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Caste Away in 21st CenturyWhen Ram Parkash Lakha, the former mayor of Coventry, near Birmingham, England, faced caste discrimination from upper caste voters while ..... |
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Caste Away in 21st Century
When Ram Parkash Lakha, the former mayor of Coventry, near Birmingham, England, faced caste discrimination from upper caste voters while seeking election in a largely Indian ward on the Labour party ticket, he decided his election manifesto would target the age-old custom amongst the Indian diaspora. “When I went to seek votes from the Asian community, I was told that they won’t vote for me because I’m a dalit (untouchable) . Initially, I thought people who left India years ago might have done away with the caste system – but to my surprise, it still prevails,” said Councillor Lakha in a telephone conversation with XPRESS. Having served in the Labour party for nearly 30 years, Lakha’s journey into mainstream British society has been a topsy-turvy one. Born in a small village (Nawan Pind Naicha) in the Indian state of Punjab in 1949, Lakha migrated to Britain in pursuit of a discrimination- free life. He rose up the ladder, fighting against all odds, noticeably favouritism at work and in politics. “People who migrate here [to Britain] carry with them the social discrimination which has been a bane of Indian society for centuries. They not only practise it but also pass it on to their children, who invariably exercise it in schools and other institutions, ” said Lakha. According to research published by the Dalit Solidarity Network (DSN) UK in 2006, many of the 50,000 dalits in the country have suffered discrimination from other castes in terms of jobs, healthcare, politics, education and schools. The report No Escape – Caste Discrimination in the UK also highlighted the plight of married couples who faced “racial taunts” in public. Similar views are aired by Davinder Prasad, General Secretary of CasteWatchUK, a secular and voluntary organisation registered with the Charity Commission in Britain that fights for the welfare of its Asian members mostly hailing from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Speaking over the telephone, Prasad said: “We seek to promote social cohesion and an environment that respects and values individuals in society, irrespective of colour, caste, creed, gender, or any other criteria encompassed in the current equality legislation in the UK. But to my knowledge it is not happening, since caste-based discrimination is unbridled in those families who have either a groom or a bride from a lower caste.” |
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Caste Away in 21st Century
CasteWatchUK, is fighting tooth and nail to get the
Single Equality Bill passed in the British Parliament. The Bill discourages all forms of discrimination, but the group wants caste-based discrimination to be one of its articles. The social network group also calls untouchability “a hidden apartheid of segregation and modern-day slavery”. “Our aim is to see that the Bill contains a clause that says no to ‘caste-based discrimination’ . By doing so, people who practise it here can be challenged and punished under British law,” said Prasad, who has been living in Britain for nearly three decades and has faced inequality at work despite being a magistrate and a senior manager. He said some people fail to understand that there are many dalits like him who have risen in their professional life purely on merit. “I finished my education in India from a reputed institution without any reservation. But my upper caste colleagues had doubts over my merit and were ashamed to work under me.” Prasad said the British school curriculums do teach about Hinduism in a broader perspective, but the chapters contain sentences like “the Brahmins are the superior race” and “the Shudras (untouchables) were employed to do menial jobs”. This, he said, fan the flames of intolerance amongst children at a young age. Even the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), based in Copenhagen, Denmark, opines on the issue. Kirsten Sorensen, Communication Officer, IDSN, said: “Caste-based discrimination has mainly been documented in the UK, because the county has the largest south Asian diaspora in Europe. Other countries have a lesser problem to cope with since the United Nations and the European Union play an active role there.” CasteWatchUK is holding a conference on August 30 at the University of Aston, Birmingham, to bring Asian communities under one forum to debate and discuss the ills of caste-based discrimination. Its artistic wing, CasteAway Arts, has launched a play, The Fifth Cup, which explores the theme of caste discrimination and its devastating effects on society. Based on true-life experiences, the play is a poignant insight into discrimination within the British-Asian community, viewed through the eyes of a young boy on a journey of self-discovery. Apart from the Indian Sub-continent, caste-based discrimination is widespread in parts of Sahelian Africa (earlier empires centred on the Sahel, the area of grasslands south of Sahara), West Africa, as well as among the Somali and Ethiopian people. African groups such as the Haratin of Mauritania and the Osu of Nigeria do face discrimination. In Japan too, nearly 3 million Buraku or Burakumin people have been discriminated against on the basis of caste-based minority. In Yemen, the “Akhdam” or sweepers’ community have been living at the lowest social level of life for the past 900 years. But today, thanks to the changes in the country’s social structure, these people are able to exercise their civil rights – albeit marginally. On eliminating it for ever, Prasad said: “Educating people on discrimination is the right approach to fight against this practise. But something that originated 3,000 years ago will take time to be erased from the face of the Earth. But how long it will take nobody knows.” |