Of Law, Racism and Observable facts
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 18, 2014 -
The observation that racism has been practiced in India is not new.
In fact, the issue of racial discrimination in India had been raised along with the question - whether or not the perpetual discrimination faced by Dalits can be considered another form of racism.
The premise to the argument being that the Dalits over the ages had been put outside the purview of the caste system and that there was a qualitative difference between Caste and Racial based discriminations.
While acknowledging the qualitative difference, it should be noted that there has been continual refusal by the Government of India to take note of the observation on Racial discrimination and in staunchly propagating the view that Caste and Race are two dissimilar entities.
The denial of the Government of India to accept certain realities related to racial discrimination was further bolstered with acclaimed anthropologists and sociologists arguing against the move of few conscientious observers.
It is worth recalling that the Government had disallowed special probe into any issue based on the claims that Caste does not denote Race.
The official argument offered has been that there are protective laws for those who were categorized in the lower strata of the four-fold caste system and that there had been adequate measures taken to combat the evils of extreme Casteism spilling over discrimination based on purity and pollution.
It is against this backdrop, one should read the news that the Ministry of Home Affairs is reportedly considering five years jail term for calling people 'Chinese', 'Chinki' or making other derogatory remarks relating to race, culture or physical appearance.
According to Rajnath Singh, the Home Ministry may bring in a bill for amending the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 for the safety and security of the people, primarily for those hailing from the Northeast.
If the Ministry actually takes steps to make the bill a reality, it only proves that there indeed is a social fact which has been kept hidden for a long time.
The steps being considered by the Union Home Ministry is based on the recommendation of the Bezbaruah Committee on derogatory remarks relating to race, culture, identity or physical appearances.
The committee was constituted after the death of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh in an apparent racial attack.
With such developments unfolding over ways to deal with racial discrimination and attacks, it will be pertinent to reflect on the possible cumulative impact of bringing in an amendment to existing laws while dealing with obvious cases of racial discrimination.
It should be reminded that an amendment or a piece of legislation will not be able to erase certain prejudices which run deep within the vital elements of the Nation’s mass psyche.
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