Structural inequality and discrimination against socially disadvantaged and marginalised groups (SDG 10)

Why is there a need to focus on structural inequalities experienced by historically disadvantaged social groups like Dalit (Scheduled caste), Adivasis (Scheduled Tribe), and Muslims (Religious Minority).

1. SDG 10 on reduced inequality is amongst the least prioritized goal:  A survey by World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) of its members in 2018 showed that SDG 10 reduced inequalities is amongst the least prioritized SDG goal globally with only 18% of companies focusing on it. [1]
2. The global community has for the first time ever agreed ever on the goal to reduce inequality within and among countries (SDG10)[2].
3. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”[3]. These ideals are clearly integrated in the pathways for SD, aiming to balance economic progress and protection of the environment, but also mindful of social interests[4]^,[5],[6].
4. The SDGs consider human development, human rights, and equity in all countries, creating partnerships with the private sector, the public sector, and the civil society organizations, in order to achieve SD[7].
5. Interlinkages reduced inequalities and discrimination, health related goals, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth; peace justice and strong institutions⁴.
6. World Economic Forum has stated that inequalities slow down the progress of sustainable development⁴.
7. India is making substantial progress in SDGs⁴, however, neither all forms of inequalities are visible nor the efforts to reduce inequalities.

• India is the second most unequal economy in the world after Russia, according to a 2017 Oxfam report entitled ‘An economy for the 99%.’ [8]
• The latest SDG index (2019) revealed that India ranked 115 out of 162 countries included in the study.  The results indicate that India faces several challenges related to most of the SDGs[9].
• Despite a fall in global levels of economic inequality, driven in part by the reduction of poverty in India and China, inequality within countries has risen over the past forty years and has recently accelerated further, especially following the 2008 financial crisis. Global economic inequality declined during the first decade of this century, largely due to the reduction of poverty in countries like India and China. This favourable trend could however be reversed if inequality within countries continues to increase. Anti-discrimination legislation such as affirmative action in access to education, employment, political positions in India led to reduction in inequalities (Nazneen 51).
• According to the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) 2019, most of the 200 companies considered from across the world (including a few Indian companies) are scoring poorly and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) are not being implemented adequately.
  • Around one quarter of companies score less than 10% and a half of companies fail to meet any of the five basic criteria for human rights due diligence. This should be a concern for the governments and investors.
  • Identified 4 high-risk sectors (agricultural products, apparel, extractives, and ICT manufacturing)
  • Around 14% of the sample of companies were from India. These companies were Coal India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, UltraTech cement, Page Industries, Arcelor Mittal. Key findings indicate that India is among the three countries with the largest number of allegations (19 out of almost 150) [10].  These were considered severe according to the benchmark.

Band range	Company’s name	Score change from 2018	Company has at least 1 serious allegation	Company is non-engaged (formally or informally)	Company scores 0 on Human Rights Due Diligence
20-30%	Coal India	+0.5	Y	Y
Arcelor Mittal	N/A			Y
10-20%	Oil and Natural Gas Corporation	+10.4	Y	Y	Y
0-10%	UltraTech Cement	N/A		Y
Source:https://www.corporatebenchmark.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/CHRB2019KeyFindingsReport.pdf

Extensive work is being undertaken to understand and value respect for human rights as there are no agreed fundamental units of measurement for human rights. CHRB provides a subjective assessment at a certain point in time.

• Significant, yet, vulnerable / marginalized / at risk section of the population
• Dalit (historically considered as untouchables, classified as Scheduled Caste) and Adivasis (Scheduled Tribe) form close to 28.9% of India’s population.

Percentage distribution of persons among different social groups in NSS 61st (2004-05), 66th (2009-2010), 68th (2011-12) rounds and PLFS (2017-18)[11]
Rural + Urban
Social group	Male	Female	Persons
NSS 61st	NSS 66th	NSS 68th	PLFS	NSS 61st	NSS 66th	NSS 68th	PLFS	NSS 61st	NSS 66th	NSS 68th	PLFS
ST	8.4	8.6	8.7	9.4	8.4	8.8	8.7	9.3	8.4	8.7	8.7	9.3
SC	19.7	19.8	18.8	19.6	19.7	20.0	18.9	19.7	19.7	19.9	18.8	19.6
OBC	41.1	41.5	43.8	42.8	41.2	41.9	44.2	42.9	41.7	41.7	44.0	42.8
Others	30.8	30.1	28.7	28.7	30.5	29.3	28.2	28.1	29.7	29.7	28.4	28.2
All (incl. n.r.)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Source: Page 91 of Annual Report: PLFS, 2017-18 published in 2019

• The majority of SC and ST populations live in rural areas, making up 18.4 percent and 11.2 percent of the total rural population of the country. Census 2011.
• Population of SC is not uniformly distributed among the states. So regional distribution is important.
• 20.4 % of population residing in slum belongs to SC.

Multidimensional nature of poverty

Breakdown of Multidimensional Poverty across Hindu Castes and Tribes
States	MPI	% of MPI Poor	Average Intensity
SC	0.361	65.8	54.8
ST	0.482	81.4	59.2
OBC	0.305	58.3	52.3
General	0.157	33.3	47.2
Source: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) India Country Brief, p 5

• Religious minority (Muslims)

% distribution of persons by religious groups in NSS 61st (2004-05), 66th (2009-10), 68th (2011-12) rounds and PLFS (2017-18)
NSS round (year)	Religious groups
	Hinduism	Islam	Christianity	Sikhism	All (incl.n.r.)
Rural +urban
PLFS (2017-18)	81.7	12.7	2.2	1.6	100.0
68th (2011-12)	81.4	13.8	2.1	1.7	100.0
66th (2009-10)	82.3	12.6	2.1	1.7	100.0
61st (2004-05)	82.5	12.2	2.1	1.9	100.0
Source: PLFS published in May2019

People of Islamic faith are a religious minority but comprise around 12-13% of the population.

The 4 key important aspects of reduced inequalities (SDG 10) in India from private sector engagement perspective / linked to global value chains are

1. Representation
2. Inclusion
3. Empowerment through skill building / representation in senior positions
4. Migration

Representation

1.  In the workforce (employed and unemployed) indicated through Labour force participation rate (LFPR) [(no. of employed persons + no. of unemployed persons)/ total population] * 100.

ST/SC have the highest rates of labour force participation.

Social group	LFPR (%) according to usual status (ps+ss) for different social groups in 2017-18 (Rural +urban)
Male	Female	Persons
ST	56.3	26.6	41.8
SC	56.2	18.2	37.6
OBC	54.6	17.1	36.2
Others	56.2	14.7	35.9
All (incl. n.r.)	55.5	17.5	36.9
Source: Annual Report: PLFS, 2017-18 published in 2019 (Page 91)

• Worker Population Ratio (WPR) = (no. of employed persons / total population) * 100

Social group	WFP (%) according to usual status (ps+ss) for different social groups in 2017-18 (Rural +urban)
Male	Female	Persons
ST	53.4	25.9	40.0
SC	52.4	17.3	35.2
OBC	51.3	16.1	34.1
Others	52.6	13.5	33.5
All (incl. n.r.)	52.1	16.5	34.7
Source: Annual Report: PLFS, 2017-18 published in 2019

• Unemployment rates SCs have the second highest unemployment rates[12], it exceeds the average unemployment rate.  

Unemployment rate (UR)= [(no. of unemployed persons / (no. of employed persons + no. of unemployed persons)] *100

Social group	Social group-wise unemployment rates (in %) in India (rural +urban) over time
1993-94	2004-05	2011-12	2017-18(PLFS, Unemployment rate according to usual status (ps+ss))
				Male	Female	Persons
ST	4.2	6.5	5.6	5.1	2.6	4.3
SC	8.2	11.8	7.3	6.8	4.9	6.3
OBC	NA	7.8	5.3	6.1	5.7	6.0
Others	5.7	6.8	4.8	6.4	8.1	6.7
Total	6	8.1	5.6	6.2	5.7	6.1
Source: NSSO/ PLFS 2019

• Religious group-wise

LFPR (%) according to usual status (ps+ss) for major religious groups during 2017-18
Major religious groups	Rural +urban
Male	Female	Person
Hinduism	55.9	18.6	37.7
Islam	52.1	9.9	31.2
Christianity	55.9	22.8	39.2
Sikhism	58.4	12.1	36.2
All	55.5	17.5	36.9

WPR (%) according to usual status (ps+ss) for major religious groups during 2017-18
Major religious groups	Rural +urban
Male	Female	Person
Hinduism	52.5	17.6	35.5
Islam	48.5	9.0	28.9
Christianity	51.6	20.2	35.8
Sikhism	54.6	11.0	33.7
All	52.1	16.5	34.7

Unemployment rates

Unemployment rate in usual status (ps+ss) for different religious groups during 2004-05 (61st round), 2009-10 ()66th  round , 2011-12 (68th round) and PLFS (2017-18)
	2004-05	2009-10	2011-12	2017-18	2004-05	2009-10	2011-12	2017-18	2004-05	2009-10	2011-12	2017-18
	rural male	rural female	rural person
Hinduism	1.4	1.5	1.7	5.7	1.4	1.4	1.4	3.5	1.5	1.5	1.6	5.2
Islam	2.0	1.9	2.2	6.7	3.8	2.0	3.9	5.7	2.3	1.9	2.6	6.5
Christianity	2.6	2.6	3.4	6.9	6.8	6.0	6.4	8.8	4.4	3.9	4.5	7.4
Sikhism	3.3	2.7	1.3	6.4	3.8	1.7	1.3	5.7	3.5	2.4	1.3	6.3
	Urban male	Urban female	Urban person
Hinduism	3.6	2.9	2.8	6.9	7.0	5.8	5.2	10.0	4.4	3.4	3.3	7.6
Islam	3.7	2.5	3.8	7.5	5.5	6.8	4.4	14.5	4.1	3.2	3.9	8.5
Christianity	5.6	2.2	4.4	8.9	14.1	4.6	8.8	15.6	8.6	2.9	5.9	11.0
Sikhism	3.4	5.6	3.5	7.2	9.0	8.3	5.5	16.9	4.6	6.1	3.8	9.1

• Over/ under representation in industrial sector

Dalits were considered as ‘hereditary unfree agricultural labour’, and power dynamics in the social structure is what human rights business approach for private sector engagement needs to consider. Identifying patterns of over/ under representation of SC/ST/ Muslims in particular industries is important to engage in reducing inequalities (SDG 10).

	Industry-wise social group (Rural +Urban)/(Male & Female)
	Industry		ST	SC	OBC	Others
A 373	A382	A391	A400
Workers (code 11-51)	01-03	Agriculture, forestry and fishing	27.1	15.5	14.9	11.9
05-43	Mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities; construction	7	10.8	8.6	7.6
45-96	wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities; information and communication; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; professional, scientific and technical activities; administrative and support service activities; public administration and defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities ; arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities	5.9	8.9	10.6	14
01-96	All of the above	40	35.2	34.1	33.5
Unemployed (code 81)			1.8	2.4	2.2	2.4
Not in the work force (code 91-99)			58.2	62.4	63.8	64.1
all(workers, unemployed not in labour force) (code 11-99)			100	100	100	100
estimated persons (00)
Sample persons

Religion-wise

	Industry-wise religious group (Rural +Urban)/(Male & Female)
	Industry		Hinduism	Islam	christianty	Sikhism
Workers (code 11-51)	01-03	Agriculture, forestry and fishing	16.5	7.9	13.2	13.1
05-43	Mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities; construction	8.4	10.3	7.7	9.1
45-96	wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities; information and communication; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; professional, scientific and technical activities; administrative and support service activities; public administration and defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities ; arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities	10.7	10.7	14.9	11.5
01-96	All of the above	35.5	28.9	35.8	33.7
Unemployed (code 81)			2.2	2.3	3.4	2.5
Not in the work force (code 91-99)			62.3	68.8	60.8	63.8
all(workers, unemployed not in labour force) (code 11-99)			100	100	100	100
estimated persons (00)			8772179	1367491	232149	174112
Sample persons			322407	61204	30538	9251

Percentage distribution of workers in usual status (ps+ss) by broad status in employment for major religious groups (rural+urban person)
category of persons	self-employed
	own account worker, employer	helper in household enterprise	all self employed	regula wage/salary	casual labour	all
Hinduism	38.1	14.5	52.5	22.7	24.8	100
Islam	43.9	8.7	52.6	20.9	26.4	100
Christianity	35.7	9	44.7	36.6	18.7	100
Sikhism	42	9.2	51.2	27.6	21.2	100
All (incl n.r.)	38.6	13.6	52.2	22.8	24.9	100

The data shows under-representation in some sectors and over representation in others indicating social inequalities are linked to economic opportunities.

• Sector-wise distribution, social group-wise shows
  • over-representation of ST in agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector (19.7%), under-representation in trade, transport, IT, professional, scientific, technical activities, education, human health public administration and defence services (1.8%); and mining and quarrying …construction (0.9%).
  • Under-representation of SC in agriculture, forestry and fishing (8.4%). Least representation as workers (11,12,21) among the social groups (13.7%). Over representation as workers (51) for all sectors 1-99 (14%).
• Sector-wise distribution, religious group-wise
  • Highest proportion of Muslims (68.8%) are not in labour force (code 91-99).
  • Under-representation in agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector. Over-representation as worker (11,12,21) in trade, transport, IT, professional, scientific, technical activities, education, human health public administration and defence services (3.7%); and mining and quarrying …construction (5.8%). 
• Worker type wise distribution, religious group-wise
  • Over-representation of Muslims in own account worker, employer (43.9 %) and casual labour (26.4%) and underrepresentation in regular wage/salary (20.9%).

Within these broad industrial categorizations human rights approach is most needed in industries which are linked to global value chain and employ large number of SC (Dalit)/ST (Adivasis) /Muslims.

Data on SC/ST in private sector

• Markets are ranked, and the most inferior markets are more caste-linked to occupational pasts. At a macro level, sectors such as mining/quarrying, construction and transport are found to be relatively open to Dalits, while entry into health and education, food hospitality finance and the service sectors, Dalits’ is much harder (Harriss-White et al., 2014,67; Thorat & Newman, 2010).
• Leather, sanitary ware, cleaning services waste economy dominated by Dalits (Jodhka,2010). Dalits are engaged in the most unclean and menial occupation, based on the concept of purity and pollution. 
  • There are over 1.2 million Indians involved in manual scavenging, of these over 95% are Dalits, who are compelled to undertake this inhumane and degrading task under the garb of traditional occupation[13].
  • There are 1.5 million ragpickers cleaning up 62 million tonnes of waste, collecting sorting, segregating waste. This is a case of engagement in the informal sector because only 75-80% of waste is collected through Municipal bodies[14]. The International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health shows that they have little or no access to protective gear.

Migration

SDG10 that ensure reduced inequalities must take note of migrant workers and address the issue accordingly through UN SDG 2030 agenda[15].

Planned and well managed migration target with a focus on equal opportunity for systematic talent movements (Leal et al., 2018).

The issue of internally displaced, migration was not well explored in the 2030 Agenda. Despite the slogan of “leaving no one behind”, little was done to situate migrant in planning(Beardmore,2015).

Landless and marginalized Dalit and Adivasis migrate for seasonal economic sectors. Government data suggests up to 140 million people migrate each year to take up seasonal work in agriculture (e.g., tea, sugar, paddy, wheat), brick kilns and construction, low-end factory works (textiles, paper, leather).  

Tea industry (an agro-based industry)   India’s tea industry is important to global value chain   as India is the 2nd largest producer, and 4th largest exporter of tea globally. Country World Production (Qty in M.Kgs) 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 China 2616.00 India# 1338.63 Kenya 493.00 Sri Lanka 304.01 #Tea is grown mainly in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Source:  (ITC Annual Bulletin of Statistics,2019) http://www.teaboard.gov.in/pdf/Website_World_Tea_pdf7894.pdf   Country World Exports (Qty in M Kgs) 2018 Kenya 474.86 China 364.70 Sri Lanka 271.78 India 256.06 Source: (ITC Annual Bulletin of Statistics,2019)  India’s tea industry is highly organized and labour-intensive. It is the second largest employer in India with over 35,00,000 people employed across 1,686 estates and 157,504 smallholdings.  Sujata Gothoskar notes that the distribution of tea workers is such that there are over 12 lakh permanent workers and about the same number of casual and seasonal workers. Most of the workers belong to Dalit and Adivasi social groups. Particularly women from Adivasi and Dalit groups form the majority of workers in tea industry, because they comprise over 50% of the workforce, and in some roles, such as tea plucking account for over 80% of the workforce (ref). Caste-based discrimination/ human rights violation on tea plantations[1],[1],[1],[1]: There have been instances of caste-based discrimination of Tamil Dalit in Kerala tea plantations[1] . Tamil Dalit who are seeking protection and work elsewhere, including the Tamil Nadu textile mills are being replaced by Adivasi migrants from Jharkhand. Violations of domestic law and basic rights have been reported on the plantations of Tata Global Beverages, one of the two largest companies in which International Finance Corporation (IFC) private investment arm of World Bank. [1] In Assam and West Bengal, the two main tea growing regions of India, tea plantation workers are descendants of workers forcefully recruited and brought by colonial planters more than 150 years ago from neighbouring states such as Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh to work exclusively on the plantations. There is subjugation of landless peoples, women, and people and their bodies in these tea plantations. (exclusion report)Plantation Labour Act of 1951 entrusted the plantation owners to provide education, healthcare, sanitation, and employment for their workers- led to violation of human rights. ‘Indian state of Assam prompted the companies that own Tetley’s, Twinings, Liptons, PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea to commit to improving conditions on the estates they buy from in India. [BBC]World Bank report says that a company amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL) almost 50% controlled by Tata, the giant Indian multinational that owns the Tetley Tea brand violates human rights because of low wages, poor living and working condition for 155000 people. This is leading to high levels of malnutrition and ill health. International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank invested $7.8m to take a 20% stake in APPL in 2009. The investigation by World Bank found that it had failed ‘to respond systematically to issues regarding housing and living conditions’ or to correct serious lapses in the use of pesticides ‘with the result that workers have been exposed to extremely hazardous chemicals’ Tea plantation workers have one of the most prominent poverty rates. Low wages are linked to lack of access to food and medical care, debt and poverty. Inaccessibility to healthcare (4 hr bus ride), high maternal mortality, and inadequate provision of housing and sanitation for tea plantation workers are reported to be linked to acute and high rates of malnutrition, and illnesses.Workers’s right to unionise and express their grievances were not met. Tea plantations have traditionally restricted union membership, and sometimes ban NGOs from operating on their estates, because NGOs sensitize workers about  their rights and build their capacity to articulate their needs effectively. Poor living conditions, malnutrition and poor sanitation. Ethical tea Partnership ‘community empowerment programme has been working with communities to improve conditions for workers. https://www.law.columbia.edu/human-rights-institute/initiatives/global-economy/extractive-industries/business-human-rights-global-economy/past-projects/tea-plantations https://www.law.columbia.edu/human-rights-institute/initiatives/global-economy/extractive-industries/business-human-rights-global-economy/past-projects/tea-plantations/more-things-change-report https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/files/tea_report_final_draft-smallpdf.pdf https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/india-workers-on-tea-plantations-in-assam-part-owned-by-tatatetley-allege-labour-abuses-intimidation-of-those-raising-concerns

India’s tea industry

• Construction

Migration forms a sizable proportion of construction sector[16]

Policy Recommendation/ Points for policy advocacy

• Caste-based inequality and discrimination which is very prominent in India does not feature in intergovernmental commitments such as SDGs[17]. There is a need for policy innovation to address market and non-market discrimination and to remove barriers, especially in the informal and private sector, and to ensure caste has its proper place in global development policy debate.
• Equality of opportunity and reducing inequality of outcomes. (IGIDR, Mosse)

• SDG 10.2 does not mention caste when considering inclusion of all.

SDG 10.2 ‘By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status’

• ‘Indivisibility and interconnectedness of rights’: National Guidelines on Responsible Business conduct Principle 5 ‘Businesses should respect and promote human rights’ also mentions it.

‘human rights are inherent, inalienable, interrelated, interdependent and indivisible’ (p.23)

• Plantation Labour Act of 1951 entrusted the plantation owners to provide education, healthcare, sanitation, and employment for their workers- led to violation of human rights.
  • Viewing rights as indivisible and interconnected. promote convergent approaches taking cognizance of the multi-dimensional
    • Casual labour among the occupation class and SC, ST and OBC in the social categories in both rural and urban areas are the most vulnerable in terms of per capita per day consumption of energy.
    • Prevalence of low BMI (BMI<18.5) among women aged 15-49 years by background characteristics,2015-16

National average by social category	Prevalence of low BMI among women aged 15-49 years by background characteristics	Wealth Index	Prevalence of low BMI among women aged 15-49 years by background characteristics
SC	25	Lowest	36
ST	32	Second	30
OBC	23	Middle	23
Other	18	Fourth	17
National average	23	Highest	12
Source: NFHS 3

Prevalence of low BMI among men aged 15-49 years by background characteristics,2015-16

National average by social category	Prevalence of low BMI among men aged 15-49 years by background characteristics	Wealth Index	Prevalence of low BMI among men aged 15-49 years by background characteristics
SC	23	Lowest	32
ST	25	Second	27
OBC	20	Middle	21
Other	16	Fourth	16
National average	20	Highest	11

‘Food and nutrition insecurity is perpetuated by discriminatory social structures. All forms of malnutrition are higher among ST. So, the specific area, where proportion of SC or ST population is more, are at high risk. This has a negative impact on the nutritional, economic, social and educational status and ultimately overall productivity contribution to country’s economy’ (page 184 of F&N security report 2019).

• Narrow focus on social discrimination of Dalits and Adivasis of ILO committee of Experts or UN Committee on Economic, social, and Cultural rights as they are considering special disadvantages, such as manual scavengers, prostitution through Devdasi systems, and forced labour.  There is a need to look at the wide spectrum of economic sectors where SC/ST are overrepresented and face discrimination and violation of rights (layered).
• Respect for human rights is not optional (CHRB)

Empowerment/ Representation

Identity-based discrimination faced by SC/ST/Muslims in the private sector:

• Cases of unequal opportunities in the private sector despite equivalent qualifications (power to access)
  • For assessing inclusive employment in the private sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) undertook a caste census of its members spread   across 22 states and union territories in 2010. The survey covered to 8,250 members of the association, which together employ 3.5 million people. It revealed that except Tamil Nadu, most of the industrial states lag in the proportion of SC and ST employees in the private sector compared to their proportion in the general population in the state. In the private sector, those with Dalit (33%) or Muslim (66%) sounding names (the study covered only SCs and Muslims and did not track STs) are not even called for an interview, even with equivalent educational qualifications.
    • Some example of state -level under-representation in the private sector
      • SC and STs comprise 19.1% of Maharashtra’s population, but their share in private sector is only 5%. In Gujarat and Karnataka, SCs and STs account for 22% and 23%, respectively of the state population. However, form only 9% of the staff strength.
      • In Madhya Pradesh, SCs and STs account for 11% of the private sector’s total staff strength, less than one third of their strength in state’s population.
      • Only in Kerala and Uttarakhand, the % of SCs and STs in the private sector is higher than their share in population.
      • Chhattisgarh has half its workforce comprising SCs, STs, comparable to its total SC, ST population of     43.4%. 
      • SC/ST missing from private sector [18]

Lack of representation in senior decision-making positions (Power over decisions)

‘There is virtually no representation of SCs in editorial or senior positions in the mass media. The picture in the higher echelons of other industries is much the same.  Of the board members of the 1000 top Indian companies 46% were Vaishya and 44.6% were Brahmin. Kshatriyas (0.5%) and other dominant castes (1.5%) bring the dominant caste representation on the boards to a staggering 92.6%. Other Backward Classes (3.8%), SCs and STs (3.5%) were far behind. Nearly 65% of the Indian corporate boards are composed of just one single caste group.’ (p.25)[19].

International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that the incidence of bonded labour remains particularly severe among Dalits and indigenous peoples in Asia. According to Anti-Slavery International, most bonded labourers (around 90%) are predominantly from Scheduled Castes and minority groups.

Despite several promises, including by industry lobbies, reservations in the private sector have proved to be a non-starter. If privatisation policy must be pursued, an inclusive investment clause should be made mandatory on the investors. Th is could be done by making it obligatory that at least 5-10% of the private equity should be raised from SCs and STs. To that extent that they should be represented in the governing bodies and one of the key management personnel at the level of Chairman, MD, CEO, President should be from these communities. This would provide equal opportunity for employment, and therefore innovation, downstream.

Various modalities of enhancing empowerment and reduction in discrimination.

Dalit empowerment[20]^,[21]

Justification for selecting financial inclusion and empowerment through skill building as indicators of reduced inequalities

NITI Aayog has formulated a scheme called as ‘transformation of backward district in India’ for intervention in backward districts (115 aspiration districts in 28 states) by respective ministries during 2017-18 to 2021-22. Financial inclusion, and skill formation are among the focus areas. A set of five indicators relating to skill development has been identified by NITI Aayog, one of indicator is no. of vulnerable/marginalized youth certified under short term and long-term training (women, SC, ST, OBC, & PWD).[22]

Empowerment through skill development is identified as an important aspect of Business and human Rights because the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights recognizes it for

As a provision of the Companies Act, 2013 and Statutory Recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility

‘promoting education , including  special education and employment-enhancing  vocation skills especially  among children , women, elderly  and the differently abled, and livelihood enhancement projects’

p. 14

Empowerment through skill building, this is an important area of emphasis for the Ministry of MSME, National Skill Development Corporation. Integration of a representative proportion of SC/ST equivalent to their % population to the total population in the training is a criterion. Reporting on the proportion of SC/ST trained in skill development programmes is an indicator of empowerment particularly power to access employment opportunities.

Programmes	Achievement	No. of persons trained
		SC	ST	W	OBC	Others	Total
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs)	4	22	23	40	74	55	174
Entrepreneurship cum Skill Development Programmes (ESDPs)	54	78	589	1043	690	146	1503
Management Development Programmes (MDPs)	2	3	11	10	9	11	34
Others (Entrepreneurship Orientation Programmes, Training of Trainers, Faculty Development Programmes, Business Incubation Training	47	278	1246	1754	445	392	2361
Total	107	381	1869	2847	1218	604	4072

                                    Trainings conducted by Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship in FY 2018-19 (ref)                                 

Empowerment through higher education, vocational education and skill development

Power to access opportunities/ skill building programmes

(NSDC) where private sector engagement is encouraged. Vocational education and training falls under both regulated (ITIs/ ITCs under Ministry of Labour, Polytechnics under MHRD) as well as unregulated segments (private training schools).

National Policy on Skill Development has the mission to ‘empower all individuals through improved skills, knowledge, nationally  and internationally  recognized qualifications to gain access to decent employment and ensure India ‘s competitiveness in the global market.’ It has a target to skill 500 million people in the labour force by 2022.

• NSDC skill development in each economic sector

Analysis of data of 2001 and 2011 by Pew Research Center shows that although the poverty rate fell from 35 % to 20%, there was only a marginal increase in middle income group and rather there was a shift of poor to low -income group. Only $2-10 as daily income indicates that ‘they are at the edge of the global poverty line- one economic or health shock away from slipping back into poverty’[23] (*Defined as between INR 34 and INR 170 per day, per person, or INR 170 to INR 850 per day, per family using a PPP  exchange rate of INR 17 for $1.)

• India skill report 2020[24] for each of the economic sectors assesses the need for skill building and enormous gender parity in employability even if women are as employable as men, the hiring ratio of male and female is 71:29.

Gender diversity by sector
Sector	Male	Female
Telecom & Allied	86	14
IT	72	28
Pharma and healthcare	89	11
Other & diversified	76	24
Manufacturing	74	26
Internet business	78	22
Core sector	93	7
BPo,KPO, &ITes	64	36
BFSI	70	30
Automotive	90	10
Source: Indian Skills Report 2020

• No such assessment is presented social group or religion-wise. Indicating invisibility of the discrimination in selection of candidates belonging to different social groups. Although it mentions that the selection criteria is that proportion of candidates fromSC/ST would be equivalent to their population. Gender diversity only looks at male and female even in the reports of 2020.
  • Absence of discussion on social/religious groups in NSDC reports prepared by KPMG e.g. Human Resource and skill requirements in the agriculture sector[25] (2013-14, 2017-22).
  • Higher education: Indian campuses are more inclusive than before in terms of the presence of women, dalits, tribals and people from Other Backward Classes (OBCs).  However, Muslims are under-represented in higher education[26]. In the five-year period (2010-11 and 2015-16), Muslims’ (comprising 14% of the population), share in higher education increase from 3.8% to just 4.7 %.  In the same period, the share of women increased from 44 to 46%, STs share rose from 4.4 to 4.9%, SCs proportion from 11 to 13.9%, and OBCs from 27.6 to 33.8%[27]^,[28].
  •  
• Relevant policies:

Raw material for accountability is high -quality data providing the right information on the right things at the right time[29], and especially data on public spending and revenue /aid in budget-related documents will allow civil society to track increases in ‘means of implementation’ for the SDGs [30].

• The Government of Karnataka has a special focus on the education and skills up-gradation to address the issues of skills development. For the Chief Minister’s Kaushalya Karnataka Yojane (CMKKY), the government has allocated Rs. 90 crores to impart industrial training to 70,000 new candidates, and Rs.37.5 crores have been specially allocated for upgrading the skills of 25,000 women garment workers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe communities.
  • Pramod Mahajan Kaushalya and Uddyojakta Vikas Abhiyaan (PMKUVA) is a flagship program of the department that provides free skill training to youth through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and empanelled private Vocational Training Providers (VTPs). It is a leading state in terms of the number of students trained in vocational courses (150000+) and it puts a special emphasis on empowerment of women and the weaker sections of the society through livelihood and employment opportunities.

Points for policy advocacy:

• Disaggregated data on SC/ST/ Muslims trained in skill development programs needed to demonstrate/ making visible reduced inequalities in access to such programmes.
• Advancements towards inclusiveness and equality can be seen through social group-wise, religious group-wise disaggregated data collection be concerned government authorities at the national and state level[31].
• The solution lies in empowering them through better healthcare, food and nutritional security, basic financial services, education.

Inclusion – leave no one behind

• A 2015 study of 21 corporate companies conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, revealed that 98 per cent of the companies did not take any initiatives to make their workplaces more inclusive.

• Financial inclusion is defined as “the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as the weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost.” by Dr. C Rangarajan in 2008 who headed the Committee on Financial Inclusion.  Relevance to reduced inequalities (SDG 10) is through access to financial services. Raghuram G. Rajan referred to financial inclusion as “Universal access to a wide range of financial services at a reasonable cost. These include not only banking products but also other financial services such as insurance and equity products.”

Banking[32]

Amenity	2001	2011	Variance 2011
SC	ST	national	sc	st	national	Sc%	St%
banking	25.17	19.17	35.5	50.94	44.98	58.7	13%	23%
Source: census of India 2011, house-listing data

• All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17 (carried out by NABARD,2018) revealed 90% coverage of rural households with a bank account. Since 2011, about 1.2 billion adults opened their bank account leading to an increase in banked population from 51% in 2011 to 69% in 2017. It will be apt to highlight that 55% of the new bank accounts opened globally were from India which can be directly attributed to the initiatives taken by the Central Government under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ [33]. Despite having relatively high account ownership, India claims the second largest share of the global unbanked population, with over 190 million adults still having no bank accounts. According to the report, growth in account ownership has remained skewed in the favour of male population. Of the total unbanked population in India and China, 60% of unbanked adults were women.
  • One positive outcome is  that Community Development Forums (CDF) established by Tea Ethical Partnership (TEP),  has helped more than 1,200  tea plantation workers to access important identity documents that are needed to open bank accounts. It has helped more than 800 homes to receive government subsidies for power.[34]
  • Several barriers  to financial inclusion have been identified, which include physical exclusion, caused by the problems of travelling to services; access exclusion, caused by processes of risk assessment; condition exclusion, when the conditions attached to products are unsuitable or unacceptable to consumers; price exclusion, where the price of products is unaffordable; marketing exclusion, where certain consumers are unaware of products due to marketing strategies that target others; and, self-exclusion, when people decide to exclude themselves voluntarily on the basis of past rejections or fear that they would be rejected. (Leyshon et al.,2006 161). This is relevant to reduced inequalities as SC/ST/ Muslims face multiple barriers ranges from not having access to a bank account to financial illiteracy. Maintaining that financial inclusion of STs is “necessary” for their economic and social development^[35]
  • Access to finance for poor and vulnerable is inextricably linked to livelihoods as it helps the poor build their asset base, supports income generating activities, and expands the range of choices available to them. Availability of adequate finances also act as a security against risks like losses in productivity, exposure to unforeseen contingencies which impact the income generating potential of the poor.
    • A vast majority of households remained uninsured and thus are vulnerable to risks and uncertainties which may ultimately affect their overall well-being.[36]
    • Conducive policies there has been a rapid improvement in access to formal financial services. Now 80% of adults have a financial account, a significant increase from 53% since 2015 due to the technology (Global Findex 2017). [37]
    • Role and contribution of private sector in deepening financial inclusion in India[38]
      • Financial inclusion linked to digital inclusion where private sector has a role and contribution.  The UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) emphasized that private-sector leaders have a central role in taking India to the next level of financial inclusion through many financial product and service innovations thriving in India.  Reserve Bank of India is a member of UNSGSA.
        • Example is building Agrivalue Chain Ecosystems (India): this partnership between Rabobank and Mastercard is aimed at reaching one million farmers in India and African with a digital interface to help increase their access to markets and financing.
    • Account usage has a scope of improvement, because only 48% of the account holders use it regularly indicating that many people do not find value in their accounts[39].
    • Access to essential business resources (credit, skills, sites supplies) is a factor (Vidyarthee,2016, p.247) discrimination against Dalit business in the southern entrepreneurial region, credited with pro-poor growth, is hard to explain (Harriss-White et al,2014, p59)
    • Entrepreneurship: there are far less business opportunities for SC/ST. MSME forms the backbone of India economy. New age entrepreneurs belonging to SC/ST group form sizeable proportion of MSME.  This is an important step of Government of India  to advance financial inclusion and generation of employment opportunities.[40]
• Issues of unavailability of adequate and timely credit facility, high cost of credit, lack of training in latest business know-how, inadequate and research and innovations, insufficient training and skill development
• Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with Ministry of MSME focused training on MSME financing for Sc/ST entrepreneurs.
• Wage rates

Average Daily Earnings across Major Industries (Rs/day), 2004-05 and 2011-12
Industry	NSS 61 round	NSS 68 Round
Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons
Agriculture	51	35	45	136	100	124
Mining	187	60	169	495	210	458
Manufacturing	120	53	110	279	141	259
Electricity	290	207	286	588	740	600
Construction	79	55	76	191	130	183
Trade	88	83	88	214	175	211
Hotels	99	90	99	243	181	237
Transport	147	196	149	327	406	330
Finance	385	310	373	729	649	716
Real Estate	243	263	246	595	671	608
Administration	258	199	251	616	469	598
Education	247	164	213	564	382	486
Health	209	163	189	533	339	440
Community	99	61	93	265	130	212
Household	77	41	52	188	97	127

Points for policy advocacy:

• Partnership between government and private sector. The goals, agreed by world leaders as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, envisage partnerships between the private sector and governments as a part of efforts to solve the world’s development challenges. The Working Group emphasizes on the private sector’s contributions based on accountability and respect for human rights to support sustainable development. UNSGSA encouraged partnerships that could bring such innovations to scale.
• At present the data is limited to bank account ownership, however, differential access to financial services for the SC/ST/Muslims is yet not visible through data. This is where there is an opportunity to do policy advocacy.
• Incentivizing the corporates for promoting inclusion of SC/ST/ Muslims, women, and training programs for skilling people in advanced technologies.
• Financial inclusion: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is the world’s largest financial inclusion programme. PMJDY aims at providing universal access to banking facilities, at least one basic bank account to every household, financial literacy, access to credit, and social security cover. The beneficiaries of government schemes will get direct benefit transfers in these accounts.
  • Since its inception and up till 30 October 2017, around 216.51 crore new bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY.

Diversity and inclusivity policies of private sector specific to LGBTQ+

Points for policy advocacy

• Giving visibility to reduce vulnerability:
  • Making programmes sensitive to structural inequalities: Push for collection of disaggregated data on SC/ST/ Muslims. An indicator of corporate leadership in reducing inequalities that exist in terms of opportunities, access to resources and having an equal voice in the decisions.
  • There are direct and indirect indicators to measure reduced inequalities

Potential sources of data on human rights in private sector engagement

• Securities & Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (‘SEBI LODR’) mandates top 500 listed companies (in terms of market capitalization) to prepare Business Responsibility Reports (BRRs) describing the initiatives taken by them from an environmental, social and governance perspective. The BRR, which is part of a company’s Annual Report, seeks to assess the company’s implementation of the 2011 National Voluntary guidelines (NVG) on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business released by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). This reporting is non‐financial reporting and relates with the Supply Chain Management. Some companies have made a connect to SDG 10 (e.g. Reliance India Ltd. E.g. in table) and have followed the Global Reporting Index (GRI) format.

Sustainable Development Goal	Business Responsibility Report	Management Disclosure and Analysis	Corporate Social Responsibility	References of illustration
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities-Reduce inequality within and among countries	NVG 5 Businesses should respect and promote human rights	Human capital	Women empowerment Education for the underpriveledged and specidally-abled Support for the specially-abled Empowerment of the underpriviledged	Diversity and Inclusion Changing societal perspective
Source: https://www.ril.com/ar2017-18/pdf/BusinessResponsibilityReport.pdf

Policy advocacy on improving the sustainability reporting format to include the data/ statistics on progress in addressing human rights issues.

• SEBI BRR format which derives principles from the 2011 NVGs.
• UNGC around 74 Indian companies from public and private sector are signatories of UNGC United National Global Compact.
• An Indian industry association has released a voluntary code of conduct that may be adopted by its member companies – prohibition of discrimination, promotion of social welfare activities, and sustainability to minimize the adverse impacts of company’s operations on the environment.
• Sustainability reports annually, as required by Global Reporting Initiative Standards.

MCA[41]  Reporting framework on NVG Principle 5:

1. Does the policy of the company on human rights cover only the company or extend to the Group/Joint Ventures/Suppliers/Contractors/NGOs/Others?

2. How many stakeholder complaints have been received in the past financial year and what percent was satisfactorily resolved by the management?

Reporting on the basis of social and religious groups in higher positions is not mentione

• NSE [42]companies also have to report on aspects of business responsibility.
  • “Ambuja Cements Ltd in its BR Report did not respond in ‘Yes’ to the question of framing a policy on Principle 5. However, the Company has neither answered ‘No’. Hence it is not clear whether the Company has framed a policy for Principle 5 or not. In absence of such clarity, SES has considered that Company has not framed the policy for the principle 5.”

Ministries for carrying out policy advocacy

Ministry of Rural Development/ Ministry of Urban Affairs for considering social group-wise disaggregated data.

• Socio-economic Caste census 2011 will be revised, and plans are to keep Caste out of the socio-economic census. The pilot was planned to begin on 2 October 2019.[43]
• Possible audience for policy advocacy (human rights approach/ private sector engagement/ reducing inequalities (SDG10))
• Ministry of Rural Development/ Ministry of Urban Affairs/ MOSPI/ CII/ DICCI/ Ministry of Skill Development / MSME

Potential data sources for further analysis

• A 2018 study titled ‘The role of social proximity in professional CEO appointments: Evidence from caste/religion-based hiring of CEOs in India’ considering the data over the period 2001-2009 suggested that caste/religion plays a crucial role in CEO selection. The dataset covered largest 1,000 listed firms by market capitalization from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The authors focused on these firms because their hiring decisions should have the greatest impact on the Indian economy. The accounting data was obtained from Prowess database from CMIE (Center for Monitoring Indian Economy). The data was also collected on family-owned firms, and the castes of both the firm and the newly appointed CEO.[44]
• Dalit India Chamber of commerce (DICCI).

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[1]Business and the SDGs: A survey of WBCSD members and Global Network partners July 2018 https://docs.wbcsd.org/2018/07/WBCSD_Business_and_the_SDGs.pdf

^[2]Kuhn,H. (2020). Reducing Inequality Within and Among Countries: Realizing SDG 10—A Developmental Perspective,  Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights, Markus Kaltenborn, Markus Krajewski, Heike Kuhn (Eds.) pp.137-153, Springer.

[3] UN (1948) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available at: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

[4] Leal, W; Tripathi,S K,Guerra, J.& Giné- Garriga, R., Lovren,V., Willats,J. (2018) Using Sustainable Development Goals Towards a Better Understanding of Sustainability Challenges. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology.

[5] Emas, R. (2015)The Concept of Sustainable Development: Definition and Defining Principles.Brief  for GSDR 2015w

[6] Dempsey, N, Bramley, G. Power, S, Brown, C (2011)The Social Dimension of Sustainable Development: Defining Urban Social Sustainability. Sustainable Development, 19, 289-300.

[7] Kumar S, Kumar N, Vivekadhish S (2016) Millenium development goals (MDGs) to sustainable development goals (SDGs): Addressing unfinished agenda and strengthening sustainable development and partnership. Indian Journal of Community Medicine (Editorial Commentary), 41,1-4.

[8] Addressing inequality in India, April 26, 2018

Addressing inequality in India

[9] The 2019 SDG Index https://sdsna.github.io/2019GlobalIndex/2019GlobalIndexRankings.pdf

[10] Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (2019) Key Findings Across Sectors: Agricultural Products, Apparel, Extractives & ICT Manufacturing

https://www.corporatebenchmark.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/CHRB2019KeyFindingsReport.pdf

[11] PLFS (2017-18) data is not a representative sample rather it is indicative

“It may be noted that the scope of the survey being all households without special focus on social groups, sample design was not tailored to netting in special social groups like Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST), etc. Thus, sample size for the social groups in different States/UTs may not be enough to provide sufficiently reliable estimates of the various indicators and therefore, the estimates for the social groups are not presented for different State/UT in the Report”

[12] Thorat,S (2018) Scheduled Castes among worst sufferers of India’s job problem https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/scheduled-castes-among-worst-sufferers-of-india-s-job-problem/story-Qh0hyHy9UUTg1cIOpi5l2K.html

[13] Dalit were formerly known as untouchables, numerous sub-caste exist such as chamars, arunthathiyurs, pallars, bhangis, malas, madigas

[14]https://www.firstpost.com/india/ragpickers-are-critical-to-clean-indias-62-million-and-growing-waste-its-time-to-recognise-their-efforts-3452756.html

[15]

[16] Srivastava,R. (2018) Building India Brick by Brick Labourers in the construction Industry. India  Exclusion Report.

[17] Mosse,D. (2018) Caste and development: Contemporary perspectives on a structure of discrimination and advantage, World Development, 110, pp. 422-436. Available at:

[18] http://www.financialexpress.com/news/india-incs-caste-census-finds-st-scs-missing/739803/

[19] Asian Dalit Rights Forum http://www.ncdhr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/293284207ADRF-report-for-web.pdf

[20] Thorat,S. and Sabharwal,N.S. (Eds.) Bridging the Social Gap: Perspectives on Dalit Empowerment

[21] CENTER FOR THE ADVANCED STUDY OF INDIA, University of Pennsylvania

[22] https://www.msde.gov.in/assets/images/annual%20report/Annual%20Report%202018-2019%20(English).pdf

[23] Pew Research Centre

[24]India Skills Report is a joint initiative of Wheebox (a Global Talent Assessment Company), Taggd by PeopleStrong and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with UNDP, AICTE & AIU.  The Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET) survey was conducted from July 2019 to November 2019. More than 300,000 students participated across 3500 educational institutions in India’s one of the most notable employability tests conducted nationwide.  https://wheebox.com/assets/pdf/ISR_Report_2020.pdf

[25] https://nsdcindia.org/sites/default/files/Agriculture.pdf

[26]http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/muslims-disabled-most-under-represented-in-higher-education-study

[27] The figures are from the annual reports of the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE).

[28] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/new-forms-of-exclusion-upper-caste-share-is-down-more-marginal-groups-enter-campuses-5480571/

[29] Independent Expert Advisory  Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development (2014) A World That Counts: Mobilising The Data Revolution for Sustainable Development [Internet]. New York and Geneva.

[30] Martin, M and Walker, J (2015) Financing the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from Government Spending on the MDGs. Washington D.C.

[31]

[32] Asian Dalit Rights Forum http://www.ncdhr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/293284207ADRF-report-for-web.pdf

[33]

[34] https://www.borgenmagazine.com/human-rights-violations-in-indian-tea-industry/

[35] https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/financial-inclusion-necessary-for-socio-economic-development-of-sts-ncst-119090901154_1.html

[36] NABARD 2018

[37] Annual Report  United Nations Secretary -General’s Special Advocate  for Inclusive Finance for Development, September 2019

https://www.unsgsa.org/files/8215/6942/4860/UNSGSA_2019_Annual_Report.pdf

[38] The Role of Private Sector in Deepening Financial Inclusion in India https://www.unsgsa.org/resources/news/private-sector-engagement/

[39] https://www.unsgsa.org/resources/news/private-sector-engagement/

[40]CII and  https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/ciis-conference-on-msme-financing-for-sc/st-entrepreneurs-to-address-funding-options/articleshow/67864685.cms

[41]

[42] https://www1.nseindia.com/content/equities/bbr_2017_18.pdf

[43] https://theprint.in/india/governance/caste-to-be-kept-out-of-modi-govts-pilot-socio-economic-caste-census-this-year/249759/

[44] Damaraju, N L., & Makhija,A K (2018) The role of social proximity in professional CEO appointments: Evidence from caste/religion-based hiring of CEOs in India.Strategy Management Journal; 39, 2051-2074.