News and Events | Dalit Solidarity Network

13-15 March 2015 LibDem Spring Conference states their commitment to end caste discrimination

1st April 2015

DSN Director Meena Varma spoke at the LibDem conference in Liverpool on 14 March 2015 at a side event organised by the Humanist Secular Lib Dems. Joining her on the panel were Dr Julian Huppert MP and Jo Swinson MP. The meeting was chaired by Gordon Lishman. Our thanks to the Humanist & Secularist Liberal Democrats for making the event happen and for their ongoing support. The Party’s Equalities Motion, and the policy paper that it endorsed at the Autumn Conference, both included a commitment to tackle caste discrimination. The motion was carried without any relevant amendments, so the following quotes now represent party policy. [..]

Responses so far from the 63 letters sent to HMG and Shadow Cabinet

11th December 2014

As you can see these have been meagre so far. A thoughtful response but sadly still a holding one from Jo Swinson MP and no direct response from the Prime Minister or the Deputy PM and nothing from the Official Opposition at all.

Letter and Leaflet sent to Government and Official Opposition

29th October 2014

20 October 2014 Despite EHRC reports condemning caste discrimination and saying it ‘cannot be tolerated and should be included in the protections against discrimination and harassment provided in the Equality Act 2010′ legislation in the UK making caste discrimination illegal is still pending until Spring 2015. Therefore a letter along with DSN-UK leaflets were sent to all members of Her Majesty’s Government and Her Majesty’s Official Opposition in an attempt to speed up the process.The letter points out the estimated 400,000 Dalits living in the UK and the disastrous impact this has on Dalit rights such as education and employment. The letter [..]

Review of DSN-UK’s Annual General Meeting

29th October 2014

9th September 2014 DSN-UK’s Annual General Meeting took place on the 9th September. The meeting began with an introduction from Tom Palakudiyil the Vice Chair and was then followed by the business section in which finance, election of trustees and review of the year were covered. This was then followed by four highly engaging talks, the first talk being led by Bishop Yuhanon Meletius and covered faith in India. A talk on caste and labour rights in Indian supply chains came next given by Rana Alok Singh, India representative for Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) in India. Dr Aidan McQuade, Director of the oldest [..]

Caste Discrimination Debate comes to House of Commons

28th October 2014

9th July 2014 The subject of caste discrimination in the UK and lack of protective legislation implemented by the UK Government was put forward in the House of Commons. When asked about why the Government has prolonged the implementation of legislation to protect victims of caste discrimination, Mrs Helen Grant - The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities - responded 'we (the Government) need to assess the feasibility of any further research into caste discrimination'. According to Mrs Grant, there are some people that 'do not believe that caste discrimination exists and consider that legislation is, therefore, unnecessary' and so a [..]