California Legislator Introduces Bill To Make Caste Discrimination Illegal
SACRAMENTO, CA (IANS) – An Afghan-American lawmaker in California has introduced a bill to make caste discrimination illegal and if passed, it will become the first ever US state to outlaw discrimination based on caste.
The bill was authored and introduced on March 23 by Democrat Senator Aisha Wahab, who proposed to add caste as a protected category in California’s anti-discrimination laws alongside gender, race and disability.
This development comes a month after Seattle became the first US city to ban caste-based discrimination after a vote by the local council.
Speaking to the BBC, Wahab said: “I’ve had friends tell me that their parents immigrated to this country because they belong to different castes and (their) families weren’t accepting of that.”
Supporters of the bill have said that caste discrimination needs a legislative solution.
Several educational, corporate, and political institutions in California have already formulated anti-caste discrimination policies.
Last year, California State University (Cal State), the largest public university system in the US, approved a policy change which added caste as a protected category.
Also in 2022, Apple announced that it had updated its employee policy two years earlier to prohibit caste discrimination.
In 2021, the California Democratic Party added caste as a protected category to its code of conduct.
The workers’ union at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has issued a statement supporting Wahab’s bill.
Harbir
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These idiots have nothing else to do worthwhile . Go back to India,if they take you back
March 23, 2023Daljit (Dean) Singh
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Any legislation against caste discrimination is a step forward in the fair treatment of all people. Caste has been an insidious social value deeply ingrained in human relationships in South Asia and beyond. Although several major world religions have declared their disapproval of such practices, people continue to adhere to them. The proposed California legislation, if approved, must provide for severe punishment and fines for those people and institutions exhibiting any tendencies of caste discrimination.
March 23, 2023VIJAY
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How about a bill against despicable treatment of Hindus in Pakistan. Ilhan Omar and Aisha Wahab are anti-India of first order. they troublemakers who do not belong to live in a civilized country like the United States.
March 23, 2023Partha Sircar
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Discrimination of any type should be unacceptable. But what I find hard to swallow is that there is a consequential caste discrimination issue in US, and particularly in California to warrant a formal legislation against it. In my 55 years in this country, which includes California, New York and Texas, I have not noticed it first hand much less experienced it.
March 23, 2023