Born into a family of pig farmers in India’s eastern Uttar Pradesh state, 58-year-old Chandra Bhan Prasad experienced firsthand the age-old prejudice of upper caste Hindus virtually shunning those from lower castes, or Dalits.
High Court Serious; Asks the Government to Respond
The girl, employed by a spinning mill was brutally attacked by the mill owners after trying to escape – says NGO demanding the arrest of the owners.
“Study finds that bondage has spread from farm sector to fast-food chains, carpet-making units"
The International Labour Organisation have now released the ILO Resource Handbook, a very useful tool in combating caste-based forced labour, and have also made a short summary of the handbook.
REPORT - Caste and Gender-Based Forced and Bonded Labour from UN HRC29 IDSN SIDE-EVENT 18th June 2015, 17.00-18.30
Author: Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Prepared in collaboration with International Labour Organization (ILO) for the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN).This study argues that a greater socio-economic diversity in the workforce at all levels of employment, by which we mean greater representation or inclusion of groups which have been traditionally marginalized, such as Dalits, and under-represented in organized employment, will not only have extremely positive repercussions for society as a whole, but more importantly,would make good business sense.
This study argues that a greater socio-economic diversity in the workforce at all levels of employment, by which we mean greater representation or inclusion of groups which have been traditionally marginalized, such as Dalits, and under-represented in organized employment, will not only have extremely positive repercussions for society as a whole, but more importantly, would make good business sense. Evidence across all states in India and in different sectors indicates that access to productive employment and decent jobs remains confined to a few sections of the workforce. Labour is divided by caste, religion, region, all of which overlap with class and gender with some castes and religious groups practically absent in the top echelons of the private corporate sector. Section II of the study contains a brief discussion of which groups are marginalized, excluded, under-represented and why. Section III demonstrates how dealing with exclusion and adopting a non-discriminatory policy is not only possible for the private sector, it is mandated by international convention. Section IV discusses how this problem is similar to the situation in racially divided advanced countries, such as the USA, UK, and other European countries and the measures taken in these societies to redress under-representation. Section V discusses the implications of the previous section for India and the specific steps which the private sector has adopted and additional steps it can adopt. The Appendix contains the code of conduct to promote affirmative action adopted in 2011 by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and the All India Organisation of Employees.
There was a strong will from multiple stakeholders to help rehabilitate former manual scavengers at the ‘National Consultation on Rehabilitation of Manual Scavenger’s and Role of the Government, UN agencies, Public and Private Sector, CSR and Civil Societies’ consultation held in New Delhi.
Dalit girls exploited in India's garment industry A new report finds that Dalit girls in India's garment industry live with very limited freedom of movement, are underpaid for long working-days and working under hazardous conditions. Despite efforts to curb the ‘Sumangali Scheme’ exploiting young Dalit girls – it continues unabated.