Untouchability at the workplace

<div>Equality of opportunity is just one dimension of access to work, but what about dignity at the workplace? Article 17 of the Constitution of India states quite briefly: ‘Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.’ And yet, untouchability was not defined because it was assumed that it is familiar to every citizen. It took another five years though to draft a law to penalize untouchability and its practice. How efficient is this law? And how have courts interpreted caste-based discrimination? All this and more on this episode of The Longest Constitution. <br><br></div><div>Legal provisions, laws, and cases: </div><div>Article 17 of the Constitution of India</div><div>The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955</div><div>SC/ST Atrocities Act, 1989 </div><div>N M Thomas vs State of Kerala, 1976</div><div><br>Reading material: </div><div>Shukla, Rakesh, ‘To Remove Caste Bias From the Judicial System, Judges Need to Self-Correct’, Available at ( <a href="https://thewire.in/caste/caste-bias-judicial-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span data-auto-link="true" data-href="https://thewire.in/caste/caste-bias-judicial-system">https://thewire.in/caste/caste-bias-judicial-system</span></a> )</div><div><br>Bhatia, Gautam, ‘Reservations, Equality and the Constitution – III: State of Kerala v N.M. Thomas and the Transformation of Equality’, Available at: (&nbsp;<a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/reservations-equality-and-the-constitution-iii-state-of-kerala-v-n-m-thomas-and-the-transformation-of-equality/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span data-auto-link="true" data-href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/reservations-equality-and-the-constitution-iii-state-of-kerala-v-n-m-thomas-and-the-transformation-of-equality/">https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/reservations-equality-and-the-constitution-iii-state-of-kerala-v-n-m-thomas-and-the-transformation-of-equality/</span></a> )</div><div><br>If you have missed out on The Longest