‘Watershed’: Dalits hail US university’s caste discrimination ban
2 years, 10 months ago

‘Watershed’: Dalits hail US university’s caste discrimination ban

Al Jazeera  

Activists behind the move by the California State University system say it will accelerate the civil rights movement for caste equity in the US. Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit American activist and executive director of Equality Labs civil rights organisation, considers the addition of caste protections at CSU systems a “watershed moment” for the community. “We respectfully disagree with the position that the parenthetical addition of caste, which was included along with colour and ancestry, to provide additional clarification to the existing categories of race and ethnicity in our discrimination policy will cause discrimination,” Michael Uhlenkamp, the CSU system’s senior communications director, told Al Jazeera. “Many dominant caste networks have been mobilising millions of dollars towards obfuscating the reality of caste discrimination in the US,” Arjun told Al Jazeera. “Though the dominant caste people do not support caste protections policies, more than 329 million Americans will support it and help us build a safer educational environment for caste-oppressed students,” he told Al Jazeera.

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History of this topic

Ashoka University row: How prevalent is casteism in Indian universities?
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Ashoka University row: How prevalent is casteism in Indian universities?

Firstpost  

A video of students at Haryana’s Ashoka University purportedly raising casteist slogans like ‘Brahmin-Baniyawaad Murdabad’ has sparked a row. The menace of caste discrimination plagues the higher education system in India, with the recent deaths by suicide of students from marginalised communities further throwing the issue into the spotlight A video of students at Haryana’s Ashoka University purportedly making casteist …

Dalits urged not to give up their fight against discrimination
1 year ago

Dalits urged not to give up their fight against discrimination

The Hindu  

The disturbing issue of normalisation of caste slurs came to the fore at a round table organised by Dalit Sthree Sakthi where victims of caste discrimination poured out their woes in the presence of officials. The victims included educated people who held decent posts in corporate companies and women cheated by men from other castes, rape victims and victims of …

Muslim-Sikh-Dalit Union is Waging Anti-Hinduism Campaign, Not Protecting Dalit in US - News18
1 year, 1 month ago

Muslim-Sikh-Dalit Union is Waging Anti-Hinduism Campaign, Not Protecting Dalit in US - News18

News 18  

Sociologist and professor Salvatore Babones speaks exclusively with News18 on his new paper titled ‘The Weaponization of Caste in America’ in which he contends that Dalit is not a caste in India, and the term does not meet the definitions of “caste” that have been used in or proposed for American legislation to ban caste-based discrimination. Nonetheless, the Muslim-Sikh-Dalit coalition …

IIT-Bombay sends missive on anti-discrimination guidelines ahead of arrival of new batch
1 year, 4 months ago

IIT-Bombay sends missive on anti-discrimination guidelines ahead of arrival of new batch

The Hindu  

After the suicide of a Dalit B. student shook up the Indian Institute of Technology -Bombay with allegations of widespread caste discrimination early this year, the institute is publicising its anti-discrimination policy, which now specifically includes triggers and don’ts for caste discrimination, with the Dean of Student Affairs sending out the guidelines to everyone on campus in an email on …

A prescription to curb caste bias on campuses
1 year, 4 months ago

A prescription to curb caste bias on campuses

Hindustan Times  

A raft of unfortunate suicides by students from marginalised communities in elite institutions over the past year, including the latest incident at IIT-Delhi, has underlined a failure by the authorities in developing an appropriate policy to deal with the discrimination and humiliation faced by pupils from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe groups. The UGC Regulations, 2012 identifies about 35 …

Insistence on 'Hinduphobia' as a reality will divert attention from real purveyors of anti-Hindu propaganda
1 year, 7 months ago

Insistence on 'Hinduphobia' as a reality will divert attention from real purveyors of anti-Hindu propaganda

Firstpost  

My article questioning the notion of Hinduphobia appears to have unsettled an established consensus that it definitely exists as a phenomenon. Besides, the constant accusations of Islamophobia, which recognition of Hinduphobia will avowedly legitimate, are ultimately directed against India, not Hindus in general everywhere. US Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar’s attempt to create a legal obligation on the US State Department to …

California’s caste bias bill clears first legislative hurdle
1 year, 7 months ago

California’s caste bias bill clears first legislative hurdle

Associated Press  

A bill that would outlaw caste discrimination in California has cleared its first big legislative hurdle. “We’ve hit a nerve and exposed a form of discrimination many never even knew existed,” said Wahab, D-Hayward, who told committee members that she has received death threats after proposing this legislation. Wahab asserted Tuesday that the bill “does not target any specific community …

California's caste bias bill clears first legislative hurdle
1 year, 7 months ago

California's caste bias bill clears first legislative hurdle

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “We’ve hit a nerve and …

How caste discrimination permeates the language of meritocracy on campus according to Dr. Lakshmanan, Ajantha Subramanian and others
1 year, 8 months ago

How caste discrimination permeates the language of meritocracy on campus according to Dr. Lakshmanan, Ajantha Subramanian and others

The Hindu  

“People think casteism only comes in the form of beatings or open abuse, but nowadays, it also comes in the form of subtle gestures,” Dr. Lakshmanan, an associate professor at the Madras Institute for Development Studies, tells me while discussing the nature of caste discrimination in higher education institutions. He documents how professors threaten to cut Dalit students’ attendance and …

New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California
1 year, 9 months ago

New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California

The Hindu  

California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector where they hold key roles. Wahab said caste discrimination is “a social justice and civil rights issue.” “People came to this country so they can …

New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California
1 year, 9 months ago

New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California

Associated Press  

California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector where they hold key roles. Wahab said caste discrimination is “a social justice and civil rights issue.” “People came to this country so they can …

‘Dalits Should Be Recognized as Human Beings’: Seattle to Outlaw Caste-Based Discrimination
1 year, 10 months ago

‘Dalits Should Be Recognized as Human Beings’: Seattle to Outlaw Caste-Based Discrimination

News 18  

Among Kshama Sawant’s earliest memories of the caste system was hearing her grandfather — a man she “otherwise loved very much” — utter a slur to summon their lower-caste maid. He responded that his granddaughter “talked too much.” Now 50, and an elected official in a city far from India, Sawant has proposed an ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s …

Seattle considers historic law barring caste discrimination
1 year, 10 months ago

Seattle considers historic law barring caste discrimination

Associated Press  

Among Kshama Sawant’s earliest memories of the caste system was hearing her grandfather — a man she “otherwise loved very much” — utter a slur to summon their lower-caste maid. He responded that his granddaughter “talked too much.” Now 50, and an elected official in a city far from India, Sawant has proposed an ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s …

Months before Dalit student’s death, IIT-Bombay surveyed caste-discrimination on campus
1 year, 10 months ago

Months before Dalit student’s death, IIT-Bombay surveyed caste-discrimination on campus

The Hindu  

Months before the 18-year-old Dalit student, Darshan Solanki, killed himself inside the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay barely three months into his Chemical Engineering course, the institute’s Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Cell had conducted two campus-wide surveys about caste discrimination and mental health issues faced by SC/ST students, The Hindu has learnt. According to internal documents seen by The …

Dissecting caste discrimination in Indian universities from admissions to placements: Part 1 - IITs | Data Point podcast
2 years, 2 months ago

Dissecting caste discrimination in Indian universities from admissions to placements: Part 1 - IITs | Data Point podcast

The Hindu  

In July, The Hindu’s data team published a story that revealed major disparities in the admission rate of PhD candidates from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other backward classes backgrounds. Data released by the Lok Sabha found that in nine IITs, across India, the acceptance rate for SC/ST/OBC PhD candidates was at or below 8%, despite all of these universities …

Big Tech giants like Apple confront ancient Indian caste system in the U.S.
2 years, 4 months ago

Big Tech giants like Apple confront ancient Indian caste system in the U.S.

The Hindu  

America's tech giants are taking a modern-day crash course in India's ancient caste system, with Apple emerging as an early leader in policies to rid Silicon Valley of a rigid hierarchy that's segregated Indians for generations. Apple, the world's biggest listed company, updated its general employee conduct policy about two years ago to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of …

Dalit civil rights activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan accuses Google of casteist, hostile workplace practices
2 years, 6 months ago

Dalit civil rights activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan accuses Google of casteist, hostile workplace practices

The Hindu  

A U.S.-based Dalit civil rights organisation on Thursday accused Google of having a casteist and hostile workplace practices. In a statement, Equality Labs, the leading Dalit civil rights organisation dedicated to caste equity, alleged that Google management revealed its lack of caste competence and endangered its employees as they allowed caste bigotry and harassment to run rampant in the company. …

Explained | How is U.S. tackling discrimination on campuses?
2 years, 10 months ago

Explained | How is U.S. tackling discrimination on campuses?

The Hindu  

The story so far: The California Faculty Association this month added caste criteria into its anti-discrimination policies, a move that was subsequently ratified by the Board of Trustees of the California State University system. These include Harvard University, which became the first Ivy League university to recognise caste-based discrimination as an issue of concern, when it ratified, in December 2021, …

UGC takes steps to eradicate caste-based discrimination in varsities
3 years, 3 months ago

UGC takes steps to eradicate caste-based discrimination in varsities

Firstpost  

No official and faculty members should indulge in any kind of discrimination against any community or category of students, said UGC secretary Rajnish Jain in a letter to all VCs New Delhi: The University Grants Commission has asked varsities and colleges to ensure that no official and faculty indulges in any kind of discrimination against any community or category of …

Calls to tackle caste-based discrimination in US gather steam
3 years, 7 months ago

Calls to tackle caste-based discrimination in US gather steam

Al Jazeera  

Dalit rights groups call for legal protections as high-profile cases at a Hindu temple in New Jersey and a major tech firm in California spur a reckoning. “If steps aren’t taken now, we run the risk of this system spreading and calcifying in the United States.” Several technology companies have faced allegations of caste-based discrimination in the workplace in recent …

California student body demands ban on caste-based discrimination
3 years, 8 months ago

California student body demands ban on caste-based discrimination

Al Jazeera  

San Jose, California, US – An association representing nearly half a million university students in California, United States has passed a resolution seeking a ban on caste-based discrimination faced mainly by the Dalit students, with rights groups calling the move “historic”. Last week, the Cal State Student Association, the country’s largest four-year public university system representing 23 campuses of the …

Explosive report reveals caste discrimination in Silicon Valley, 30 Dalit engineers call out Indian bosses
4 years, 1 month ago

Explosive report reveals caste discrimination in Silicon Valley, 30 Dalit engineers call out Indian bosses

India Today  

A few weeks ago it came to light that caste-based discrimination was fairly common in the Silicon Valley companies, so common and so pervasive that it led to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filing a case against Cisco. In a joint statement published by the Washington Post, 30 women Dalit engineers from Silicon Valley allege that they …

It is time to end caste discrimination in the tech industry
4 years, 4 months ago

It is time to end caste discrimination in the tech industry

Al Jazeera  

In a 1916 essay, the architect of India’s constitution, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, wrote: “The caste problem is a vast one It is a local problem, but one capable of much wider mischief, for ‘as long as caste in India does exist, Hindus will hardly intermarry or have any social intercourse with outsiders; and if Hindus migrate to other regions on …

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