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India on Sunday strongly rejected the campaign for inclusion of casteism in the on-going World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, even as its draft declaration incorporated reference to discrimination on the basis of "work and descent".
Maintaining that the United Nations conference was not the appropriate forum for engaging in "social engineering", Minister of State for External Affairs and leader of the Indian delegation Omar Abdullah said, "We are here to ensure that states do not condone or encourage regressive social attitudes."
"We haven't come to Durban to engage in social engineering within member states," he said, and described the campaign by dalit activists and non-governmental organisations from India in the run-up to the conference as a "highly exaggerated and misleading propaganda", which was often based on anecdotal evidence regarding caste-based discrimination in India.
Abdullah said it was neither legitimate nor feasible for the world conference, or for that matter the UN, to "legislate, let alone police, individual behaviour in our societies".
"We in India have faced this evil squarely. The issue has remained at the top of our national agenda," he said.
On the third day of the conference it was not clear whether New Delhi would object to paragraph 73 of the draft declaration, which referred to discrimination on the basis of work and descent. Indian NGOs maintained that the paragraph in effect referred to casteism and alleged oppression of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Former chairperson of National Commission for Women Mohini Giri, who was part of the NGO forum, said the dalits would have no objection if caste per se was not mentioned in the final declaration, but demanded that paragraph 73 be retained.
While Guatemala had sought incorporation of the paragraph, Switzerland, which had made the demand for its retention at the preparatory conference at Geneva, had withdrawn its stand.
Informing the conference of the constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards adopted by India to uplift members of the historically disadvantaged castes, Abdullah said, "We are proud of the positive difference these measures have made."
"As one of the oldest civilisations of the world, India is fully conscious of its responsibility," he said.
He explained that the institutions of India's democratic polity, the progressive removal of poverty and the spread of literacy had empowered and given voice to millions of the weaker sections of the society. "We are determined to continue this national endeavour."
PTI
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