In a major victory to 4 lakh dalits in the UK, a bill that will outlaw discrimination on the basis of caste in Britain has received Royal Assent from the Queen.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill made history in Parliament this week when the House of Commons bowed to reassure from the House of Lords to include caste as an aspect of race as part of the Equality Act 2010."Very strong views have been expressed in the Lords on this matter and we have reconsidered our position and agreed to introduce caste-related legislation," Equalities Minister Jo Swinson told the Commons on Tuesday, marking a major government U-turn on the issue.
The Bill has now cleared its final journey to become law with the Queen's consent yesterday. This makes the UK the first country outside South Asia to legislate against caste discrimination.
In a major parliamentary stand-off, the House of Lords voted twice for legal protection to be given to four lakh dalits living in the UK.
Commons MPs had overturned the first Lords vote, but after the peers again backed the proposals after a third reading, the government was forced to re-think.
Both Houses need to agree to the exact wording of the bill and Business Secretary Vince Cable tabled an amendment in the Commons to accommodate the peers' views, stating that caste would in future be treated as "an aspect of race"."This is a major victory for us. The government has had to go with the voice of the victims of caste prejudice," said Caste Watch UK general-secretary Davinder Prasad, who has been spearheading a campaign in favour of caste-based discrimination to be included in the UK's equality laws."Too many British citizens have suffered caste-based discrimination and this legislation now offers hope to the tens of thousands of British Asians whose lives are blighted by such prejudice. This is a victory for the Lords and their emphasis on protecting Human Rights," added Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society. "We hope that this decision will serve as an example to other countries. Caste discrimination is a global issue, affecting hundreds of millions of people in many parts of the world," said Rikke Nohrlind, coordinator of the International Dalit Solidarity Network.
The government had commissioned the National Institute of Economic and Social (NIESR) to carry out research into the issue, resulting in a report in December 2010 entitled Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain.
It had pegged Britain's Dalit or lower caste community between 50,000 and 200,000 and found that caste awareness was largely focused among people with roots in the Indian sub-continent.
However, the Conservative-led coalition had rejected proposals to legislate on the matter and recently announced a new education programme titled Talk For A Change as a more "appropriate or effective way" to tackle this "complex and sensitive issue".
The issue also exposed a divide among Hindu groups based in the UK, with the Alliance of Hindu Organisations UK (AHO) calling for a boycott of any such legislation as it would label the entire Hindu community as being "institutionally discriminatory"."The issue of the caste system is one that the Hindu community would very much like to move beyond. We strongly believe that modern Hindus do not care about what caste someone came from. This legislation would take us back to the past where we do not want to go," said AHO spokesperson Arjan Vakaria.
However, under the latest compromise the government is required to include caste as an aspect of race under Section 9(5) within two months of enactment of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.
In the Commons debate earlier this month, the government acknowledged the existence of caste discrimination in Britain but rejected the amendment by 64 votes."This is an issue that is contained in the Hindu and Sikh communities. That's why we are working with those communities to address these problems," equalities minister Jo Swinson had told MPs back then.
But many other MPs had backed the proposals."This is a straightforward issue, caste discrimination in the work place is wrong and the people who suffer from it deserve legal protection. That's it. Beginning and end," said Conservative MP Richard Fuller.
The government has also asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to further examine the nature of caste prejudice and harassment in the UK, the findings of which are to be tabled later this year.
