California Senate Passes Law Banning 'Caste Discrimination'

CALIFORNIA: The California state senate has approved a bill to ban 'racial distribution' in the state. The anti-racism legislation passed the state senate by a vote of 34-1. With this, California became the first US state to include caste as a protected category in its anti-discrimination laws. This bill aims to ban caste discrimination from the society.

The California State Senate has passed SB 403, an anti-racism legislation introduced by Senator Aisha Wahab. In the 'Voting' of the House, 34 votes were cast in favor of the Bill and only 1 vote was cast against the Bill. Now the bill will be presented in the 'Vidhan Sabha' and then it will become a law after the signature of the Governor. Promoters of the bill, led by the nonprofit Equality Lab, said a similar bill is being introduced in the state House of Representatives before it can be sent to the governor for signing into law.

Introduced by Senator Ayesha Wahab of California, the SB 403 bill caste as a protected category to existing law, the Civil Rights Act. Under this bill, all citizens of the State of California are entitled to full and equal accommodation, benefits, facilities, services and privileges in all business establishments. California has become the first US state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of 'caste' after the US Senate passed an anti-racism bill.