CASTE, RACE AND DISCRIMINATION: Discourses in International Context

The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), held at Durban in South Africa in 2001, led to an intense discussion on the issues of caste and race in India. The debate was catapulted to the centre stage by the demand of Dalit groups for inclusion of caste in the agenda of this conference and the different stands taken by the government and some section of civil society. The discussion with different stands in the media, academia, NGO sector and civil society generated voluminous literature.

This volume contains papers, which address issues related to caste, race and discrimination, internalization of caste, present status of Dalit and similar groups from Nepal and Japan, alternative remedies against discrimination and inequality and other such issues. This literature coming from different sources is immensely rich, insightful and reflective of the contemporary thinking of Indian society on the question of caste and Dalits.

The contributors include prominent academics, civil rights activists and writers. This volume would be immensely useful not only for the academia, the government, NGOs and researchers, but also the layman who are concerned about the issues of discrimination associated with caste and race and the deprivation suffered by the Dalits.

Sukhadeo Thorat is Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Currently, he is the Director of Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. He has written extensively on the problem of Dalits, caste discrimination, Ambedkar’s economic thinking, human right issues, agricultural development, rural poverty, rural labour and child labour, problem of slums. He has published seven books and about forty articles in national and international journals.

Umakant is Associate Fellow at Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. He has written on the issues related to Dalit politics, Dalit leadership and human right issues He has been also involved in human right activities related to Dalits.