Caste discrimination rampant in global tech ecosystem, activists say

Mumbai | Chennai: After Google and its parent Alphabet landed in a controversy following the search giant’s decision to cancel a caste-discrimination awareness initiative for employees, some activists say it was not an isolated incident in the global tech ecosystem.

Employee support groups and labour unions also said caste-based discrimination among Indian workers in the US and Europe was rampant and need greater awareness and immediate policy action.

Anil Wagde, member of the Ambedkar International Center, a US-based organisation which advocates for democracy in Indian society, told ET that he has “faced similar situations” where US-based companies reached out for a caste awareness discussion but then cancelled the programmes. “Content was vetted and approved but later they backed out after it was opposed by upper caste employees, calling it divisive and a taboo subject,” Wagde said. He did not disclose the names of the companies involved.

“In such cases, we have seen that Savarna employees in leadership roles have opposed these discussions calling them ‘divisive’,” Wagde added.

A talk by anti-caste activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan, scheduled for Dalit History month in April under Google’s diversity equity inclusivity program (DEI) for employee sensitisation, was cancelled allegedly after certain employee groups opposed it. Google employee Tanuja Gupta, who was coordinating the DEI initiative, claimed that she received warnings for violating company policies by campaigning in favour of the talk. Gupta quit after this incident, making her resignation public.

Google said it does not allow caste-based discrimination.

“Caste discrimination has no place in our workplace,” a Google spokesperson told ET. “Here, there was specific conduct, and internal posts, that made employees feel targeted and retaliated against for raising concerns about a proposed talk. We also made the decision to not move forward with the proposed talk which — rather than bringing our community together and raising awareness — was creating division and rancour.”

The Google issue has reignited the conversation around caste-based discrimination across technology organisations that employ Indian-origin people.

In 2020, global networking solution major Cisco Systems made the headlines after it was sued for allegedly denying professional opportunities to a Dalit employee. Around the same time,

‘ HCL America subsidiary also faced a lawsuit for alleged caste-based termination of an employee.

“The Cisco case initiated conversation in the tech ecosystem about how far casteism is rampant in the tech industry. Particularly in India it is seen as a political issue and hence companies are hesitant to talk or be involved in it,” said Anupama Easwaran, founder of in.harmony, a Mumbai-based diversity and inclusion consultancy firm.

Easwaran said the top diversity and inclusion goals across companies mostly covered gender, people with disability and to some extent LGBTQ+ concerns, but caste remained at the bottom of the pyramid largely due to its political connotations, lack of awareness and the caste privilege of influencers. “In our research, we found that people from SC/ST categories face a large number of microaggressions in the classrooms and workplaces which companies are not ready to address for now,” she added.

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