ABSTRACT
The first part of this chapter examines the developments in the legal regulation of caste discrimination in the period from April 2010 to the government’s announcement in July 2018 of its intention to repeal the duty to add caste to race in the EA. The inconsistent and contradictory positions and responses of successive governments, and their prevarication and obfuscation on the question of legal protection from caste discrimination, are laid bare. The second part of the chapter explains and examines the interlocking domestic and international legal and socio-political factors affecting the legal regulation of caste discrimination in domestic law. At the international level, two factors are highlighted: the UK’s interaction with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the UK’s economic and political relationship with India. At the domestic level, the socio-political context, including the shifting views and positions of the various institutional and legal actors and civil society protagonists, is examined. The significance of the inclusion of the word “caste” in the EA – even if it is ultimately removed by repealing EA section 9(5)(a) – is also addressed.
