Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND17453 Country: India Date: 23 August 2005 Keywords: India – Tamil Nadu – Tamils – Caste System - LTTE This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. How many Tamils live in other states of India apart from Tamil Nadu? 2. Is there evidence of Tamils facing problems in other states due to: a. language problems, particularly for someone who speaks Tamil, no Hindi and a little (or some) English? b. caste problems, particularly for someone from a scheduled caste? c. being suspected of being involved in the LTTE? d. people from other states being unwelcome? 3. Anything else you feel might be relevant. RESPONSE 1. How many Tamils live in other states of India apart from Tamil Nadu? Tamils live throughout India but particularly in southern states neighbouring Tamil Nadu such as Karnataka, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh as well as Maharashtra. Research Response IND23366 identifies Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh as Tamil speaking. (RRT Country Research, 2004, Research Response IND23366, 4 June - Attachment 1) .According to the Answers.com website: Geographic distribution Tamil is the first language of the majority in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and in northern and northeastern Sri Lanka. The language is also spoken in other parts of these two countries, most notably in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, and in Colombo and the hill country in Sri Lanka. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Tamil-speaking indentured servants from India and Sri Lanka were sent to many parts of the British empire where they founded Tamil-speaking communities. There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from them in Singapore, Malaysia, and Mauritius. Many people in South Africa, Guyana, Fiji, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but the language is no longer spoken in those countries. Groups of more recent emigrants - primarily refugees from the Sri Lankan civil war, but also a few economic migrants - exist in Australia, Canada, the USA and most western European countries. Legal status Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and is one of 22 nationally recognised languages under the Indian Constitution. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and has constitutional recognition in South Africa. In addition, Tamil was recognised as a classical language by the Government of India in 2004, following a campaign by several Tamil associations supported by academics from India and abroad, most notably Professor George L. Hart, who occupies the Chair in Tamil Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. (See his statement (http://tamil.berkeley.edu/Tamil%20Chair/TamilClassicalLanguage/TamilClassical LgeLtr.html ).) It was the first Indian language to be so recognised. The recognition was announced by the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, in a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament on June 6, 2004. (‘Tamil Language’, nd, Answers.com (originally sourced from Wikipedia) – Accessed 23 August 2005 - http://www.answers.com/topic/tamil-language - Attachment 2) Attachments 2 and 3 indicate that Tamil speakers are prevalent in Karnataka and Mahrashtra as well with some 40 lakh (four million) Tamils in Karnataka alone (‘Change date, we will fast: Vijaykant’, 2002, The Hindu, 11 October – Accessed 23 August 2005 - http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/10/11/stories/2002101105520500.htm – Attachment 3). No specific evidence could be found in the sources consulted of people being subjected to mistreatment in recent years simply on the basis of their Tamil ethnicity. 2. Is there evidence of Tamils facing problems in other states due to: a. language problems, particularly for someone who speaks Tamil, no Hindi and a little (or some) English? There is no information in the sources consulted indicating that there would be any particular difficulties regarding a non-Hindi speaker in India. As noted above, Tamil is one of the twenty two officially recognised languages of India. (See also RRT Country Research, 2004, Research Response IND16494, (specifically Question 4) 24 February – Attachment 4.) b. caste problems, particularly for someone from a scheduled caste? Although there has been legislation introduced in recent years designed at addressing inequities and abuses directed at India’s dalits and ‘schedued castes’ there are still many reports of these people experiencing abuse and discriminatory behaviour in Indian society. According to the latest US State Department’s human rights report: The Constitution and the 1955 Civil Rights Act outlaws the practice of untouchability, which discriminates against Dalits and other people defined as Scheduled Castes; however, such discrimination remained an important aspect of life. Despite longstanding efforts by the Government to eliminate the discriminatory aspects of caste, the practice has remained, and widespread discrimination based on the caste system occurred throughout the country. The Constitution gives the President the authority to identify historically disadvantaged castes, Dalits, and tribal people (members of indigenous groups historically outside the caste system). These "scheduled" castes, Dalits, and tribes were entitled to affirmative action and hiring quotas in employment, benefits from special development funds, and special training programs. The impact of reservations and quotas on society and on the groups they were designed to benefit was a subject of active debate. According to the 2001 census, scheduled castes, including Dalits, made up 16 percent (166.6 million) of the population, and scheduled tribes were 8 percent (84.3 million) of the country's population. Many rural Dalits worked as agricultural laborers for caste landowners without remuneration. The majority of bonded laborers were Dalits (see Section 6.c.). Dalits, among the poorest of citizens, generally did not own land, and often were illiterate. They faced significant discrimination despite laws to protect them, and often were socially prohibited from using the same wells and from attending the same temples as caste Hindus, and from marrying caste Hindus. In addition, they faced social segregation in housing, land ownership, and public transport. Dalits were malnourished, lacked access to health care, worked in poor conditions (see Section 6.e.), and continued to face social ostracism. NGOs reported that crimes committed by higher caste Hindus against Dalits often went unpunished, either because the authorities failed to prosecute vigorously such cases or because the crimes were unreported by the victims, who feared retaliation. On May 16, approximately 100 Dalit houses in the village of Kalapatti in Tamil Nadu were set on fire during the night, just days after the Government announced the general election results. Upper caste residents who blamed Dalits for their candidates' loss reportedly committed the attacks. In July, police in Tamil Nadu reportedly used excessive force to target Dalits while responding to riots at a religious festival. The injured included approximately 20 Dalits, 8 of whom required hospitalization. The riot broke out when upper-caste Hindus forcefully barred Dalits from participating in the festival. Christians historically rejected the concept of caste; however, because many Christians descended from low caste or Dalit families, many continued to suffer the same social and economic limitations, particularly in rural areas. Low caste Hindus who converted to Christianity lost their eligibility for affirmative action programs. Those who became Buddhists or Sikhs did not. In some states, government jobs were reserved for Muslims of low caste descent. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act lists offenses against disadvantaged persons and provides for stiff penalties for offenders; however, this act had only a modest effect in curbing abuse. Human rights NGOs alleged that caste violence was on the increase. Intercaste violence claimed hundreds of lives; it was especially pronounced in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Social pressures to enforce rigid caste lines in all social settings led to episodes of vigilante retribution. While much more rare in urban settings, examples of intolerance occurred regularly in rural parts of the country. Complicated social and ethnic divisions in society created severe localized discrimination. For example, in July, 30 men from the Yadav community in Madhya Pradesh, with the backing of the village council, allegedly gang raped three Dalit women. The gang rape is thought to have been in response to the elopement of a girl from the Yadav community with a Dalit boy. Police arrested 8 persons, and cases have been filed against 20 unidentified persons. A day after the incident, a village leader allegedly stripped a Dalit woman in public view. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister indicated she was considering ordering a community fine on the entire village where residents were mute spectators to these acts; however, no action reportedly was taken. Discrimination against Dalits covered the entire