhi—there's no record of such a complaint. His father had sold his ancestral land to finance his son's studies. After Bal Mukund's death, his family has been left devastated and debt-ridden.

"The authorities claimed he was depressed. I want to know why (they made this contention). He wanted to study medicine and had gotten admitted into AIIMS. He was extremely happy and had been doing well in his initial years. What had happened to him, all of a sudden, that he felt he had to take this extreme step? We are shattered. I want the CBI to investigate the matter," says Gulab Chand Ahirwal, Bal Mukund's father.

Tragedies like these spurred a group of Dalit professionals and students to help create awareness. The group also aims to set up a round-the-clock helpline to foster awareness among the students that suicide is never an option—not even as a last resort. Anoop Kumar, an advocate and activist who leads the group, is meeting with the parents of the students who committed suicide. He explains, "We are not doing this to get compensation. This is an awareness campaign that will help people deal with the situation. Parents can come and use this platform to talk to various authorities and check on the situation before it gets worse."

The authorities, too, have taken some interest. Both the home ministry and the ministry of social justice and empowerment have given verbal assurances that they will look into the matter and say an inquiry may be ordered soon—though nothing has happened as yet. The director of the Indian Institute of Dalit studies, Rajendra P. Mamgain, says, "The long history of such incidents have shown that this is a very real problem. Sensitivity is required at every level and students need to be included in the activities of the institutes they are associated with. Their confidence goes down when they are being left out. The 'mainstream' students have to understand that their attitude can contribute to bettering the social fabric. We all have to work towards fostering a positive attitude among Dalit students."

Narendra Jhadav, a member of the planning commission and an activist who has long been working towards bringing the OBCs into—and feel like they are a part of—the mainstream, says, "Integration is required and institutes have to, through their governing bodies, create social environments in which the students don't feel left out. This is needed at each step. The situation needs to be looked into and addressed." By spotlighting such incidents, some of which are in court, the activists hope to douse the fires of prejudice raging on Indian campuses. If the list of Dalit student suicides is to stop growing, admitting the problem is the first step to solving it.

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Re: [ZESTCaste] Buddhist marriages on rise

please send the photographs of BSI representatives, and couples. to publish in Tamilnadu circulation of The Master Key monthly news for Tamilnadu BSI.

--- On Mon, 6/13/11, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
Subject: [ZESTCaste] Buddhist marriages on rise
To: "zestcaste" <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Monday, June 13, 2011, 5:30 PM

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/regions/karimnagar/buddhist-marriages-rise-603

Buddhist marriages on rise

June 11, 2011DC WARANGAL

June 10:

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Friday, June 17, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Human Rights Council Passes First-Ever Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity [2 Attachments]

[Attachment(s) from ranjani k.murthy included below]

Dear Pramada

Thanks, I am disseminating.

My concern is specifically with discrimination against people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity who are poor and from marginalised communities (dalits, adivasis, poor Muslims, labourers etc). They are denied basic services, housing, education, employment (even under MNREGS), forced into prostitution, forced into marriage etc.

Sex realignment surgery is available only for male to female transgender in TN public health facilities, why not for female to male? There is a special board for Aravanis in TN, but not for all people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity. In situations of disasters they are hugely neglected

There is too much of focus on "MSM" (I disagree with this term) and "transgender (male to female)" and HIV/AIDS and this leaves out a whole load of other discrimination faced. In particular the discrimination faced by dalit, adivasi and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities. There is free mastercheck up for "MSM", transgender (male to female) and women compelled into prostitution in TN, this lumping is not viewed positively by poor people from above groups I met, and they feel discriminated. Why not free master check up for all? They want mental health services which are not part of this package- lot of focus is on STIs. Are they just tools for HIV/AIDS prevention.

I think it would be useful for all <$2 per day to form and alliance together, and include people of diverse sexual and gender identities who are poor within that and democratise that from all aspects of diversity. The HIV/AIDS lobby is pushing for legalisation of prostitution, but I think unless alliance is formed by people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities with those under $<2 per day, what is just for India is not going to emerge.

with warm regards
Ranjani

--- On Fri, 17/6/11, Pramada Menon <pramadam@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Pramada Menon <pramadam@gmail.com>
Subject: [feministsindia] Fwd: [sogi] Press Release on Historic UN Vote Today - Please Distribute Widely [2 Attachments]
To: "Feminists India" <feministsindia@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, 17 June, 2011, 7:47 PM

FYI

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kimberley Vance <kim@arc-international.net>
Date: 17 June 2011 5:05:08 PM GMT+05:30
To: sogi list <sogi-list@arc-international.net>
Subject: [sogi] Press Release on Historic UN Vote Today - Please Distribute Widely

Historic Decision at the United Nations:
Human Rights Council Passes First-Ever Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

(Geneva, June 17, 2011) In a groundbreaking achievement for upholding the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity (L.9/Rev.1).

The resolution, presented by South Africa along with Brasil and 39 additional co-sponsors from all regions of the world, was passed by a vote of 23 in favour, 19 against, and 3 abstentions. A list of how States voted is attached. In its presentation to Council, South Africa recalled the UDHR noting that "everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind" and Brasil called on the Council to "open the long closed doors of dialogue".

Today's resolution is the first UN resolution ever to bring specific focus to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and follows a joint statement on these issues delivered at the March session of the council. It affirms the universality of human rights, and notes concern about acts of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This commitment of the Human Rights Council sends an important signal of support to human rights defenders working on these issues, and recognizes the legitimacy of their work.

"The South African government has now offered progressive leadership, after years of troubling and inconsistent positions on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity. Simultaneously, the government has set a standard for themselves in international spaces. We look forward to contributing to and supporting sustained progressive leadership by this government and seeing the end of the violations we face daily". (Dawn Cavanagh, Coalition of African Lesbians)

The resolution requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a study on violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and calls for a panel discussion to be held at the Human Rights Council to discuss the findings of the study in a constructive and transparent manner, and to consider appropriate follow-up.

"That we are celebrating the passage of a UN resolution about human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation is remarkable, however the fact that gender identity is explicitly named truly makes this pivotal moment one to rejoice in," added Justus Eisfeld, Co-Director of GATE. "The Human Rights Council has taken a step forward in history by acknowledging that both sexual and gender non-conformity make lesbian, gay, trans* and bi people among those most vulnerable and indicated decisively that states have an obligation to protect us from violence."

"As treaty bodies, UN special procedures, and national courts have repeatedly recognized, international human rights law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity." (Alli Jernow, International Commission of Jurists)

The resolution is consistent with other regional and national jurisprudence, and just this week, the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS recognised the need to address the human rights of men who have sex with men, and the Organization of American States adopted by consensus a resolution condemning violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Earlier in this 17^th session of the Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo, reported to the Council that:

"[C]ontributory factors for risk of violence include individual aspects of women's bodily attributes such as race, skin colour, intellectual and physical abilities, age, language skills and fluency, ethnic identity and sexual orientation."

The report also detailed a number of violations committed against lesbian, bisexual and trans women, including cases of rape, attacks and murders. It is therefore regrettable that a reference to "women who face sexuality-related violence" was removed from the final version of another resolution focused on the elimination of violence against women during the same session.

"Despite this inconsistency, we trust the UN resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity will facilitate the integration of the full range of sexual rights throughout the work of the UN." (Meghan Doherty, Sexual Rights Initiative)

A powerful civil society statement was delivered at the end of the session, welcoming the resolution and affirming civil society's commitment to continuing to engage with the United Nations with a view to ensuring that all persons are treated as free and equal in dignity and rights, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Now, our work is just beginning", said Kim Vance of ARC International. "We look forward to the High Commissioner's report and the plenary panel next March, as well as to further dialogue with, and support from, those States which did not yet feel able to support the resolution, but which share the concern of the international community at these systemic human rights abuses."

ARC International, John Fisher (Geneva) +41 79 508 3968 or john@arc-international.net   
Amnesty International, Peter Splinter (Geneva) +41 (0) 22 906 9483 or Emily Gray (London) +44 (0) 20 7413 5865
CAL – Coalition of African Lesbians, Dawn Cavanagh (South Africa) + 27 11 918 6115 or dawn@cal.org.za   
COC Nederland, Björn van Roozendaal (Netherlands) +31 6 22 55 83 00 or BvanRoozendaal@coc.nl  
Council for Global Equality, Mark Bromley (Washington) +1.202.719.0511 or Mark@globalequality.org
GATE - Global Action for Trans* Equality, Justus Eisfeld (New York) jeisfeld@transactivists.org, +1-646-341-1699 or Mauro Cabral (Argentina) mcabral@transactivists.org or +54 9 351 5589876
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, Stefano Fabeni (Washington) +1 312-919-3512 or sfabeni@heartlandalliance.org  
Human Rights Watch, Siphokazi Mthathi (South Africa) mthaths@hrw.org or + 27 82 777 1319/ +27 11 484 2640 or Juliette De Rivero (Geneva) +41 079 640 1649 or derivej@hrw.org  
IDAHO - International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Joel Bedos (France) jbedos@dayagainsthomophobia.org  
IGLHRC - International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Jessica Stern (New York) + 1 212 430 6014 or jstern@iglhrc.org  
ILGA- the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, Renato Sabbadini, +32 474 857 950 or renato@ilga.org
International Campaign Stop Trans Pathologization STP 2012, Amets Suess, stp2012@gmail.com
International Commission of Jurists, Alli Jernow (Geneva) +41(0)22 979 3800) or allison.jernow@icj.org
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Bjorn Pettersson (Geneva), b.pettersson@ishr.ch, +41 22 919 7117  
Sexual Rights Initiative, Meghan Doherty, Sexual Rights Initiative, +41 (0)78 871 6713 or meghan@acpd.ca
Thailand's Sexual Diversity Network, Paisarn Likhitpreechakul +66 81 634 3450 or forsogi@gmail.com
Transgender Europe (TGEU), Carla LaGata (Germany), mana@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Attachment (Records of Vote and Co-Sponsorship)

States supporting the resolution: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay

States against the resolution: Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Moldova, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda.

Abstentions: Burkina Faso, China, Zambia

Absent: Kyrgyzstan, Libya (suspended)

Co-Sponsors of the resolution: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, and Uruguay.

--
Kim Vance, Co-Director
ARC International
132 Prince Albert Road, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 1M6

CANADA
+1-902-442-3630 (work)
+1-902-488-6404 (cell)

kim@arc-international.net

www.arc-international.net

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Attachment(s) from ranjani k.murthy

2 of 2 File(s)

Final

Rev.1.pdf

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[ZESTCaste] Equality Act 2010 - Invitation to comment on UK Government Website

Hello,

You will have at some stage been involved in the lobbying for a change to the Equality Legislation to include provisions to outlaw Caste based discrimination in the UK. The Government is currently inviting comments on the Equality Legislation.

Here is your opportunity to join the debate and make a comment on the following website and about the need to bring into force the provision on Caste contained in the Equality Act 2010 (now over a year old).

http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/equalities/

It is vital we record our contributions and comments onto this website.

Regards

Ravi

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