UNITED KINGDOM, July 23, 2018 (The Hindu): The British government has decided that it will not recognize caste as an aspect of race in anti-discrimination legislation, in a move that was condemned by Dalit organisations and other campaign groups. Following a consultation last year, the government pointed to ”the extremely low number” of cases involved and the ”clearly controversial nature” of introducing caste, insisting that reliance on case-law and the ability for people to bring claims of caste discrimination under ”ethnic origins” was the solution that would promote ”community cohesion” and be ”likely to create less friction”.
The Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance said it was ”outraged” by the decision to repeal a law that had been agreed by Parliament and endorsed by the UN, and supported by the government’s own Equalities and Human Rights Commission. ”This decision goes in favor of those who continue to practice caste prejudice in the UK.,” it said. However, the decision was welcomed by other groups who had campaigned strongly on the issue. ”What we’ve been saying has been validated,” said Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, which campaigned heavily on the issue alongside the National Council of Hindu Temples (U.K.), arguing that the legislation would be unnecessary and discriminatory ”to us and our future generations”. ”We dealt with the issue extremely professionally, consulting our community… we are extremely pleased that our hard work has shown results.”
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UNITED KINGDOM, July 23, 2018 (Financial Express): Sikhism is being considered as a separate ethnicity in the next UK census in 2021, following a long-standing demand by some British Sikh groups. The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) had opened a public consultation over whether to add the separate box for Sikhs under ethnicity, instead of just as a religion, and are now getting ready to present the findings to the government. ”Our recommendations for the 2021 Census will be included in a government White Paper later this year,” an ONS spokesperson said. The ONS had raised concerns over the issue of ”public acceptability” and whether the move would have backing across Britain’s 430,000-strong Sikh community.
According to some British Sikh groups, public bodies tend to only reference the ethnic groups used in the census and demand a separate Sikh ethnic tick box to ensure Sikhs have fair access to all public services. ”If the Census 2021 ethnicity question does not include a Sikh tick box question, the impact from a service user perspective will continue to grow and result in Sikhs being invisible to those who develop policies and deliver public services. This will span across the inequalities observed by Sikhs in health, education, employment etc,” Sikh Federation UK and Sikh Network have said as part of their representations to the ONS. A decision on whether to include Sikhism as a distinct ethnic identity in the next census is some way off, as the government looks into all sides of the argument from later this year.
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