Senator Aisha Wahab, the primary Muslim and Afghan American elected to state legislature, introduces invoice and calls caste discrimination “a social justice and civil rights issue.”
(AP)
California could turn into the primary US state to outlaw caste-based discrimination, a safeguard that individuals of South Asian descent, particularly Indians, say is critical to guard them from discrimination in housing, training and the tech sector the place they maintain key roles.
State Senator Aisha Wahab, the primary Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, launched the invoice on Wednesday.
It provides caste — a division of individuals associated to start or descent — as a protected class within the state’s anti-discrimination legal guidelines.
Those on the lowest strata of the cruel caste system, often called Dalits, have been more and more calling for such laws, saying they’ve confronted this type of discrimination within the United States.
Wahab mentioned caste discrimination is “a social justice and civil rights issue.”
“People came to this country so they can be free and can pursue their American dream without any disruption to their lives,” Wahab mentioned, including that she heard about this type of discrimination rising up in Fremont, California, and residing within the San Francisco Bay Area.
But some teams, such because the Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America oppose such insurance policies.
Samir Kalra of the Hindu American Foundation says it’s “a dangerous and misguided bill that targets, racially profiles, and institutionalises bias against all residents of Indian and South Asian origin, as well as a few other vulnerable communities of colour.”
The laws is being backed by different teams comparable to Hindus for Human Rights and Hindus for Caste Equity.
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Oldest types of inflexible social stratification
India’s caste system is among the many world’s oldest types of inflexible social stratification.
The caste system dates again 1000’s of years and permits many privileges to higher castes however represses outcasts or lowered castes.
References to a societal hierarchy will be discovered within the millennia-old Rig Veda, the place a hymn describes the origin of all life from the Purusha or “supreme being.”
A verse states that the 4 classes [varnas] of Hindu society got here from this infinite being. The Brahmins [priest class] appeared from the being’s head, the Kshatriyas [warriors] from his arms, the Vaishyas [business class] from his thighs and the Shudras [labourers] from his ft.
Those who’re outdoors the caste system turned often called the outcasts or untouchables, and later because the Dalits. Members of the Dalit group have traditionally carried out duties comparable to handbook scavenging, the harmful and inhumane apply of eradicating human waste by hand from sewers. The apply continues in lots of components of India regardless that the federal government banned it in 2013.
A United Nations report in 2016 mentioned at the least 250 million individuals worldwide nonetheless face caste discrimination in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Pacific areas, in addition to in numerous diaspora communities.
Wahab mentioned she is “deeply sensitive to how minority religions and groups are depicted.”
“Caste goes beyond religion and nationality,” she mentioned. “This legislation primarily protects millions who live in silence and have never had such protection because there is little understanding of this issue. This bill is about protecting people who are vulnerable.”
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Discrimination in opposition to Dalits
A 2016 Equality Labs survey of 1,500 South Asians within the US confirmed 67 % of Dalits who responded reported being handled unfairly due to their caste.
According to a 2021 report by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, Asians, together with South Asians, maintain 37.8 % of technical roles and 25.3 % of management roles at Silicon Valley’s largest tech firms.
In 2020, California regulators sued Cisco Systems, saying a Dalit Indian engineer confronted caste discrimination on the firm’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
In one other case, Tanuja Gupta, stop her senior supervisor job at Google News final yr after a blowback over inviting Soundararajan to talk to workers throughout April, which is Dalit History Month.
The discuss was cancelled and Gupta accused her former employer of retaliation, which Google has denied.
Gupta mentioned she is backing the invoice as a result of these going through caste discrimination haven’t any safety or authorized recourse proper now.
“This is the form of accountability we need,” she mentioned.
Shakeel Syed, govt director of South Asian Network in Artesia, California, mentioned he sees caste discrimination amongst employees and he has helped in circumstances the place caste performed a task in wage theft and housing discrimination.
“When hardworking people are not respected or valued simply because of their caste, that is just blatantly wrong,” he mentioned.
In February, Seattle turned the primary US metropolis and the primary jurisdiction outdoors South Asia so as to add caste to its anti-discrimination legal guidelines.
Several schools and universities have additionally enacted comparable insurance policies barring caste discrimination on campuses, together with the University of California, Davis.
READ MORE: A silent invasion: How Hindutva infiltrated US politics
READ MORE: Toronto faculty board recognises Hindu caste discrimination in Canada
Source: AP
Source: www.trtworld.com
