Hundreds of British Asians will gather in Parliament Square on Tuesday to urge MPs to introduce legal protection for those from traditionally lower-caste backgrounds.<\/p>\n
A coalition of community groups, human rights organisations and politicians has been campaigning for a change in the law that would make it an offence for people to discriminate on the grounds of caste.<\/p>\n
A report on the issue commissioned by the government three years ago estimated that there were between 50,000 and 200,000 people in Britain who are classified as low caste. The study, by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, identified evidence of discrimination, harassment and exclusion in schools, provision of services and in the workplace.<\/p>\n
Another survey, published in 2009 by the Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance, found that 58% of those questioned felt they had been discriminated against because of their caste status, while 78% said they did not think the police would understand if they tried to report a caste-related hate crime.<\/p>\n
A number of the respondents \u2013 71% of whom identified themselves as members of the Dalits, who were formerly known as “untouchables” because of their low-caste status \u2013 said they had been asked, directly or indirectly, about their caste background by their family doctor, nurse or a community care nurse.<\/p>\n
Although a section of the Equality Act 2010 could offer lower-caste British Asians a legal safeguard against caste discrimination, it has not yet been activated despite repeated demands. The government has instead indicated that it plans to tackle the issue of caste discrimination through an educational initiative before resorting to legislation.<\/p>\n
But that could change on Tuesday when MPs vote on a cross-party amendment \u2013 passed in the House of Lords \u2013 that would make caste a protected characteristic under the act.<\/p>\n