Discrimination at work place became a popular topic as it was brought out by International Labour Organisation (ILO). It had said that dalits in India are denied jobs due to "caste discrimination' and this has evoked mixed reactions from the people.
The report titled ‘Equality at work: tackling the challenges' released on May 10, said: "Dalits are excluded from work opportunities in the area of production, processing or sale of food items and services in the private and public sectors in India.' It also said that although law prohibits practice of ‘untouchability', caste remains a dominant factor in defining the economic and social status of dalit men and women in India and Nepal. "Limited access to education, training and resources, such as land or credit, further impair their (dalits) equal opportunities for access to non-caste-based occupations and decent work,' the report said. While acknowledging that affirmative actions by Indian government has enabled marginal number of dalits in obtaining formal jobs, the report says that such initiatives have failed to lead to an even progress in providing equal opportunities to all.
This is further supported by a research which states that on average low-caste applicants need to send 20 percent more resumes than high-caste applicants to get the same callback. This means that the Dalits need to put in more effort in get the jobs compared to the upper-caste applicants.
The percentage of numbers of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs including the public sector enterprise is below 10 per cent, while 22.5 per cent job reservation is being followed by successive governments since 1950. Due to globalisation, followed by shrinking job opportunities in the public sector, there is mass migration of workers from the organised sector to the informal sector, where discrimination against dalits or marginalised is more acute.
"The issues linked with movement of labour from traditional agriculture to low productive manufacturing and tertiary activities due to rapid emergence of few urban centres have not been the core of development debates on globalisation,' says Amitabh Kundu, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
The report has also attracted some criticism some feels the report has not dealt with caste discrimination with sufficient rigour. It fails to register the growing consciousness among dalit workers, and the strong challenge they are posing against discrimination and inequality.
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