Caste is scripturally legitimised, socially pervasive and politically relevant system of birth-based discrimination continues to haunt and hurt the Scheduled Castes of India, also called Dalits. 

United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) special rapporteur noted that there had ben a significant increase in crimes against Dalits. The report also pointed to state complicity in institutionalising the practice of manual scavenging, which continues to kill Dalit sanitation workers and is rampant in India despite laws to the contrary. 

This provides a compelling reason to evaluate if recognition of caste-based discriminations as racial discrimination by India – and the consequent international scrutiny this will attract – may have some tangible effect.

International law and caste discrimination

• The International Convention on Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination is a major international instrument that aims to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations from the world. 
• India is a party to the convention and as per Article 9  is mandated to submit a report, every two years, stating the measures taken in furtherance of the objectives of the convention. This report needs to be submitted to a committee, referred to as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), established under Article 8 of the convention.
• The convention defines racial discrimination to mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. 
• The word ‘caste’ is not expressly mentioned in this definition; however the CERD, in its 61st session in 2002, recommended that: “Discrimination based on descent includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights.”

India’s position

• India has consistently reiterated that ‘caste’ cannot be equated with ‘race’ or covered under ‘descent’ and thus has refused any information pertaining to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or issues related to this group in the periodic reports it submits to the CERD.
• India justifies its stand by taking recourse to its constitutional provisions in which the terms caste, race and descent are used separately and thus are mutually exclusive. 
• When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was being drafted, India actually advocatedthat caste should be recognised as a prohibited ground of discrimination at the international level, albeit this did not fructify.  The words “other status” and “social origin” were sufficiently broad to cover the whole field” of discrimination.
• This clearly illustrates the fact India’s stance on recognition of caste as a prohibited ground of discrimination at the international level has changed over the years to shield itself from international scrutiny. 

How bringing caste in would help India’s Dalits

Positive effects

1. Affirmative action for all dalits irrespective of religion

• First, one of the notable recommendations of the committee was that the affirmative action benefits must be given to all Dalits irrespective of their religion. 
• India, till date, takes away caste-based entitlements from Dalits who decide to embrace Islam or Christianity based on a 1950 Presidential Order. The order provides that only Hindus (including Sikhs and Buddhists) can be Scheduled Caste. 
• This has been vehemently criticised even by the government-appointed Gopal Singh committee in 1983.  The Supreme Court of India, in the case of Soosai v. Union of India, has also conceded that caste continues to exist even after conversion. 

    2.Affirmative action in private sector

• Second, the CERD has recommended that reservation benefits to Dalits must be extended to the private sector. 
• The fact that government jobs constitute only 3% of all jobs in the country, it is imperativve to provide reservation in the remaining 97% for the Dalits who are economically vulnerable to contemporary economic activities as well.

Negative effects

1. Caste is not actually racial

• India is an extremely diverse country with unique socio-cultural entity. Racial definitions are not enough to describe the nature of caste based discrimination. 
• Caste is something that cuts across the race, and place of origin. 
• For example both upper castes and lower castes can be found in North Indians, South Indians, and North-Easterns. 

    2.Demographic profile may be disturbed

• Extension of affirmative action to all religions can lead to mass conversions and swift disturbance of demographic profile of the country.

    3.Caste politics divisiveness

• Indian politics that is already saturated with and suffering from caste based politics and vote banks is bound to further become more divisive and dysfunctional.
• However, there is no denying the fact that caste forms the basis of social and economic life in India and is thus to come in the discourse in myriad forms, if not identity.

Way forward

• Since India continues to regard caste-based discrimination as outside the purview of the CERD, these recommendations, relevant as they are, remain on paper –  not even meriting attention from the government.
• It may not be able to brush the CERD’s recommendations completely under the carpet once it recognises caste-based discriminations to be within its purview. India’s periodic reports to the CERD have been pending since 2008.
• India should go a step further and make a declaration under Article 14 of the convention and allow individual aggrieved Dalits to directly approach the CERD. 
• Indian people, civil society and state are better equipped to determine the nature of caste system and determine the way and course of its elimination from social life. 
• The idea of treating caste as race has already been denied by Indian Constituent Assembly as it would further reinforce caste and divide the country. Indian Constitution has already assured Equality, Non-Discrimination and Prohibition of Untouchability as Fundamental Rights.