A/53/279 Annex Follow-up to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of religious intolerance on his visit to India from 2 to 14 December 1996* addressed to the Indian authorities and reply of the Indian authorities [Original: English] Recommendations Taking into account paragraph 86 of the report, “the maintenance of religious tolerance presupposes not only economic development, education and a campaign against poverty in order gradually to eliminate the caste system which still survives in practice, but also more informed participation in political life and greater participation in economic life by the population as a whole as a means of preventing the political exploitation of religion to the detriment of tolerance and communal harmony”, the Special Rapporteur would appreciate if you could indicate your comments as well as measures undertaken and/or envisaged by your Government. Comments and measures The Government of India agrees with the Special Rapporteur that economic development in general, the elimination of poverty in particular and education hold the greatest promise for the maintenance of religious tolerance even though there may be no simple cause and effect relationship between poverty and backwardness on the one hand and religious intolerance or facilitation of political exploitation of religion on the other. It is equally essential to ensure that the weaker sections of society develop a substantial stake in the political, social and economic life of the country while at the same time building and maintaining support for measures in this direction among all sections of society. Experience has shown that, sometimes, these very efforts and their positive results can lead to resentment in groups that have traditionally enjoyed a privileged position. This may lead to short-term manifestations of intolerance. It is essential, however, to persist with efforts to enhance greater participation of vulnerable groups which alone can ensure harmony among different sections of society in the long run. The philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of Indian society have historically imbued it with a high degree of tolerance. Under the pressure of modernization, issues of identity can come to fore, providing opportunities for political * E/CN.4/1997/91/Add.1 16 exploitation of religion. More informed participation in political life through awareness, constructive mobilization and imaginative use of media would form the basis of any strategy to fight such exploitation. At the same time, appropriate legislative and institutional measures in consonance with the spirit of freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution are required to ensure that politics is not used to promote intolerance. The Government of India would again reiterate the need to avoid oversimplification of the complex social phenomena of the caste system and to maintain a distinction between the caste system and caste-based discrimination or disabilities. Manifestation of discriminatory behaviour against members of certain castes are questions related to social prejudice and do not bear any relationship to religious intolerance. Further, under the Indian Constitution, the concept of caste is solely and exclusively related to Hindus and Sikhs alone and persons professing any other religion do not have a caste classification, although there are variations in practice, which only goes to show that caste merely denotes a social or class distinction. The term “caste” has its origins in the functional division of Indian society during ancient times and, to an extent, it is akin to the system of guilds and clans prevalent earlier in the West. However, with the passage of time, the system became rigid, stratified and exploitative leading to discrimination against those who enjoyed low status in the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy and were thereby exposed to invidious treatment, severe social disabilities and deprivation of economic, social, cultural and political opportunities. The elimination of caste-based inequities is crucial to the promotion of tolerance in general and there is an across-the-board commitment at the highest level to root out social prejudices and the accumulated socio-economic backwardness of the so-called lower castes. The measures taken to promote economic development and eliminate poverty include not only macro-level programmes and policies for economic growth but also programmes of human development with emphasis on health, education and minimum needs and directly targeted programmes for poverty alleviation through employment generation, training and building up asset endowment of the poor. Indeed, elimination of past injustices through