NEW DELHI: The British parliament's decision to recognize the existence of caste alongside race as a form of discrimination could hurt India's long-held argument that the two sources of bias could not be equated.
Follow up:
Worse, it may give a strong push to portray caste as a global phenomenon like race, undercutting India's claim that caste prejudice was indigenous to Indian society and it could not be a subject of policy at international fora like the UN.
As the law in the UK became a reality earlier this week, experts said it would trigger lobbying for similar legal protection in the US, Canada, South Africa and Australia - countries that have a strong presence of Indian diaspora, but have little awareness of caste.
The presence of Hindu/ Indian diaspora and a good chunk of dalits is the pre-requisite for such laws to come into effect. Officials and civil society representatives said a reluctant House of Commons could be persuaded because of the presence of around four lakh SCs in the UK.
While the development has led to glee among civil rights groups, the Indian government is worried. Senior government sources said the UK law would pile pressure on India aided by noises from international bodies and greater scrutiny.
A laxity by Indian states in dealing with caste issues could find mention in reports of Western countries and institutions . In the long term, it could render India vulnerable as child labour and gender bias did earlier. India has till now rebuffed pressure by arguing that caste was an Indian problem that stood proscribed by law with legal mechanisms to address it.
Vivek Kumar, a sociologist with the JNU, said, "The studies on diaspora will have to acknowledge that caste exists outside India. The new UK law has strengthened claims of academics that caste is not a local problem, but is a part of the diaspora."
Related tags:
Latest news, world news, current affairs, breaking news, arab
country news, daily news, Islamic news, india news, Pakistan news, , india Pakistan
news, current news, news headlines, Latest World News,Articles,
Latest news, latest urdu news, world news, current affairs,
breaking news, arab country news, sport news, cricket news, daily news, Islamic
news, india news, Pakistan news, india Pakistan news, current news,Current
affairs, Economic Affairs,Islam and Human Rights, Islam and Politics , Islam
and the West, Muslim Media, Islamic Society, Islamic World,Latest World
News, breaking news ,Top Breaking News, Current Affairs, daily news, recent
news, news headlines
No comments:
Post a Comment