Seattle City Council ban on caste discrimination

(MainsGS1:Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.)

Context:

The Seattle City Council became the first U.S. city to ban caste-based discrimination.
It now includes caste as a class to be protected against discrimination, alongside race, gender, and religion.

Defining caste as a “rigid social stratification characterised by hereditary status, endogamy and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law or religion,” the council said discrimination based on caste was occurring in Seattle and that the legislation would prohibit “such caste-based discrimination against individuals.”
The fight to address caste discrimination was led by Dalit rights activists and organisations like Equality Labs and other local groups, many of whom originally hailed from India, and yet had felt the long reach of the caste system, rooted in the Manusmriti with its rigid hierarchies, despite being part of the diaspora.
While Dalit rights activists called the ordinance, proposed by council member historic, it came under attack from groups like the Hindu American Foundation which said caste discrimination must be condemned but by “singling out South Asians,” the move would put communities like the Hindus under more legal scrutiny.

Data provided:

The Equality Labs 2016 Caste in the United States survey found that one in four Dalits in the U.S. had faced verbal or physical assault and two out of every three said they had faced discrimination at work.
The data colected are corroborated by hundreds of testimonies of caste-oppressed people who spoke up against discrimination at workplaces, places of worship, and in community relationships.
“This is a win centuries in the making, and it sends a message across the world that in order for us to heal from caste we must ban it.
Seattle, in Washington state, home to companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, have many workers from South Asia, including India.

According to the Census (2011), there are an estimated 20 crore Dalits in India.
To address the social discrimination that arose out of the practice of untouchability, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 was enacted, recognising Hindu Dalits as Scheduled Castes, later amended to include Dalits who had converted to Sikhism and Buddhism.
The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions now seeking inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims as Scheduled Castes.

Constitution protection:

Article 15 of the Constitution lays down that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
The Constitution and a host of laws protect against caste discrimination in India, but despite stringent laws and reservation policies providing benefits to the marginalised, caste violence and discrimination continue.
In 2021, 50,900 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) were registered, an increase of 1.2% over 2020 (50,291 cases), according to National Crime Records Bureau data.
The rate of crime was particularly high in Madhya Pradesh (63.6 per lakh in a SC population of 113.4 lakh) and Rajasthan (61.6 per lakh in a SC population of 112.2 lakh).