Recently the WWW and the media was live with discussions and debates on racial and other kind of discrimination after an African American named George Floyd succumbed to injuries he sustained while being arrested by a White police officer. Individuals expressed their outrage on Facebook. And companies were quick to paint their LinkedIn pages in the colors of the pride flag to demonstrate their solidarity and inclusion for people of color and other marginalized groups, whether they practiced it or not. Do we know where India stands in legislating anti-discrimination laws?
We might not be a "white world", but we have "our godforsaken lot". Our women, our transgenders, our religious minorities, our linguistic minorities, our marginalized tribes and castes, our Devadasis, our citizens from North Eastern states, our physically and mentally challenged citizens, our citizens who have been diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections like HIV, our citizens who are differently oriented sexually or those with fluid gender identity - they all face discrimination in daily life and at workplaces. Our constitution guarantees them all a right to equality. And there are several anti-discrimination laws that deal with each of these. Possibly our lawmakers have been conditioned to think of disadvantages and discrimination playing out as and against a single identity, and hence these single-axis approach to legislation. Possibly our lawmakers have always been reacting to outrage caused by acts of discrimination against individuals or groups who identify with any one of the above, rather than taking a comprehensive approach to address discrimination against multiple identities.
The "brave new world" that this nation aspires to be, might require a comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation to protect its citizens. An Equality legislation as against multiple anti-discrimination laws. Some attempts have been made by lawmakers and think-tanks, but none have shaped up into a comprehensive legislation. One of them was made closer to home in Bangalore by the Centre For Law & Policy Research ('CLPR') under the guidance of Ms. Jayna Kothari as CLPR's Equality Bill 2019.
Recommended:
Song & lyrics: Dead Can Dance - Black Sun
CLPR's Equality Bill 2019 - https://clpr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Equality-Bill-2019-22nd-July-2019.pdf