Caste Discrimination in the UK

There is little doubt that the large presence of people from different regions of India, now living in the United Kingdom, has added to the cultural richness of contemporary British society. With them has come the 'Indian curry', served in thousands of restaurants all over the United Kingdom. In fact, curry has become a national dish in Britain. 

But unfortunately, unlike the curry - that offers a rich blend of different spices and influences - the Indian community in Britain still tends to be insular. Nothing indicates this as emphatically as its failure to accord a respectable status to the Dalits within the community, estimated to number 2,00,000. Discrimination based on caste, once talked about only in hushed tones, is now increasingly coming out into the open. 

Several recent studies indicate that Dalits in Britain face discrimination in the workplace, in schools, and even in health institutions.  

The reference to caste in textbooks prescribed for schools in UK is contributing towards making Britain a caste-conscious society. In 'Hinduism: A New Approach' there is a picture of a cobbler with the caption: "This man is a cobbler. His work involves leather, and since contact with the skin of dead animals is particularly polluting, he is a 'Harijan'. No Hindu from a higher caste would consider doing this sort of work."

As part of their efforts to document and prove that discrimination on the basis of caste does take place, some men and women who have actually experienced caste discrimination at first hand have, with the help of local civil society organisations, presented their case before a select committee of the House of Lords.  

One such case involved a young couple who faced discrimination at their workplace from a highly caste conscious management. Their travails began when the girl, Talvinder (name changed) and Ajay (name changed) decided to get married. Both worked for a solicitors' firm in the Midlands. Talvinder happened to belong to a higher caste than Ajay.  

As Talvinder put it in her statement before the committee, "This decision was the beginning of the problems which I could never imagine was possible in this country." Ajay, who was considered to be bright, and a key and trusted member of the firm in which he worked, suddenly found himself at the receiving end of management displeasure.   

One of the partners of the firm - who came from the same caste as Talvinder - first tried to discourage her from going ahead with the marriage by advising her as an 'elder brother'. The couple gradually realised that they were up against a hostile management that was now paying more attention to their personal lives than their professional inputs.    

The couple received a huge shock when Ajay was told by the administrators of the ‘gurudwara’ (Sikh temple) where the couple had booked their marriage ceremony that they will not be able to go ahead with the event. When Ajay asked for reasons why this was the case, he was told that since he was not a Sikh and belonged to a low caste, he could not get married in the ‘gurudwara’. "The source of the ‘gurudwara’ later transpired to be my employer," Talvinder told the members of the House of Lords.   

It was not just at the workplace where the firm's partners were using their influence to create obstacles for this marriage, as Talvinder and Ajay discovered to their dismay. Such behaviour was driven perhaps, as Talvinder mentions in her statement, by the feeling that she was 'not being sensitive to the code of behaviour expected from a high caste young female' and was bringing 'shame to the honour of high caste people around in the workplace'. The courageous young couple's problems did not end there. Even after they got married, the 'bullying, intimidation and discrimination' only increased manifold.    

Today, they continue to face an indifferent and uncooperative management. In her concluding statement Talvinder noted that she was "...giving this testimony in the hope that it would be considered in change in the legislation so that Asians in this country are made aware that caste based discrimination, same as racial discrimination, is not acceptable in British society. As a law professional, I know that Ajay is not the only one who has been victimised. People are too scared to come forward and give testimonies because of the serious consequences for them."  

The House of Lords has already voted to ban caste discrimination and activists believe United Kingdom is on its way to become the first European country to recognise it as racism. The government is waiting for a report on a study it has commissioned to determine the extent of caste-based discrimination. Davinder Prasad, general secretary of CasteWatchUK, which has been at the forefront of the campaign, is confident that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research will find enough evidence to prove that individuals in the UK face discrimination because of his or her caste.     

"People feel ashamed to share the fact that they were discriminated because they belong to a lower caste. However, many victims are coming forward and I am sure the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that is conducting the study will find plenty of instances. Hopefully, there should not be any hiccups. It is shameful but we have to face the reality," said Prasad.    

CasteWatchUK has also pointed out the reference to caste in textbooks prescribed for schools in UK, which are "working towards making Britain a caste-conscious society". Revealed Prasad, "We had meetings with the relevant authorities to stop the use of such textbooks two years ago. However, nothing satisfactory was achieved. We will continue our fight to get such books banned," he said.    

One such book has the picture of a cobbler with the caption: "This man is a cobbler. His work involves leather, and since contact with the skin of dead animals is particularly polluting, he is a ‘Harijan’. No Hindu from a higher caste would consider doing this sort of work."

   

Prasad thinks that the use of such textbooks make students of Indian origin only too aware of caste as an institution, and it could lead to discrimination and bullying in schools. "As they grow they carry forward with them the same mentality. The problem is particularly acute in pockets where there is a huge Indian population. It has to be made clear that caste discrimination can't be allowed to happen at this age in Britain," said Prasad.   

Activists argue that the caste of a person is easily revealed by his or her surnames. In this way, the significant Dalit community in Britain continues to be the subject of bullying, discrimination and harassment.     

In a report titled 'No Escape: Caste Discrimination in UK', which came out in July 2006, Ram Lakha, a Labour politician, narrated his plight. "During campaigning I was often told that I would not get people's vote as I was a 'chamar'. So I filed my nomination in a non-Asian constituency and was able to win. The Indian community in Coventry always felicitates every new mayor, however, till today they have not done this for me."   


Written for Women's Feature Service
Printed in Gorkhapata, News Blaze and Boloji.com

Many facets of an activist

 
Many facets of an activist 
Sunday, Aug 15, 2010
 

DANISH KHAN 

She was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to unite Hindi and Urdu. Kulsum Sayani also worked tirelessly for adult literacy...

PHOTO: COURTESY THE SAYANS

Teacher par excellence : Kulsum Sayani with her sons, radio broadcaster Ameen Sayani (left) and Hamid Sayani.

“Each one, teach one”, one of the most effective schemes to promote education today was popularised by a woman few remember, but who was a pioneer in the field of adult literacy in India.

Kulsum Sayani's name might not ring a bell for many but her life and work are truly remarkable. Mother of the well-known radio personality Ameen Sayani, Kulsum was born in 1900. Her inspiration was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. Her father, Dr Rajabally Patel, was the personal physician to Gandhiji and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Sayani's interactions with Gandhiji and the importance attached to education in her family made her realise the need to eradicate illiteracy. In 1938, with a capital of Rs. 100 she employed two teachers and made the rounds of Muslim localities to get students. Considering the conservative attitude towards female education even now, imagine the effort it must have taken on Sayani's part to convince families about the importance of educating girls at that time. There were times people used to slam their doors on her face, exclaiming, “Why should women learn to read?”

Her tireless efforts proved that there was a tremendous need to work in the field of education, which needed a more organised set-up. Her experience made her a part of several committees, which were formed to increase literacy among adults in Bombay, now Mumbai. She was associated with the first National Planning Committee that was set up by the Congress government in Bombay in 1938. The Bombay City Social Education Committee, formed in 1939, asked Sayani to take over their 50 centres catering to Muslim women. Slowly and steadily the classes grew and reached 600 in number. Of course, her efforts were not limited to the Muslim community alone. She was also appointed the general secretary of the All India Women's Conference in 1944 and worked for the empowerment of women.

Dedicated 

Sayani was very pragmatic and initiated several schemes to spread literacy, notably including “Each one, teach one”. She used to visit several schools and encourage young students to devote 15 minutes every day to teach one adult. Under the scheme, students were supposed to teach and read one new alphabet every day to any adult in their family, neighbourhood or domestic helpers. Highly conscious of the importance of moral values, she encouraged students to request adults to tell them a folk tale or a story from the epics.

“The lower middle-class women, who are forced to work, have no help but to abandon their children to the streets after school, while the fashionable ones have no time left for children after bridge and mah-jong parties,” she once said.
Another literacy initiative she initiated was reading out aloud. School students were encouraged to gather friends and adults and each one had to read out aloud. This, she believed, was necessary to improve the confidence and interest of neo-literates.

During the freedom struggle hundreds of political prisoners languishing in jails improved their Hindustani by reading out aloud ‘Rahber', the newspaper she brought out. ‘Rahber', started in 1940, was aimed at the new learners. It was published in three scripts - Nagari, Urdu and Gujarati. The language of ‘Rahber' was Hindustani, a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. Those were the times when the Hindi supporters were using heavy Sanskrit words and the proponents of Urdu were lacing the language with Persian and Arabic in their efforts to distinguish the two languages and establish their superiority.

Support 

Gandhiji was in favour of Hindustani written in the Nagari or the Urdu script. ‘Rahber' sought to take forward Gandhiji's idea of Hindustani. In a letter dated June 16, 1945, Gandhiji addressed Sayani as ‘Beti Kulsum' and wrote: “I like the mission of ‘Rahber' to unite Hindi and Urdu. May it succeed.” The newspaper was read by hundreds of political prisoners lodged in jails across the country; anyone interested in learning Gandhiji's Hindustani picked up the paper.

When the Constituent Assembly deliberations began in the months leading to India's Independence, the language controversy erupted again. A letter dated July 22, 1947, from Gandhiji to Sayani, shows his resolve to stick with Hindustani. He wrote: “Heaven knows what is in store for us. The old order changeth giving place to new. Nothing is settled. Whatever is decided by the C.A., Hindustani with the two scripts remains for you and me.”

Sayani also represented India at several international forums on education across the world. She attended the UNESCO conference in 1953 in Paris (France) and shared ideas and gained new perspectives after talking with representatives from several countries. Her other interest was to promote peace and increase understanding between India and Pakistan. Her well known status as an activist helped her get audiences with top leaders in both the countries. Among Pakistani politicians, she directly met Pakistani presidents, Ghulam Mohammad and Ayub Khan, among other senior leaders. 

In India, her reputation as ‘Rahber's' editor helped her get appointments with Nehru, B.G. Kher, V.K. Krishna Menon, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Indira Gandhi. She received encouragement and support from politicians of all hues in India for her efforts to forge a friendship with Pakistan. However, after the passing away of Nehru and Rafi Kidwai, who shared her concerns on improving relations with Pakistan, she devoted her energies to propagating Hindustani.

Sayani's life is an inspiration to many. Married when she was only 18, she managed her family and pursued her social interests with equal elan. Her sons, Hamid and Ameen, both radio broadcasters, created their own identity. Ameen Sayani attributes his “basic grounding in clear and credible communications in Hindustani” to his involvement in assisting his mother in bringing out ‘Rahber'.

She never lost focus from her lifelong passion to eradicate illiteracy. She received the Padma Shri in 1960 and was also awarded the Nehru Literacy Award in 1969.

Sayani, who died in 1987, belonged to an era when people believed in giving their best to the nation without expecting anything in return.

© Women's Feature Service

 
Also printed in The Tribune on September 5, 2010

The many shades of BNP

The Bristish National Party (BNP) expects to be the fourth largest party in Britian by votes cast. In 2005 they were the eight biggest party with many of their candidates even losing their deposits. However this year, the BNP feels it has hit bullseye with their anti-immigrant rhetoric and a 'majority' of their 326 candidates were on course to save their deposits.


The biggest bets - Barking & Dagenham through which they hope to put two representatives in Parliament saw a group of Asian boys spit on the face of their London campaign manager which led to fisticuffs and kicks on the street. A strong reaction to BNP's strong stance against Non-Whites in the UK.

Last week, their leader Nick Griffin announced on BBC radio programme that if BNP got into power, up to 180,000 people a year could be paid resettlement grants of £50,000 to leave Britain. “If you are talking about Polish plumbers or Afghan refugees, the doors are going to be shut, because Britain is full. The door is shut to any significant numbers whatsoever, from anywhere. It’s open where it suits Britain and suits the British people. That’s fair enough.” The money would be diverted from government's budget on controlling climate change.

I asked some immigrants on the benefit system  if they would accept BNP's offer and move out of the UK. Not surprisingly, many refused. "50000 pounds its not enough to relocate to a country engulfed in civil war and put our children at risk," said Bashir Salim, a father of four, from Somalia while his friend Mohammed, 20, agreed to leave UK for nothing less than a million pounds and move to another country but Somalia.

The five Turkish migrants I spoke to all refused to leave UK. "Why should we leave UK. We are not here as illegal immigrants?" asked Fadime Sonmez, a housewife. Sargul Shaswar from Iraq explicitly said that' no amount of money can make her go back to a country seized by war and destruction. Thats too small an amount for someone's life. Can you actually put a price tag on people's life?".

With immigration and unemployment being some of the biggest issues facing the new government today, BNP believes that its strong stance has appealed to their core 'white' supporters. Griffin also agreeded to keep the doors open for the Irish. Yet this has won him little support from the Irish community. In Irish Post, Jennie McShannon, chief executive of the Federation of Irish Societies, said: “We do not recognise the portrait of ‘White Britain’ painted by the British National Party.

Interestingly a BNP candidate from Stoke-on-Trent, Micheal Coleman seems confident to garner support of the Muslims in the area after he wrote them a letter highlighting that BNP supports the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.“I really do appreciate and respect those Islamic Muslim states,” Coleman said.

Yet few believe him. Assed Baig, from United against Fascism believes the BNP have different motives: “They want those troops to come on the streets of Britain and somehow control immigration,” he said.

A government funded report out today accused the British National Party of attempting to exploit tensions between Muslims and Sikhs. It has warned of a "real danger" of "serious communal disorder" in the future in some towns and cities as the BNP attempts to build on differences between the two groups.

The report said that the BNP was attempting to "fish" in these "troubled waters" by forming anti-Muslim alliances with Sikhs and Hindus and highlighted the case of Rajinder Singh. 


Singh, a Sikh, became the poster boy as the first non-white member of BNP. His "hatred" of Islam was said to stem from the fact that his father was killed during the violence experienced during the partition of the Punjab in 1947, the report noted. 

On the BNP website, Singh says, "Only the British National Party can save Britain from the terror of Islamist colonisation and protect the identity of the British people."

 

Unfortunately, the BNP has failed to attract any significant support from not just these two groups but any ethnic minority in the country.  

Labour is not all about Brown

This evening I was at an election meet for Joan Ryan, the sitting MP for Enfield North who is seeking re-election. BAFTA award-winning actor Ross Kemp had come to give the campaign a boost. Kemp described Ryan as 'the best MP in this election campaign' and urged voters not to get swayed by a large-section of the media supporting the Tories. With Brown's personal ratings down, more and more Labour MPs are seeking to reach out to their constituents on local issues and their performances rather than Brown's inning as PM.


"This lady knows where the buses do not stop," Kemp said referring to Joan's knowledge about local issues. He also dwelt on Joan's suitability as an elected representative, and went on to say that the Tory candidate just wants the tag of 'MP' to be added with his name. Kemp has been campaigning for the Labour across UK and also appeared on their promo titled 'Sixty Seconds'.


Kemp agreed that Brown's campaign has not been superb but stated that 'it is not about one person'. He insisted that Labour will do more to fight crime and improve health services. However, Kemp reminded people that Brown was a chancellor in a very crucial period. "Do not think that there are only three people in this election. There are hundreds of MPs who are in this election," Kemp announced, commenting on channels going all out on Brown, Cameron and Clegg.


Ryan has been an MP for 13 years and in the past has been critical of Gordon Brown leadership. She was also the vice-chair of Labour party and Prime Minister's envoy to Cyprus. Ryan has been hoping it would be her performance as MP that might help her to retain her seat. Much of Ryan's campaigning centres around Chase Farm Hospital, which she alleges will close down under a Tory government. "You need to keep the Tories out to save the hospital."

Women's representation bill for the UK?

As Gordon Brown walks out of the Queen's Buckingham Palace and rushes with his motorcade to Downing street to announce May 6 as the date for the General Elections 2010, the irony could not be more blatant. A woman monarch needed to dissolve the Parliament which has such a measly representation of women!

Although the last general elections were historic for women as 128 of them were elected as Members of Parliament, this also meant that a mere 1 in 5 MPs was a woman. 

  

(Pics courtesy Boni Sones, Women's Parliamentary Radio: Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats.  2008: Reuters photographer, Kieran Doherty, was invited by Women's Parliamentary Radio to record the female representatives of each party to mark the 90th anniversary of women winning the vote.)

While recession, immigration, public spending and taxes are some of the biggest debates that determine the result of the forthcoming elections, another very important issue which has taken a back seat once again this election is the appalling low number of women MPs in Parliament.

Experts in the UK believe that the only way to encourage more women representation in the House of Commons would be through the quota system.  

Lets just look at the dismal figures:  

Of the 128 women MPs in 2005, Labour had the most with 94 women MPs followed by Conservative at 18 and Liberal Democrats at 9. This number fell to 126 after the by-elections making women representation in Parliament (WRP) even less than 20%. 

 

Compare this to Rwanda, a country embroiled in conflict and deprivation, yet 56.3% women made it into Parliament making it the only country in the world with more women than men in Parliament! 

The other top ranking countries include Sweden, South Africa, Cuba and Iceland. Most of the African and Scandenavian countries also ranked high.

Even Afghanistan known for its 'suppression' of women's rights ranks 31 on the world list while United Kingdom follows way behind at 61 and United States at 78. 

India, with around 10% representation, ranks at 97 (superseded by Nepal-16, Pakistan- 48 & China- 54). 

But India has looked at a possible solution to this problem- introduction of the quota system for WRP. While there is enough movement to push this 'controversial' bill through a majority in Parliament in India, UK is still in the very nascent debating stage on the use of quotas for WRP.

But UK has come along way since the women's suffrage movement began in the late nineteenth century. The first election with women candidates was in 1918 but out of 1,623 candidates, only 17 were women. A drop in the ocean but considered a huge acheivement back then.

Most of those women had been active campaigners in the suffrage movement. Countess Constance Markievicz, the first and only woman elected to the House of Commons in 1918, refused her seat. Ironically, the first woman in the House of Commons, was Viscountess Astor who had never campaigned for women's rights. 

The Plymouth seat literally fell into Lady Nancy Astor's lap in the bye-elections of 1919 caused by her husband's accession to his late father's peerage. But to her credit, she later also became the first woman MP to introduce a bill that resulted in an act in 1923 - the Intoxicating Liquor (Sale to Persons under Eighteen) Act.  (pic: Lady Astor Campaign Leaflet, 1919)

Over the years, the rise in number of women MPs resulted primarily because of the Labour Party adopting a policy of women-only shortlists. David Cameron too promised more women representation in these elections and has indulged in several campaigns to highlight the inclusion of the new 'ordinary' women in his 2010 election list.

Today's The Sun carried a spread on the 2010 Tory Women and a great deal of effort has been put to break the Stepford Wives mould that Tory reps subscribed to earlier and position them as the Plain Janes. Wonder why is Westminster North candidate Joanne Cash (in pic right), a successful lawyer and wife of a millionaire, not in The Sun's picture. Afraid she'd ruin your image makeover, Dave?!

So will anything change for WRP in UK Election 2010? 

The Centre for Women and Democracy (CFWD), which promotes women representation at all levels of public life in the UK, strongly believes that it is impossible for UK to achieve even a 30% women's representation this election. It predicts a maximum of 24% WRP but even less if the Tories win. Although the women representation  may increase in the Tory party, there is really no reason to rejoice much considering its high time the Tories shed their 'elitist, over 40s, white male' image.

The CFWD predicts it will take at least another 15 years for UK to achieve 30% WRP, perhaps it will get a 40% by 2045 and a 50% by 2065.

So is the introduction of quotas a better option to speed the WRP? 

The Quota Project, an extensive global research project on the implementation and effectiveness of quotas, has found quotas are in use in 97 out of 189 countries reviewed. The reports says, '... because of its relative efficiency, the hope for a dramatic increase in women's representation by using the quota system is strong'.

One such example of the new trend to use electoral gender quotas as a fast track to gender balance in politics is Rwanda which superseded Sweden as the number one in the world in terms of WRP -56.3 % against Sweden’s 47.3%.

Even the Speakers Conference strongly recommends that political parties in the UK should have mandatory quotas on the number of women parliamentary candidates, if there is no 'significant' increase in the number of women MPs after elections 2010.

Personally, I am all for an increase in WRP in both India and UK, but I also refuse to turn a blind eye to the many cons associated with it. There are definite flaws in the system which need to be tackled at the grassrooot level.

I am quite vary of WRP changing to PWIP (Politician's wives representation in parliament) when quotas are used to reserve particular constituencies for women. This would lead to an influx of PWs contesting from seats now earmarked for women but previously held by their husbands. Most of them would then be puppets in their more veteran politician husband's hand, so we may get a greater number of WRP but even lesser of qualified and inspirational women leaders.

What worries me with quotas within parties is whether the quota system will then turn out to be more notional than realistic. Say for example a quota of 40% for women candidates within parties may not result in any women elected, if all women candidates are placed in the weaker constituency. 

For example Tories fielding women candidates from unwinanable seats may not result in many women MPs. So David Cameron has kept his promise of more women representation in elections and also 'abided' by the Tories 'old boys' tradition. 

I do believe that David Cameron is perhaps a fresh ray of hope to influx more WRP under the Conservatives, yet I am also aware that the results would be just marginal, perhaps a little more for Tories if he enters No. 10. Labour has consistently proved themselves 'more open' to WRP with fielding women candidates from at least half the winnable seats.  (pic courtesy: conservativehome.blogs.com)

So the crucial question is, whether the nominated women are placed in a position with a chance of a real election. Then, whether they form a part of the cabinet, are entrusted with serious portfolios and are given a real chance to bring in new policies and legislations; and not just turn into some numbers that make a political party's spreadsheet look more women-friendly.

WRP is probably like a car that doesn't start, the quotas can be used to give it a shove but the only way to drive it to speed would be if all the mechanisms of the car perform their functions to perfection. 

Election 2010 is just the first bend in this long winding road but will be crucial to determine which path to take to see more 'real' representation of women in the UK Parliament.