APPENDIX 13
Memorandum by the Dalit Solidarity Network
UK
THE CASTE
SYSTEM IN
INDIA—A VERY
BRIEF OVERVIEW:
ECONOMIC SOCIAL
EXCLUSION, AND
THE AMBEDKAR
PRINCIPLES OF
EMPLOYMENT
An increasing number of international companies
and banks are investing in the countries of South Asia, particularly
in India. This may have positive consequences for those countries.
However the Dalit Solidarity Network UK believes it is increasingly
important that foreign investors look carefully at their recruitment
and employment policies in South Asia.
Especially in India, there is a distinct and
all-pervasive system of discrimination based on caste. The United
Nations and its agencies refer to it as "discrimination based
on work and descent". What it means is that people who are
born into specific groups, trades or castes are unable to escape
from the stigma of their background or their origins. Hence those
born as leatherworkers, barbers, agricultural workers or manual
scavengers (toilet cleaners) will remain in those employment sectors
all their lives. Sometimes people escape from the system by moving
to the large towns or cities, but overall the system remains heavily
in place.
"Dalit" is a term which has had increasing
currency in recent years. Literally, it means "the oppressed".
It encompasses peoples who used to be called "untouchables",
or "Harijans"; who are often also referred to as "Scheduled
Castes", because the way they are referred to in the constitution
of India.
"Adivasi" is a term which refers to
those who are members of "Scheduled Tribes". That is,
individuals who are racially distinct, as indigenous peoples,
in contradistinction to the Caucasian peoples who invaded and
settled India centuries ago.
There is legislation stemming from the Indian
Constitution which outlaws caste discrimination. The Chair of
the committee which wrote the constitution of the Republic of
India was Dr Ambedkar. He was a highly educated Dalit who was
admitted into Gray's Inn and was called to the Bar. He also completed
his second Doctoral studies in the London School of Economics
and his thesis was subsequently published as "The problem
of the rupee". Ambedkar became an all-India figure and the
undisputed leader of the Dalits. He used this vantage-point successfully
to question with blunt and militant doggedness the claim of Gandhi
to represent all of India and especially the Dalits. He died in
1956 having served as India's first Law Minister.
Under the constitution, the Republic of India
is empowered
[8]to "promote
with special care the educational and economic interests of the
weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled
Castes
[9]and
the Scheduled Tribes
[10],
and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of
exploitation". To achieve this aim,
the State has used a two-fold approach: the provision of legal
safeguards against discrimination
[11]; and
a "Reservation Policy
[12]"
in the State sector and State Supported Sector.
Subsequently, there has been further legislation,
which has introduced penalties for specific examples of caste
discrimination. These include the 1989 Prevention of Atrocities
Act, the 1993 Protection of Human Rights Act, and the 1993 Employment
of Manual Scavengers Act. However, these laws are far from effective.
The Reservation Policy allocates 17% of public
sector jobs to Scheduled Castes, and a further 8% to Scheduled
Tribes. Since the inception of the Reservation Policy following
independence in 1947, there has been a significant increase in
the number of Dalit and Adivasi government employees, but this
is for a population of between about 250 million Dalits and Adivasis
(167 million Dalits, and 86 million Adivasis, in 2001).
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT UNDER RESERVATION
| Year | Dalits
| Adivasis | Others
|
| 1956 | 212,754 | 22,549
| 1,184,748 |
| 2003 | 540,220 | 211,345
| 2,517,780 |
Source: National Commission for SC and ST and Annual report
of Department of Personnel
PERCENTAGE SHARE IN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT
| Year | Dalits
| Adivasis | Others
|
| 1956 | 14.98 | 1.59
| 83.43 |
| 2003 | 16.52 | 6.46
| 77.01 |
Source: Thorat 2005, "Persistent Poverty—Why SC
and ST stay chronically poor" DFID working paper
EMPLOYMENT UNDER RESERVATION IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS
| Year | Dalits
| Adivasis | Others
|
| 1970 | 40,640 | 12,309
| 494,680 |
| 2003 | 296,388 | 138,504
| 1,198,106 |
Source: Thorat 2005, "Persistent Poverty—Why SC
and ST stay chronically poor" DFID working paper
PERCENTAGE SHARE IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS
| Year | Dalits
| Adivasis | Others
|
| 1970 | 7.42 | 2.25
| 90.33 |
| 2003 | 18.15 | 8.48
| 73.37 |
Source: Thorat 2005, "Persistent Poverty—Why SC
and ST stay chronically poor" DFID working paper
PERCENTAGE SHARE OF EMPLOYEES IN PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS
| Posts | 1978
| 2000 |
| SC | ST
| Others | SC |
ST | Others |
| Officers | 2.04 | 0.34
| 97.62 | 12.51 | 4.22
| 83.27 |
| Clerks | 10.32 | 1.82
| 87.86 | 14.88 | 4.76
| 80.36 |
| Sub staff | 16.25 | 2.09
| 8167 | 24.47 | 6.25
| 69.28 |
| | |
| | | |
Source: National Commission for SC and ST
From the above figures it can be seen that, 60 years after
Independence, the raw percentages in government employment and
public sector undertakins now do very roughly reflect the percentages
of the population which are Dalit and Adivasi. Because the Reservation
Policy does not extend to the private sector recruitment is
not done according to quota systems. Therefore, it is not possible
to get comparative figures for the proportion of Dalits and Adivasi
employed in the private sector, not—most importantly—the
seniority of jobs they hold.
Yet the Reservation Policy does not extend to the private
sector. To say the least, this is unfortunate, because the private
sector, in relation to the State Sector and State Support Sector,
is rather a big player. 76% of the workforce is engaged in the
private sector and only 24% is employed in the State Sector and
the State Supported Sector[13].
The present context is also that the State Sector and the State
Supported Sector are shrinking, while the private sector is expanding.
It is estimated that 90% of the Dalit and Adivasi workforce
is engaged in menial jobs in the Private Sector (mainly agriculture
and private industry). In practice, they have very little—and
sometimes no—protection against discrimination. It remains
extremely difficult for the 25% of the population referred to
by the government as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to
overcome the discrimination they face. This is a negative situation,
both in terms of human rights, and in terms of economic potential.
An article in the New York Times recently described the
typing competition, in English, the journalist had with an eight-year-old
Dalit girl in a village "about an hour's drive—and
10 centuries—from Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley".
The eight-year-old, he said, "left me in the dust, to the
cheering delight of her classmates". It is important to examine
the potential which is being lost because of the caste system.
The United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi is
committed to exploring the expansion of the reservation system,
into the private sector. According to a recent article in the
Indian Express, the state government of Maharashtra is
already preparing such legislation.
Foreign investment in India is high, and increasing, not
the least because it is viewed as a stable country with a high
growth rate. Economically, India is a "happening" country.
The caste system has specific effects, when it comes to recruitment
of workers for industries which are being developed with outside
capital and technological know-how. To respond to this situation
DSN-UK, a member of the International Dalit Solidarity Network,
is proposing a set of employment principles for foreign investors
in South Asia. After a series of consultations spread over a year
with the private, public, and charities sectors, we have finalised
what we shall call the Ambedkar Principles, and are pleased to
be launching them formally on the 20 July 2006.
THE AMBEDKAR PRINCIPLES
EMPLOYMENT AND
ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES
ON ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL
EXCLUSION FORMULATED
TO ASSIST
ALL FOREIGN
INVESTORS IN
SOUTH ASIA
TO ADDRESS
CASTE DISCRIMINATION
1. Caste discrimination remains a serious problem in
the countries of South Asia. The Principles outlined below are
an attempt to address this. They are intended to acknowledge the
degree of historic injustice against Dalits and to compensate
for this through affirmative action, in line with international
Human Rights standards, although not to the detriment of other
excluded groups. They will enable foreign investors or companies
trading in the region to contribute to eliminating caste discrimination
in the labour market. Much has been learned from the use of similar
principles aiming to create equality in employment, such as the
Wood-Sheppard Principles in the UK and the MacBride Principles
in Northern Ireland—relating to racial and religious discrimination
respectively—and from principles developed in relation to
investment in countries with serious and structural human rights
violations, such as the EU Code of Conduct and the Sullivan Principles
drawn up in the 1970s to address apartheid in South Africa.
2. The main Employment Principles are firmly rooted in
and seek to build upon the labour rights that are already supported
by the international community—governments, trade unions
and employers' associations alike—in the form of the conventions
of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). They can be seen
as the practical application of a number of these rights for a
large section of the South Asian population that has been subjugated
for centuries. These people are severely discriminated against
even today on the basis of being born into a particular "caste"
or social group.
3. At present the obligations of states with regard to
implementing labour rights are increasingly being complemented
by instruments that call upon the corporate sector to be responsible
and accountable for its impact on the wider society, including
those whom it employs or whose employment it influences through
the subcontracting chain. One of these instruments is the UN Global
Compact, of which Principle 6 requires supporting companies to
seek "the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation". Another is the Global Sullivan Principles,
which state that companies will "work with governments and
communities in which we do business to improve the quality of
life in those communities, their educational, cultural, economic
and social well being and seek to provide training and opportunities
for workers from disadvantaged backgrounds". There are similar
commitments in the OECD Guidance for Companies and the (draft)
United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational
Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human
Rights. The Additional Principles on exclusion have also been
evolved from these international standards.
4. Companies supporting the Principles are asked to give
them general endorsement, to work progressively towards their
implementation and to make an annual report on their progress
as part of their diversity or corporate social responsibility
reporting, and also to consider engaging in some form of external
audit. The Principles are built upon the urgent need in any society
for positive or affirmative action for severely and structurally
disadvantaged groups.
5. In the Principles the term "Dalits" is used,
as that is the term chosen by many of the former "untouchables",
or "Scheduled Castes" as the Indian Government refers
to them. In this context "Dalits" also includes indigenous
people(s) (in India referred to as "Scheduled Tribes").
"Caste discrimination" is referred to by the United
Nations as "discrimination by work and descent", and
was the subject in August 2002 of General Recommendation 29 by
the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The countries of "South Asia" to which we refer are
primarily India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
EMPLOYMENT PRINCIPLES
Those who endorse the Employment Principles will be building
on existing national anti-discrimination laws and policies, acting
in the spirit of internationally recognised human and employment
rights and putting into practice the general commitments found
in international standards, as referred to above. They will:
(a) Include in any statement of employment policy a reference
to the unacceptability of caste discrimination and a commitment
to seeking to eliminate it;
(b) Develop and implement a plan of affirmative action,
including training on caste discrimination for all employees and
making specific reference to Dalit women, particularly where Dalits
are under-represented as employees in relation to the local population;
(c) Ensure the company and its suppliers comply with all
national legislation, particularly in relation to bonded labour,
manual scavenging and child labour, pay specific attention to
the role that caste relations might play in legitimising or covering
up such forms of labour, and contribute actively to the implementation
of existing anti-caste laws such as the Civil Rights Act and the
Prevention of Atrocities Act;
(d) Use fair recruitment, selection and career development
processes, with clear objective criteria, and ensure that these
processes are open to scrutiny from Dalits themselves as well
as other civil society groups;
(e) Take full responsibility for their workforce, both
direct and sub-contracted, including the supply chain, in seeking
to detect and remedy any caste discrimination in employment conditions,
wages, benefits or job security;
(f) Evolve comprehensive training opportunities for employees
and potential recruits from Dalit communities (integrated with
other staff where possible but separate where not), and including
language support for English deficient candidates, with the aim
of enabling Dalit workers to fulfil their potential, and will
wherever possible set targets for numbers of Dalit employees;
(g) Designate a manager at a sufficiently senior level
to carry out the policy who will aim, in the context of meeting
business needs, to maximise the benefits of a diverse workforce
and ensure that the policy, its monitoring and the related practices
are carried through;
(h) Develop effective monitoring and verification mechanisms
of progress at the level of the individual company, and also co-operate
in monitoring at the levels of sector and the state, involving
Dalit representatives including women in these mechanisms;
(i) Publish annually a report on progress in implementing
these Principles—preferably in relation to an appropriate
section of the Annual Report;
(j) Appoint a specific board member with responsibility
for oversight of this whole policy area.
ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES
TO ADDRESS
ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Investors who support the Additional Principles will encourage
increasingly wide ownership of land and capital, and broaden opportunities
for skills development, in the context of social and economic
rights. The Principles should be a vital element in any social
and/or environmental audit prior to investment. "Socially
excluded communities" refers primarily to Dalits but in particular
contexts may include tribal peoples, women and religious minorities.
Those who endorse the Additional Principles will:
(a) Require that all corporate support to community development
programmes and other charitable activities in caste-affected countries
or areas include the participation of Dalits in both planning
and implementation, and that they receive at least an equal share
in any benefits;
(b) Where land is leased and/or purchased ensure it has
not been misappropriated, or otherwise removed, from socially
excluded communities;
(c) Seek to place a proportion of supply and/or service
contracts with local enterprises from socially excluded communities;
(d) Avoid exploitation of local resources to the detriment
of local communities;
(e) Aim to ensure nothing is done which may drive local
communities towards ecologically insensitive activities or the
desperation of violent protest, undertaking local consultation
to guarantee this;
(f) Vigorously encourage and enable a degree of ownership
of the investing institution by socially excluded communities;
(g) If a bank or financial institution, ensure that lending
to Priority Sectors (in India a legal requirement) seeks particularly
to assist Dalit Self-Help Groups and Dalit entrepreneurs;
(h) Support educational projects for socially excluded
communities at all levels, primary, secondary and in the form
of training for posts at executive or management level;
(i) Promote and support the teaching of English to Dalit
communities, and encourage State and Government authorities to
do the same, as the use of English greatly increases employment
potential for excluded sectors;
(j) Put in place a protective system for whistleblowers.
The Employment Principles were presented in draft form to
the International Consultation on Caste-Based Discrimination held
in Kathmandu between 29 November and 1 December 2004. The International
Dalit Solidarity Network has received comments and amendments
during 2005 from its member bodies and senior figures in private
companies. At a meeting on working with the private sector in
The Hague, Netherlands, October 2005 it was agreed to include
the Additional Principles in relation to wider social and economic
rights.
Annex
INDICATORS OF SOCIAL DEPRIVATION
| *Social | 1998-99
|
| Dalits | Non-Dalits
|
| Literacy Rate (%) | 57.81
| 73.41 |
| Infant Mortality Rate (%) | 83
| 61.8 |
| Child Mortality (%) | 39.5 |
22.2 |
| Under nourishment (%) | 54 |
41.1 |
| Life Expectancy (years) | 62
| 66 |
| Magnitude of Child Labour—Rural** |
7.22 | 3.3 |
| Magnitude of Child Labour—Urban** |
8.1 | 6.2 |
Source: Thorat and Nidhi Sadana, (2002)
| *Economic % | 1999-2000
|
| Rural
| Urban |
| Dalits | Non-Dalits
| Dalits | Non-Dalits
|
| Self Employed In Agriculture | 25.69
| 49.86 | 4.8 | 4.97
|
| Self Employed In Non-Agriculture | 9.72
| 13.35 | 28.53 | 39.23
|
| Regular Salaried | 6.25 |
7.64 | 33.34 | 41.39
|
| Wage labour | 50 | 23.32
| 64 | 15 |
| Employment Rate | 38.62 |
39.75 | 34.41 | 33.18
|
| Unemployment rate | 4.09 |
2.60 | 3.70 | 2.62
|
| Poverty Rate | 35.4 | 20
| 39 | 21 |
Source: National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) Employment
Survey,1999-2000, Central Statistical Organization, Delhi.
* The above data has been compiled after more than six
years of intensive research. The NSSO carries out their surveys
every five years but surveys focusing on Dalits are few and far
in between with information scattered over various sub-rounds.
Moreover some of the above proportions have been compiled by decoding
the information that the NSSO collects (in a coded form) through
its questionnaires to households and individuals.
** The figures on child labour are for the year 1993-94.
The more recent (2005) information is still in the process of
compilation by the NSSO. Between 1993-94 and 2005 reports with
disaggregated information especially on child labour is not readily
available. One has to purchase the CD with raw data and then process
the information.
Notes
1. In rural India only 26% of dalits are self employed
in agriculture as compared to 50% of non-dalits. This difference
indicates that dalits have limited access to resources such as
land and capital, two pre-requisites in starting one's own business
and gaining access to financial resources. On the other hand,
it is observed that a higher proportion of dalits (50%) are engaged
as casual labourers for daily wages in comparison to non-dalits
(23%).
2. In urban India it is observed that among the regular
salaried employees again non-dalits are in a higher proportion
(41%) as compared to dalits (33%). The source of income for dalits
in urban/rural India is irregular and unstable because they are
more likely to be employed in low skilled jobs. We find that a
higher proportion of dalits are employed as casual labourers for
daily wages vis-a"-vis non-dalits.
3. With respect to poverty, a higher proportion of dalits
(35%) fall below the poverty line as compared to non-dalits (20%).
This is case both in rural and urban India.
4. The unemployment rate for dalits is double when compared
to non-dalits.
8
Article 46, A Directive Principle of State Policy. Back
9
Dalits. Back
10
Adivasis. Back
11
Even though the institution of caste has not been banned, certain
laws have been formulated by the state to protect victims of caste-based
abuse and atrocities, and to provide compensation. Back
12
Affirmative Action. Back
13
Government of India Economic Survey 2005-06, Economic Division,
Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, India. Back
|
