Held at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Bedford on the 8th May 2010.
This National Conference was organised jointly by the Bhagwan Valmik Sabha, the Dr Ambedkar Mission Society and the Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha, all in Bedford.
ACDA was asked to control all activities on the day and after the President of the Sabha, Om Parkash, had welcomed everyone and given his opening address, Sat Paul, General Secretary, requested ACDA Chair to be the Master of Ceremonies.
Pashori Lal described the Journey followed, both on a personal level and from the caste discrimination movement front, which had brought us to this point.
Dr. Raj Chand, ACDA Vice Chair, gave a moving account of the factors which had contributed to the need for our research Report “Hidden Apartheid – Voice of the Community – Caste and Caste Discrimination in the UK”. He described the impact of the report, how ACDA had held various meetings with key stakeholders, the extreme efforts taken to unite the different, and sometimes disparate, NGOs with similar aims and goals. The way these efforts had paid off and such unity demonstrated to the Government, had been the turning point when our collective voices had led to a change in Government thinking on this issue, in the historic 4 February meeting in the House of Lords.
The amendment worded by the Government and raised by Lord Avebury and Lord Harries of Pentregarth, had been passed by all sides and now gave the Minister the power to include caste under the protected characteristic of race, in the Equality Act.
Savio Mahimaidas, ACC Convenor, gave glimpses into the international dimension, of the CERD workings and the two UN rapporteurs appointed to look into discrimination and the UN decision to include caste discrimination under descent based discrimination. He mentioned how the UK government were bound under the UK structure, to adopt this but had failed to do so.
Professor Dr. Roger Green, University of Hertfordshire, explored how social research is carried out, the different methods which could be employed, the sensitivity which should be embedded in such research, how access is gained, the need to protect identities and preserve research integrity and the analysis methods.
Hilary Metcalfe, Director, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR), explained the research programme which the Government Equalities Office (GEO) had commissioned and what it entailed.
This was followed by an intensive Questions and Answers session which, because of the many questions raised by the audience, required an over run by 1 hour. The panel was formed by Pashori Lal, ACDA Chair, Dr. Raj Chand, ACDA Vice Chair, Professor Dr. Roger Green, University of Hertfordshire, Hilarie Metcalfe, Director NIESR, Sat Paul, General Secretary, Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha Bedford and Savio Mahimaidas, ACC Convenor.
ACDA thanked the hosts for the excellent venue, its facilities and the hospitality.
