Dalits and others

An Indian couple who met at a legal firm have become the first in Britain to claim 'caste' discrimination, saying they were forced from their jobs following their marriage.

An employment tribunal was told that solicitor Amardeep Begraj, 33, was from a higher caste than her husband Vijay, 32, the practice manager.

He belonged to the Dalits, formerly known as the Untouchables because of the nature of their work in roles such as cleaning, pest control or scavenging, and the lowest class of people according to the ancient Indian caste system.

Mrs Begraj has told the tribunal that a senior colleague warned her against marrying Mr Begraj because people of his caste were 'different creatures', while he was told his position at the firm was 'compromised'.

The case throws a spotlight on how the hereditary caste system, for centuries used to categorise people according to occupation or social standing in India, has gained a foothold in a contemporary Britain where five per cent of the population originates from the sub-continent.

Home Secretary Theresa May is considering whether to add protection to those discriminated because of their caste to existing safeguards governing race, sex, religion and sexuality in British equality law.

Five Law Lords last year inserted a clause into the Single Equalities Act, passed just before the election, giving the Government power to forbid caste discrimination.

But the issue was then referred for public consultation and the Coalition is now considering responses.

Mrs Begraj, a Sikh, belongs to the Jat caste, an agrarian people from the Punjab. She and her husband met when both worked at Coventry-based solicitors Heer Manak and began dating four years later.

Mrs Begraj told the Birmingham tribunal she was warned by a senior colleague. 'He said I should reconsider the step I was taking of marrying Vijay because people of his caste were different creatures. Marriage would be very different from dating.  Vijay was told a number of times that his position had been compromised for entering into a relationship with me.'

She also claimed that her workload increased and secretarial support was reduced 'as a punishment', and she was paid less than colleagues.

The couple married at a Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, three years ago, when a colleague raised a toast to 'Jat girls going down the drain'.

When the couple had their first child, the firm did not send flowers, although this was standard practice.

Mr Begraj, who worked as a practice manager for the firm for seven years, was sacked last year. His wife resigned in January.

Last year the couple briefed a committee of the House of Lords, which swayed them to insert the clause in the legislation recognising caste discrimination. A subsequent newspaper story led to the couple's car windscreen being smashed.

The tribunal will also rule on whether they were discriminated against on grounds of religion or race. Mr Begraj is claiming wrongful dismissal and his wife is claiming unfair constructive dismissal.

The firm's management are said to consider the couple's claims outrageous.

The tribunal continues.

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Rakesh babu R

The 1965 war with India

Nearly half-a-century after shooting down an Indian civil aircraft under orders during the 1965 war with India, a Pakistan Air Force pilot has sent a condolence message to the daughter of the pilot of the aircraft he downed.



Qais Hussain, a flying officer during the 1965 war, made this gesture via email, expressing his condolences. The email is addressed to Farida Singh, daughter of the IAF pilot Jahangir "Jangoo" Engineer, one of the famous Engineer brothers in the force.



The email, with the subject line "Condolence", dated Friday, Aug 5, 2011, is copied to Naushad Patel and Jagan Pillarisetti, the Indian contacts who helped Hussain reach out to the bereaved family. Hussain forwarded the email to a group email for Pakistan Air Force colleagues, saying, "Most of you would recall that I had shot down an Indian civil aircraft after being scrambled from Mauripur in 1965 War."





Referring to an April 2011 article by Air Cdre Kaiser Tufail ("The Gujarat Beechcraft Incident - 1965 War", which gives details of the incident, he says it was Naveed Riaz, the Lahore-based businessman and aviation enthusiast, who helped him get in touch with the Indian contacts through whom he then managed to reach Jahangir Engineer's daughter.



Hussain wrote to Farida Singh, "The incident happened 46 years back but it is as fresh in my mind as if it had happened yesterday. The aircraft flown by your father had drifted off course by many a mile and in his search for the destination, he had been going up and down in the border area of Rann of Katchh for quite some time and it made our radar controllers uncomfortable.



"I happened to be strapped up in my aircraft along with another pilot (my leader) in his, on two minutes take-off alert. We were scrambled but I had to take off alone, and with help from my radar controller, intercepted your father's aircraft which was considered to be on a recce mission to open a new war front. I caught sight of him at 3000' and made a pass so close that I could read his markings and the number of the aircraft. Your father spotted my presence immediately and he started climbing and waggling his wings seeking mercy.



"Instead of firing at him at first sight, I relayed to my controller that I had intercepted an eight-seat transport aircraft (guessing by the four side windows) and wanted further instructions to deal with it. At the same time, I was hoping that I would be called back without firing a shot. There was a lapse of 3 to 4 long minutes before I was given clear orders to shoot the aircraft.



"After the shooting, I had a sense of achievement and satisfaction that I had completed my mission and destroyed any recce data that might have been collected to open a new war front. I landed back at Mauripur, Karachi, with my fuel tanks bone dry and was greeted by my seniors and other squadron colleagues. Later that evening, All India Radio announced the names of the occupants who had lost their lives in that aircraft...



"Mrs Singh, I have chosen to go into this detail to tell you that it all happened in the line of duty and it was not governed by the concept that 'everything is fair in love and war', the way it has been portrayed by the Indian media due to lack of information. I did not play foul and went by the rules of business but the unfortunate loss of precious lives, no matter how it happens, hurts each human and I am no exception. I feel sorry for you, your family and the other seven families who lost their dearest ones.



"I hope and pray that you and your family stay well"

"My best regards...

"Qais"

Sharma and Obama administration

About four months after MS Dhoni's boys won the Cricket World Cup for India, another man from Jharkhand has now shook up the world. On August 5, Standard & Poor's, led by Jharkhand-born Deven Sharma, struck off the 'AAA' rating of the US, considered the Gold standard in the world of finance, for the first time since 1914.



On that Friday afternoon, S&P officials told Barak Obama's treasury department that the ratings major's analysts have come to a decision that the US no longer deserves to be among the best rated countries in the world. After six hours and a flurry of emails, phone calls and conferences between top officials in the Obama administration and Sharma's team of number-crunchers, the world got to know of the unprecedented move - something that was in the air for a few months but which appeared more like a distant possibility: The US' country rating was downgraded one notch to 'AA-plus'. And suddenly the 57-year old Sharma was in the spotlight, hailed by a select few, but criticized by several in the financial world.





Born in 1955, Sharma was educated in Jamshedpur and Ranchi, and then moved to the US for his masters degree at Wisconsin and his doctoral degree in management from Ohio in 1987. During his initial years, he was in the manufacturing sector, working with Dresser Industries and Anderson Strathclyde. In 1988, he joined Booz, Allen & Hamilton, a global management consulting firm, where he spent 14 years. In 2002, he joined The McGraw-Hill Cos, the parent of S&P.



Sharma took over as the president of S&P in August 2007, just when the sub-prime crisis in the US housing sector was getting out of hand, and credit rating agencies were picked as one of the perpetrators of the meltdown for their flawed ratings models of housing loans. Over the last four years as the head of one of the foremost rating agencies in the world, Sharma has faced several US Congressional grillings, but has negotiated most of those with much elan, people who have followed him closely say. In a recent interview, Sharma admitted that over the last four years, comments made by US lawmakers have changed to appreciation from strong criticism.





No wonder the veteran of several testimonies in the US congress has been able to stand up to the global criticism from all quarters for their critical decision. Since Friday evening, Sharma, along with David Beers, his top lieutenant on the ratings side, have stood firm alongside S&P's analysts and defended the controversial and unprecedented decision saying that such a step was necessary and it was done for the benefit of investors.



People who followed Sharma's recent messages to the world said that there was enough evidence that a rating downgrade was more of a probability than not. Late last month, in a Congressional hearing during the height of uncertainty about raising US debt limit, Sharma was non-committal about what ratings decision his company would take. A Bloomberg report said that he told US lawmakers that S&P was waiting to see what the final proposal would be before deciding whether to keep US debt at the firm's highest ratings level.



While the world criticized S&P for their historic decision, some even questioning the data the analysts used but back home there are some who think Sharma and his men have done a great job. The controversial head of a top brokerage house with strong presence in the US told TOI, that the ratings downgrade had to happen as it was due for years.