Parliament probes ‘caste discrimination’ in UK
March 14, 2010 by Sikhs Online · Leave a Comment
Caste discrimination, under which millions in India are regarded as ‘untouchable’, has spread to the UK virtually unnoticed, according to Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of Britain’s National Secular Society.
He was commenting on the passage through parliament’s revising chamber, the House of Lords, of the Equalities Bill, which could pave the way for such discrimination to be made illegal.
Hindu and Sikh communities have been under the spotlight for possibly tolerating caste divisions in the workplace but ministers have previously doubted the problem existed, according to a BBC News online report.
Now more research has been commissioned and Mr Porteus Wood said this represented “a historic moment”.
Government peer Baroness Thornton, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health, said evidence may exist. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research would present research findings in July or August, she revealed.
Hindu campaigners have long maintained that Dalits or ‘untouchables’ suffer unfair treatment from ‘higher caste’ members, even in second generation UK Asian communities.
Baroness Thornton said: “We have looked for evidence of caste discrimination and we now think that evidence may exist, which is why we have now commissioned the research.”
Lord Avebury, for the Liberal Democrats, believed the research would prove that caste discrimination does occur in the fields covered by the bill.
If it becomes law, it will require organisations of all sizes and types to promote equality and avoid discrimination in the workplace, said the BBC.
It will clarify existing discrimination legislation concerning sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age, and ministers hope increased transparency will help tackle the pay gap between men and women.
The BBC previously raised the issue of caste discrimination online in March last year – see Does the caste system still linger in the UK? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7856969.stm>
