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THE NATION : CASTE DISCRIMINATION
Mixing Up Caste With Race
What vexes sociologists
most is the peril of mixing up caste with race. Dipankar Gupta, sociologist,
blames the NGOs and "some senile delinquents" for engaging the
country in this debate. "The NGOs are flogging the issue for the
sake of their own survival. They are starved of funds. This trip to Durban
is an investment for most of them. As long as they continue to mix up
caste and race, they can go about their business," he says. Some
chastened NGOs are also wary of caste versus race discourse. "We
are not interested in the socio-anthropological debate. We are not trying
to denigrate the sovereignty of the nation. We feel we cannot settle the
issue within the country because those who dispense justice are from the
upper castes," says Prakash Louis of the Indian Social Institute,
Delhi.
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"The
trip to Durban is an investment for cash-starved NGOs."
DIPANKAR GUPTA, Sociologist
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"If
poverty can be discussed at global fora, why not caste?"
MARTIN MACWAN, Convener, NCDHR
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"The nationalism of the Dalits is being
questioned. We are not taking the issue directly to the UN. I have worked
in villages for 21 years," explains Macwan. The Ahmedabad-based activist
also runs an NGO, Navsarjan.
The NGOs as well as some politicians coordinating
with them readily admit that the whole idea of getting the UN involved
is to secure international funding for their projects. Says Ravi Nair
of the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre: "An international
scrutiny of human rights in the country is essential. The UN scrutiny
will ensure programme funding of the issue." Nair is supported by
Congress MP from Gujarat Pravin Rashtraphal. "If we can take the
UN help to fight polio, why can't we take its help to fight social scourges?"
he asks.
But then why should a Lok Sabha member seek
help from an international agency for problems he can solve with the right
political leadership? Political work is a daunting task. More than that
such work is virtually passe in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat that
once witnessed militant Dalit movement. Rashtraphal admits he relies on
the NGO network for political support. The former revenue officer himself
runs an NGO-Council for Social Justice. Today, NGOs are a springboard
for politics much as labour unions once were.
However, not everyone is convinced about the
Government's objections to the raising of the caste issue in Durban. Eminent
lawyer Fali Nariman denies that caste issue is an internal problem. "Torture
in a country is not its internal matter. The Government is being short-sighted.
We are doing a lot to end caste discrimination and that has to be highlighted,"
he says.
The Rajya Sabha member also disapproves of the
manner in which India has been sulking ever since the Committee for Elimination
of Racial Discrimination upheld in 1996 that caste-based discrimination
fell within the scope of its scrutiny. In fact, it was this ruling that
primed the NGOs to get their act together. Since 1996, India has not submitted
any report to the panel and in 1997 it refused permission to a UN special
rapporteur on racial discrimination to visit the country.
The UN conference on racism next week has a
provocative agenda. The draft declaration, which calls for reparation
for slavery, has upset nations including the US. Israel has taken offence
over the dubbing of Zionism as racism and along with the US has threatened
to boycott the meet. India, of course, has no such option. It is, after
all, hoping to get into the Security Council and can't afford to fritter
any good-will it has mustered.
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