A report submitted at the ongoing annual UN session on human rights in Geneva, Switzerland, raising concerns about the way the Dalits or low-caste Hindus are treated has irked India.
Presenting a report on adequate housing, United Nations Special Rapporteur Miloon Kothari said certain sections of the world's population faced multiple forms of discrimination.
He said: "The Dalits - a community facing historical caste-based discrimination and disenfranchisement in India, Nepal and to some extent Pakistan - suffer extreme human rights violations, including with regard to land and housing rights."
"A majority of Dalits are still prevented from owning land and are forced to live on the outskirts of villages, often on barren lands. While the struggle for Dalit land rights is growing, land reforms intended to benefit the rural poor and Dalits have been ineffective due to weak legislative provisions, inadequate implementation, and a lack of state commitment."
Vernor Munoz Villalobos, Special Rapporteur on right to education, expressed his concern regarding discrimination against Dalits in education.
In his next report, he said, he would deal with discrimination in education with regard to vulnerable groups such as the Dalits, who suffered from lack of education.
The discrepancies in educational opportunities did not respect the priorities provided by many governments in the realization of the right to education. Security in schools should also be considered as part of the human right for education, he said.
Reacting to the report, Indian representative Debarata Saha said the remark of Villalobos surprised India.
Saha said in India extraordinary measures have been taken to ensure that discrimination on the basis of caste was not allowed.
"There was discrimination, but this was positive discrimination, on the lines of affirmative action, with the aim of uplifting those who had suffered from historical discrimination," Saha said.
There was a possibility that the special rapporteur had in mind the issue of social practices of discrimination, which fell outside his mandate, as the right to education was the responsibility of the government, and this was not the same as social practices, Saha said.
"The special rapporteur should confine himself to his mandate, which covered rights of the individual with regards to education in the context of the state."
Several Dalit organisations from India and other parts of the world participating in the session have alleged discrimination.
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