Top Dalit activist and engineer Milind Makwana, who took up cudgels recently against the caste discrimination bill in California state assembly, has died of a heart attack. Makwana died soon after he spoke against the SB-403 caste discrimination bill at a city council meeting in Cupertino last week, according to the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).
Protests, petitions, and meetings with lawmakers did not stop the California Senate Judiciary Committee to vote ‘Yes’ to SB 403: Discrimination on the Basis of Caste, which passed the committee with a resounding 8-0 vote on April 25. SB 403 or State Bill 403 is a piece of legislation introduced to make the state free of caste-based discrimination. If signed into law, California will become the first state in America to make caste bias illegal by adding it as a protected category in the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
Jeevan Zutshi has been holding the IACF Unity Dinner for 22 years in order to build bridges with diverse groups. “I am still hopeful that we will flourish as a peaceful community as we understand each other better and not divide ourselves,” Zutshi told indica, soon after this year’s Unity Dinner on April 21.
The city of Fremont, California issued a proclamation condemning Hinduphobia and acknowledging a rise in hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents where Hindus have been targeted. In the proclamation, the city authorities noted the considerable social and economic contributions of Hindu Americans to Fremont and also thanked Hindu American Foundation (HAF) for offering community advocacy and education work over the past decade.
On April 25, the California Senate Judicial Committee is scheduled to hear ‘Bill SB 403, Discrimination on the Basis of Caste’, an event that has gained global media attention as well as concern among the Hindu American community, with some civil rights groups claiming that the passing of the bill will target certain people and that it is not uniform.
California state has dropped its allegations of caste-based bias by two Indian-descent employees of IT giant Cisco but will continue the larger case against the company. California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing had filed this case in 2020 based on a complaint from an unidentified employee of the company making it the first case of caste-based discrimination reported in the US.
Two professors of the Hindu faith have sued California State University (CSU), which has 23 campuses across the state, for including caste as a form of discrimination.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) sued the California Department of Civil Rights in United States District Court on Tuesday, September 22, for violating the civil rights of Hindu Americans residing in the state.
The Hindu American Foundation has sought to intervene in the alleged caste-discrimination case at tech giant Cisco, contending that the case constitutes “unconstitutional efforts of the State of California to decide the scope and nature of Hindu religious teachings and practices.”
indica News Bureau- A Hindu American group has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant asylum to the persecuted Sikhs and Hindus from Afghanistan. “We respectfully urge you to take further action to alleviate the dire situation of religious minorities in Afghanistan who look to the secular Republic of India as the only safe haven […]
