California Anti-Caste Bill (SB 403)

California Anti-Caste Bill (SB 403)

• The California Anti-Caste Bill Senate has passed the SB 403 Bill, a legislation seeking to explicitly ban caste discrimination.
• California
  • It is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area.
  • Sacramento is the state’s capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state.

Caste discrimination in U.S

• Ambedkar once wrote that “if Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem.”
• Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the US.  4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States.
• A 2020 study conducted among Indian Americans by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found that roughly half of the Hindu respondents identified with a caste group..

California SB 403 Bill

• The law would make California the first US State to add caste as a protected category in its anti-discrimination laws. 
• The bill adds caste as a protected category to an existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which provides that all people in California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, or services in all business establishments.

Caste discrimination in India

• Census (2011),-  estimated 20 crore Dalits in India.
• The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted to prevent atrocities against the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Practice Questions for Prelims

Mains Practice Question

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