inside the glass house

Caste and consular discrimination -- the Indian way
NEW YORK -- The scene is a middle class London night club. The cast of characters includes a British-born comedian of Indian parentage. The audience is mostly of South Asian origin. As the stand-up comic takes the mike, he begins with a dig at his mother country where the caste system is still an integral part of modern-day society.

As he mimics a fictitious ticket agent announcing the departure of an Indian airlines flight from Heathrow airport, his joke hits a raw nerve. "Ladies and gentleman," he begins, "we are about to board flight 007 non-stop to Mumbai.''

And then he adds the punch line: "We will first start boarding all passengers who are brahmins and vellalas... followed by first caste and business caste passengers..." Sorry, first class and business class passengers. The audience in the night club breaks into laughter.

Caste is both a politically and socially sensitive issue in India -- as much as it is in Sri Lanka -- and discussed mostly behind closed doors. And, not surprisingly, at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai last month and the World Conference Against Racism in Durban about three years ago, the issue of caste discrimination barely raised its ugly head.

But caste was one of the five main themes of the panel discussions at the WSF meeting which was the annual convention of the anti-globalisation movement born in Porte Allegre, Brazil.

As Agence France Presse (AFP) reported last month, India has for years fought to keep caste discrimination off the international agenda. And it has successfully argued that caste discrimination is not the same as racism -- and such discrimination is officially against the law and banned under the Indian constitution.

Just before the Durban conference on racism, India's Attorney General Soli Sorabjee argued that caste discrimination in India is "undeniable", "but caste and race are entirely distinct."

But despite legal constraints, says Amnesty International, it is still practised in India where 160 million Dalits -- who are born "untouchables" -- face torture, arbitrary arrest and extra-judicial execution.

At the Mumbai conference, Human Rights Watch pointed out that an estimated 100,000 atrocities, including murder and rape, are committed each year against Dalits.

According to Hindu traditionalists, HRW said, Dalits should not be allowed even to sit on the same bus seats as higher caste Indians. In the deep south in the United States, Afro-Americans were traditionally confined to the back of the bus until such discrimination was outlawed in the country.

But discrimination is widespread and varied, based also on class, ethnicity, tribe, religion and gender -- to name just a few. Last month a group of about 50 Sri Lankans flying to Kerala for a wedding experienced another type of discrimination, this time at the Indian Consulate in New York.

The consulate apparently makes a distinction between an American born in US soil and a US passport holder born in Sri Lanka (who really comes under the jurisdiction of the US State Department, not the department of immigration in Sri Lanka).

While Americans are given their visas over the counter, Sri Lankan expatriates with US passports are subject to a 10-day referral (probably for security checks in Sri Lanka). This rule also applies to US passport holders born in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Since most Sri Lankan passport holders who applied for visas have been living in the US for over 25 years-- and visited the home country only sporadically -- shouldn't the security checks be really conducted in the US rather than in Sri Lanka?

"They have one law for white Americans and another for Sri Lankans," one of the expatriates complained last week. Even on visa fees, the Indian consulate is apparently discriminating between native born Americans and Sri Lankans with US passports. The former is entitled to a 10-year visa to India at a cost of $150 but a Sri Lankan-born American can only get a six month visa for $60, plus an additional fee of $20.

Asked for a response, Santosh Jha, a passport officer at the Indian Consulate admitted he has to get approval from the 'appropriate authorities' in Colombo before issuing a visa. But he denied that the consulate is making a distinction between white Americans and Sri Lankan Americans.

"We are required to seek approval depending on the 'profile' of the applicant for a visa. We have a certain profile of people whose application should be referred to Colombo," he said.

But he refused to disclose what the 'profile' is. Pressed for more answers, he became testy: "Why am I being asked these question. And why am I answerable to you? These are rules and regulations made by the government in New Delhi".

Told about the official Indian response, one of the expatriates would only say: "If there is no discrimination, why cannot we get a 10-year visa. It's a load of crock."

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