Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

Customers shop at The Apple Store at the Towson Town Center mall, the first of the company's retail locations in the US where workers voted over the weekend to unionize. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 15 August 2022
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Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

  • Wake up call in tech sector after a low-caste engineer at Cisco Systems accused two higher-caste bosses of blocking his career
  • Caste discrimination was outlawed in India over 70 years ago, yet bias persists, according to several studies in recent years

OAKLAND, California : America’s tech giants are taking a modern-day crash course in India’s ancient caste system, with Apple emerging as an early leader in policies to rid Silicon Valley of a rigid hierarchy that’s segregated Indians for generations.
Apple, the world’s biggest listed company, updated its general employee conduct policy about two years ago to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of caste, which it added alongside existing categories such as race, religion, gender, age and ancestry.
The inclusion of the new category, which hasn’t been previously reported, goes beyond US discrimination laws, which do not explicitly ban casteism.
The update came after the tech sector — which counts India as its top source of skilled foreign workers — received a wake-up call in June 2020 when California’s employment regulator sued Cisco Systems on behalf of a low-caste engineer who accused two higher-caste bosses of blocking his career.
Cisco, which denies wrongdoing, says an internal probe found no evidence of discrimination and that some of the allegations are baseless because caste is not a legally “protected class” in California. This month an appeals panel rejected the networking company’s bid to push the case to private arbitration, meaning a public court case could come as early as next year.
The dispute — the first US employment lawsuit about alleged casteism — has forced Big Tech to confront a millennia-old hierarchy where Indians’ social position has been based on family lineage, from the top Brahmin “priestly” class to the Dalits, shunned as “untouchables” and consigned to menial labor.
Since the suit was filed, several activist and employee groups have begun seeking updated US discrimination legislation — and have also called on tech companies to change their own policies to help fill the void and deter casteism.
Their efforts have produced patchy results, according to a Reuters review of policy across the US industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers from India.
“I am not surprised that the policies would be inconsistent because that’s almost what you would expect when the law is not clear,” said Kevin Brown, a University of South Carolina law professor studying caste issues, citing uncertainty among executives over whether caste would ultimately make it into US statutes.
“I could imagine that parts of ... (an) organization are saying this makes sense, and other parts are saying we don’t think taking a stance makes sense.”
Apple’s main internal policy on workplace conduct, which was seen by Reuters, added reference to caste in the equal employment opportunity and anti-harassment sections after September 2020.
Apple confirmed that it “updated language a couple of years ago to reinforce that we prohibit discrimination or harassment based on caste.” It added that training provided to staff also explicitly mentions caste.
“Our teams assess our policies, training, processes and resources on an ongoing basis to ensure that they are comprehensive,” it said. “We have a diverse and global team, and are proud that our policies and actions reflect that.”
Elsewhere in tech, IBM told Reuters that it added caste, which was already in India-specific policies, to its global discrimination rules after the Cisco lawsuit was filed, though it declined to give a specific date or a rationale.
IBM’s only training that mentions caste is for managers in India, the company added.
Several companies do not specifically reference caste in their main global policy, including Amazon, Dell , Facebook owner Meta, Microsoft and Google. Reuters reviewed each of the policies, some of which are only published internally to employees.
The companies all told Reuters that they have zero tolerance for caste prejudice and, apart from Meta which did not elaborate, said such bias would fall under existing bans on discrimination by categories such as ancestry and national originon policy.

Casteism outlawed in India
Caste discrimination was outlawed in India over 70 years ago, yet bias persists, according to several studies in recent years, including one that found Dalit people were underrepresented in higher-paying jobs. Debate over the hierarchy is contentious in India and abroad, with the issue intertwined with religion, and some people saying discrimination is now rare.
Government policies reserving seats for lower-caste students at top Indian universities have helped many land tech jobs in the West in recent years.
Reuters spoke to about two dozen Dalit tech workers in the United States who said discrimination had followed them overseas. They said that caste cues, including their last names, hometowns, diets or religious practices, had led to colleagues bypassing them in hiring, promotions and social activities.
Reuters could not independently verify the allegations of the workers, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they feared harming their careers. Two said they had quit their jobs over what they viewed as casteism.
Some staff groups, including the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) at Google’s parent company, say explicit mention of caste in corporate rules would open the door to companies investing in areas such as data collection and training at the same levels as they do to protect other groups.
“Significant caste discrimination exists in the United States,” said Mayuri Raja, a Google software engineer who is a member of the AWU and advocates for lower-caste colleagues.
Over 1,600 Google workers demanded the addition of caste to the main workplace code of conduct worldwide in a petition, seen by Reuters, which they emailed to CEO Sundar Pichai last month and resent last week after no response.
Google reiterated to Reuters that caste discrimination fell under national origin, ancestry and ethnic discrimination. It declined to elaborate further on its policies.

‘Not good for business’
Adding caste to a general code of conduct is not unheard of.
The World Wide Web Consortium, an industry standards body partly based in Massachusetts, introduced it in July 2020. California State University and the state Democratic Party have followed over the past two years.
In May this year, California’s employment regulator, the Civil Rights Department, added caste to its example equal employment opportunity policy for employers.
Yet the move by Apple, a $2.8 trillion behemoth with more than 165,000 full-time employees globally, looms large.
The iPhone maker’s fair hiring policy now states that Apple “does not discriminate in recruiting, training, hiring, or promoting on the basis of” 18 categories, including “race, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, religion, creed, age” plus disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
By contrast, many employers are hesitant to go beyond laws with their primary policies, according to three employment attorneys including Koray Bulut, a partner at Goodwin Procter.
“Most companies simply quote from the federal and state statutes that list the protected categories,” Bulut said.
Some companies have, however, gone further in secondary policies that govern limited operations or serve only as loose guidelines.
Caste is explicitly written into Dell’s Global Social Media Policy, for example, and in Amazon sustainability team’s Global Human Rights Principles and Google’s code of conduct for suppliers.
Amazon and Dell confirmed they had also begun mentioning caste in anti-bias presentations for at least some new hires outside India. They declined to specify when, why and how broadly they made the addition, though Dell said it made the change after the Cisco lawsuit was filed.
The companies’ presentations include explanations of caste as an unwanted social structure that exists in parts of the world, according to a Reuters review of some of the online training, with the Dell material referencing a recent lawsuit “from the headlines.”
John-Paul Singh Deol, lead employment attorney at Dhillon Law Group in San Francisco, said that only including caste in training and guidelines amounted to “giving lip service” to the issue because their legal force is questionable.
This characterization was rejected by Janine Yancey, CEO of Emtrain, which sells anti-bias training to about 550 employers, and a longtime employment attorney.
“No company wants to have employee turnover, lack of productivity and conflict — that’s just not good for business,” she said.
Yet explicitly referencing caste would likely invite an increased number of HR complaints alleging it as a bias, Yancey added. “Whenever you’re going to call out something specifically, you’re exponentially increasing your caseload,” she said.
Apple declined to say whether any complaints had been brought under its caste provision.
South Carolina law professor Brown expects no immediate resolution to the debate over of whether companies should reference caste.
“This is an issue that ultimately will be resolved by the courts,” he said. “The area right now is unsettled.” 


Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

Updated 59 min 13 sec ago
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Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

  • PM Wong urges voters to stick with his team in face of US tariffs, US-China tensions
  • Last day of campaigning ahead of May 3 election

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to vote for candidates who have built up trust and close relationships with counterparts in the US and China, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday, urging voters to re-elect his cabinet at a May 3 poll.
Addressing a 1.4 million-strong labor union on the last day of campaigning, Wong warned of economic turbulence and job losses if US tariffs slow global growth. His government has warned the trade-reliant economy may face a possible recession.
“We must expect more pressure on us and to navigate these pressures, it will take experience and skill. It will take people in government who have built up trust and close relationships with their counterparts in both America and China,” Wong said.
He said voters needed to re-elect his whole team to effectively deal with these economic headwinds.
“I have backups, I have reserves, sure. But everyone knows that the team cannot function at the same level. It’s the same in any organization, and it will be so in our next cabinet if we end up with such a loss,” he said, referring to the possible loss of his deputy prime minister.
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party, in power since 1959, is widely expected to be easily re-elected, but there is growing unhappiness with its governance in the face of rising costs of living.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong was nominated at the 11th hour in a hotbed contest in a ward in northeast Singapore in an effort to stop the main opposition Workers’ Party, which won 10 seats in the last parliament.
Campaigning in recent days has zeroed in on Gan being new to the area, after an incumbent ruling party candidate called the opposition team strangers. The opposition fired back, asking if Gan was the real stranger to the constituency.
Wong has thrown his weight behind Gan, calling him his “taskforce man” because Gan co-headed the COVID-19 taskforce and is now chairing the “economic resilience” taskforce dealing with the impact of US tariffs.
“The key person in charge of this work is no stranger to you. He is no stranger to the whole of Singapore,” Wong said on Thursday.
This is the first electoral test for Wong, who took over from long-time premier Lee Hsien Loong last year as leader of the People’s Action Party.
Six political parties and an independent candidate have rallies scheduled for Thursday night.
Parties get to fire their last salvos on Thursday before 2.76 million voters go to a compulsory poll on Saturday after a short nine-day campaign season. Friday is designated as a “cooling off” day, meant for voters to decide on their ballot, and parties are not allowed to campaign.


Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

Updated 58 min 10 sec ago
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Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

  • Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms
  • Recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult

SAN FRANCISCO: Former US vice president Kamala Harris hit out at Donald Trump and his backers on Wednesday, in her first major speech since losing November’s election.
The defeated Democrat told supporters the apparent “chaos” of the last three months was actually the realization of a long-cherished plan by conservatives who are using Trump to twist the United States to their own advantage.
“What we are, in fact, witnessing is a high velocity event, where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making,” she told an audience in San Francisco.
“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest.
“A narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves.”
Trump’s first 100 days in power have been marked by a dizzying array of executive orders tackling everything from immigration to foreign aid to showerhead pressure.
Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms, including clashing with the courts.
While Trump’s supporters have cheered some of the rapid-fire changes, recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult, particularly from his oft-changing tariffs.
Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026 or a possible White House run in 2028, has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving Washington in January.
On Wednesday she was a guest speaker at an event run by Emerge, a political organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office.
She told the crowd that Trump was targeting universities and courts because he wanted to cow the opposition.
“President Trump, his administration, and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious,” she said.
“They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others.”
But, she said, there were judges, academics, politicians and regular people who were standing up to the government.
“Fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious,” she said.
“The courage of all these Americans inspires me.”


South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

Updated 01 May 2025
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South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

  • The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges
  • The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office

SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors have indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol for abuse of authority, Yonhap said on Thursday.
The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges, brought against Yoon over his brief imposition of martial law in December.
The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office. An official at the prosecutor’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.


Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

Updated 01 May 2025
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Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said Thursday that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir last week that left 26 men dead “must be brought to justice.”
New Delhi blames Pakistan for the gun attack on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
“Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” India’s top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the “need to condemn the terror attack” in Kashmir.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other overnight along the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir, the Indian army said.
It was a seventh straight night gunfire was reported by India.
“During the night... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small-arms fire across the Line of Control opposite Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor,” the army said in a statement.
“These were responded proportionately by the Indian Army.”
There were no reported casualties and there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.
Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting and vowed that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
 


Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

Updated 01 May 2025
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Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

  • At a Cabinet meeting, Trump hinted at Musk giving up his DOGE role “to get back home to his cars”
  • Musk's Tesla car company had been hit by boycott calls over his role in gutting the US bureaucracy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tesla boss Elon Musk could stay working for the White House as long as he wanted but understood the tycoon wanted to get back to his businesses.
Musk last month said he will step back from his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to focus more on his troubled Tesla car company.
“The vast majority of the people in this country really respect and appreciate you,” Trump told Musk during a White House cabinet meeting, which could be his last before giving up his DOGE role.
“And you know you’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said, though added that Musk may want “to get back home to his cars.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, has seen his Tesla car company, which is the major source of his wealth, suffer significant brand damage from his political work.
Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.
“You really have sacrificed a lot. They treated you very unfairly,” Trump said of opponents to Musk.
“They did like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk responded.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Tesla’s board had begun procedures several weeks ago to find a successor to Musk as CEO.
The outlet reported — citing people familiar with the matter — that the board had met with Musk and told him that he needed to spend more time with the company, rather than in Washington.
David Sacks, a close Musk ally who is also a member of the Trump administration, last week said that Musk would not be leaving DOGE but reducing his role.
This was the same plan he carried out during his takeover of Twitter in 2022, he said.
“Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he can move to more of a maintenance mode,” Sacks told the All-In podcast.