Friday, February 12, 2010

On the Consequences of Famine

The consequences of these famines were quite dramatic. South Asian scholars like Kinsley Davis, Tim Dyson and others who study demography and productivity agree that between 1870 and 1920 the life expectancy fell by 20%, population declined by 10% and net cropped area decreased by 12%.i It can also be argued that although the colonial state reluctantly recognized only three famines in the late 19th century, yet drought like conditions prevailed in general throughout Central India taking a heavy toll of human and cattle lives.
Despite extracting millions of pounds in revenues, the state developed cold feet when it came to spending on public relief. The government was always worried about commensurate returns on its investments. And expenditure on famine relief was considered wasteful and uneconomic. In fact it was even looked down upon in official circles. Keeping in line with the imperial ideology, every effort was made to discourage people from seeking relief. The relief camps were not only hard to reach but were in fact deliberately kept in remote locations and beyond the reach of the physically weakened population. And those who somehow managed to reach these camps soon found that the conditions were more horrifying then the villages they had left behind. The sanitation was often very poor and prison like conditions prevailed while the relief camps gained notoriety as centers of epidemic diseases. It will be worth repeating here that all government relief was conditional upon heavy work in colonial projects on which both cash and kind wages were deliberately kept low.ii And in general, the state did not show much interest in famine relief.
But even in this weakened state, there was resistance to what Partha Chatterjee has called the ‘colonial [in]difference.’iii There are innumerable recorded instances of grain riots, attacks on grain trains, protest against high prices and grain exports, hoarding and speculative trading, house trespass, bazaar unrest, offence against property, raids on standing debt crops held by moneylenders, raids on government establishments, robberies, thefts, incendiaries, and dacoities.iv Some of them like the Deccan Riots in Poona in 1870s became symbols of bigger protests launched by the nationalist organizations like the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Indian National Congress.v
Coda for the Victims of Famine in Colonial India:
In conclusion then, the laissez-faire ideology of the British Empire prevented state intervention in times of calamities such as droughts and famines. Western technology like the railways took grains out and brought famine even to surplus areas. This paper argues that the famines were caused not so much by the failure of rains but by artificial price inflations driven by the colonial policies and export trade. In an oppressive situation of colonial subjection and imperial domination over forests, grazing lands, and agriculture, the society remained socially and economically involuted. But most significantly it got exposed to droughts and famines that mercilessly decimated millions in the late 19th century. However, even in their weakened state the people resisted to their last breadth and gave birth the Indian nationalism.

land survey and settlement operations

It can be noticed from the above table that as the land survey and settlement operations progressed, cultivated acreage dramatically increased from 45.7% to 71.3% of the total acreage. The result of this was a simultaneous decline in the unoccupied areas to the point of total extinction. This meant that the grazing lands and common grounds virtually disappeared under the onslaught of colonial commercialization. The official term for designating such areas was ‘wastelands.’ For the British this meant lands that did not generate revenues, hence uneconomic and therefore the need to make it productive and economic by putting it under the plough. But for people in the villages, these lands were a part of their daily life and survival in times of calamities such as famine and drought. Its disappearance had serious repercussions. In the most populated plain districts of Amraoti, Akola, and Buldana, the wastelands completely disappeared falling under 1%. In other districts also, it fell below 2%. In Wun district it stood at about 5%. Every district experienced the problem of space and overcrowding. Amraoti and Akola district suffered the worst because of the topography. When cotton cultivation expanded in the 1860s, these two districts were the very first to be denuded of all tree and forest cover. Most of the railways passed through these two districts. The population density got high and the ravage of drought, famine, disease, and death became intense.i
The Empire’s voracious appetite for revenues targeted the mobile people to sedentarize. The pressure of colonial institutions like the police, law and courts were employed to coerce pastoral nomads and forest dwellers to settle on the land and take up agriculture. Further pressure of imperial revenues forced pastures and common lands under the plough. Neeladri Bhattacharya in his study of the Punjab pastoralists shows how the extension of British control through punitive grazing taxes hit the transhumance pastoral nomads while depriving the peasantry of the traditional grazing runs and common lands.ii Thus the extension of the imperial arm deprived pastoralists of their main source of survival while survey operations extended and froze the boundaries of agriculture. Revenue and Agriculture Department was the largest and the most organized executive arm of the British Empire in India. In fact it extracted more then 85% of the imperial revenues and made sure that agriculture closed boundary with forests. It also encouraged cash crop cultivation and helped connect India to the London based world economy.iii
While commercialization of land and agriculture threatened the existence of pastoral nomads, control over forests put pressure on forest dwellers. Writing in the context of Central India, Mahesh Rangarajan has aptly described the colonial commercialization of timber and other resources as ‘fencing the forest.’iv From time immemorial everyone in the subcontinent had depended on forest and common land resources for their daily survival. According to Neil Charlesworth, the ratio of plough cattle to land in the Deccan plateau heavily depended on the availability of these resources.v As mentioned before, the people also fell back on these resources in times of drought, famine and other natural calamities. Ramachandra Guha in a recent article has suggested that historically, forests in South Asia had been under the management of local society and utilized as a common property resource.vi The forest dwellers and plains agriculturists had always exchanged goods and services on balance.vii The colonial Forest Department took control of forests and began putting restrictions on people’s access to its resources through a series of Forest Acts and Laws beginning 1866.viii The forest dwellers were gradually pushed out of their natural habitat and dhya (slash and burn agriculture) was prohibited. The forests were taken over and declared government reserves in order to serve the needs of imperial railways and the military.ix The commercialization of forest resources such as wood, leaf, manure, grass, fodder, wild grains, fruits, roots, nuts, honey, vegetables, flowers, medicinal herbs, gums, plants, spices, lac, game, etc., removed the famine and drought cushion on which the people had traditionally relied in times of crisis. According to the well known famine scholar B.M. Bhatia, this resulted in general environmental deterioration that transformed minor calamities into disastrous events taking millions of lives.x
Bipan Chandra, Sumit Sarkar, and Amiya Bagchi in their studies have shown that the lack of economic diversity was the reason for India’s backwardness and poverty under the British Empire. Society was restrained to remain agrarian and feudal. The British imperial policies prevented the transformation of Indian economy from agrarian to industrial by skimming off the raw material and revenues without plowing anything back in return. Trapped in this classical political economy of the British Raj, India exported raw material and consumed finished goods. State investments mostly went into maintaining the institutions of control like the vast army, police, bureaucracy, and the espionage network of the Empire. Very little was made available for the development of human capital resource or even the economic infrastructure that would benefit the general populace. The colonial state and local moneylenders became parasitic classes that were not interested in either economic development or improving the material condition of the peasantry. Commercial crops not only encroached on food grains but pushed peasants into a debt cycle from which it was impossible to get out because the primary producer lost control over the crops. The burden of high state revenue demand and government refusal to remit even in times of famine made the suffering of the people intense and death difficult to allude.xi
During the great famine of 1877-78, a noted Victorian journalist William Digby observed that the root causes of famines in India was railways and markets. Accordingly, the railways carried famine to grain surplus areas through artificial price inflation in the face of any government check or control.xii Many studies since then have shown that there was never a shortage of food grains even in years of official famines. The problem was with grain prices. They were so high that the people could not afford to buy it.xiii However, one thing remained unchanged in British India and that was the wages of labourers.xiv The wage stagnation and very little movement in per capita income made food grains beyond the reach of ordinary persons trying to eke out a living off their labour. The following table explains this phenomenon for the region of Berar in Central India.
the 19th century famines in Central India were basically price-induced famines that could have been avoided with timely government intervention. However, that never happened because of the official adherence to the laissez-faire ideology of non-interference. In fact there is even evidence of grains being exported to England and Europe for speculative trading in international market while millions were dying of disease and starvation in the sub-continent.i Similarly, the problem of food shortages in colonial Berar is associated with grain exports and high prices. It is rather appalling that while majority of the Berar’s population was suffering from poverty and hunger, the region was exporting food grains. This was in fact the case even during years of drought and famine. The following table illustrates exactly how much of food grains were actually exported. These food grains included the staple crop jowari (millet), wheat, and other edible grains such as gram, bajri, masur, tur, rice, urad, etc.
Berar was exporting precious food grains worth 979,910 maunds (40,176 tons). This enormous quantity was primarily snatched from the mouths of the hungry and the poor. With the average population of 2,637,958 persons at any given point between 1867 and 1901,i this loss amounted to approximately 30.4 lbs per person. According to the general administration report of 1882-83, an average individual required 0.96 lbs of food grain per diem for survival.ii Even if this relatively low consumption figure is applied, the surplus food grain that was exported could have sustained the entire population of Berar for up to 31.7 days. Even in the worst of famine and drought years (1877-79; 1896-97; and 1899-1900) a total of 2,375,509 maunds of food grains were exported out of the province. Similarly, the people of Berar never got anything in return for the raw cotton exports that formed on average 42.9% of the total exports in any given year. The colonial roads and railways became the artery of people’s misery. With such large quantities of grains leaving the province, the traditional custom of storing grains in ‘peos’ completely declined.iii Thus the high grain prices and exports did not necessarily translate into increasing incomes for peasants as Michele McAlphin and Morris D. Morris have surmised.iv Nor did it mean a change in their material condition. In fact it led to worsening of their lives.
Vasant Kaiwar in his studies of the Deccan has suggested that the incorporation of local economy into the world market network brought devastating famines to central India. The encroachment of imperial policies and imposition of a colonial infrastructure based on conditional private property in landv and a high rate of revenue demand undermined the traditional food security chain.vi Similarly, David Hardiman argues that the neglect of traditional water works by the colonial state brought drought and famine to the Deccan plateau. These water works in the form of small irrigation systems like tanks, masonry dams, anicuts, reservoirs, lakes, ponds, canals, etc., had successfully avoided the problem of salination and malaria by tapping water for local irrigation and daily use. In pre-colonial times, the maintenance of these water works had been through local communal labour financed by the state in a situation where land, grazing grounds and surrounding forests were a common property resource of the village. The introduction of conditional private property rights in land under colonial aegis and withdrawal of state support led to the decline of local irrigation works.vii Not surprisingly, one of the most acute problems during famine in Central India was that of water scarcity. Elizabeth Whitcombe, Ira Klein, and David Gilmartin have also suggested that the British neglect of small water works in favour of large irrigation canals were the chief cause of salination, silting, leaching, disease, and famine that were triggered by a general environmental collapse.viii
P.A. Elphinstone conducted extensive survey and settlement operations in the Deccan in 1860s and 70s. In his reports he poignantly noted the neglect of traditional water works and the acute problem of water scarcity.ix But every subsequent colonial official in this cotton rich region of Central India came to believe that there was no need to develop irrigation or water works because the black cotton soil was naturally rich and did not need much water to grow crops. A strong anti-irrigation lobby among the officials created this myth that Berar was immune from drought and famine. Therefore the need for a famine code or relief measures were neither felt nor devised. With this attitude, the officials in fact refused to even acknowledge that drought, disease, and famine related deaths were taking place.x This denial and failure to put in place even a semblance of infrastructure made the famine in Central India all the more devastating. Similarly, the sanitary commissioner’s reports actually drew a strong connection between contaminated water and diseases like cholera, malaria, diarrhea, dysentery and smallpox, not to mention undernourishment caused by the low calorie intake of the general mass of population.xi Yet, no public action was forthcoming. And when serious famines did hit the region (1877-78; 1896-97 and 1899-1900) and the state was forced to recognize it on account of millions of deaths, the blame was put on natural causes like the failure of rains and crops.xii However, a simple common sense query would demolish this colonialist argument. If the region is naturally rich with black cotton soil and does not need much water to grow crops, then how can failure of rain cause famines?
Radhika Ramasubban in her work on epidemic diseases and medicine in colonial India has argued that government sanitation measures were primarily geared towards protecting British cantonments and civil lines where most of the European population was concentrated. This ‘enclavist’ nature of colonial medicine failed to protect the vast majority of the people not just during famines but also in ordinary times.xiii And the railways took plague and cholera along with grains to every nook and corner of Central India from the port city of Bombay.xiv However, Irfan Habib states that the dark underlying cause of all famines in British India was the intense poverty of its masses. And this suggests a deep relationship between the colonial political economy of exploitation and the material condition of the masses.xv
As already mentioned, the extensive land survey operations conducted in Berar in 1860s and 70s were designed for revision every thirty years. The first revision took place in 1898-99, but unfortunately most of the revision settlement reports have either been lost or yet to be found. However, only one of the report survived through time and this report was done in 1900 for the Basim talukaxvi in Basim district by a one F. W. Francis, the Director of Land Records and Agriculture. In this report there is one extremely interesting data that shows a rather rare comparison in the people’s standard of living during these two time periods twenty-five years apart. It is worthwhile here to reproduce

An Examination into the Nature and Causes of Famines

The scholars of ancient and medieval India like H.D. Sankhalia, D.D. Kosambi, Romila Thapar, D. N. Jha, R.S. Sharma, Irfan Habib and others have observed that the South Asian society had always been shaped and reshaped by a close interaction between pastoral nomads, agriculturists, and forest dwellers.i Sumit Guha in his recent book has further elaborated this observation by stating that the boundary between the three environmental regions, i.e., forests, grazing grounds, and cultivated fields had always been fluid before the advent of British rule. And this fluidity also extended to occupational flexibility whereby people acquired skills in accordance with the political economy and social culture of the times.ii However, this fluidity and flexibility threatened the colonial state’s greed for revenues and desire for territorial expansion. The fluid boundaries had to be frozen and occupational flexibility had to be put into the straightjacket category of caste for better control and management of the empire and its subjects.iii
So the first order of business for the colonial state was to conduct extensive land survey and settlement operations while the process of empire building was in progress during the nineteenth century.iv The following table shows the movement of cultivated and wasteland acreages as a result of British survey and settlement operations in six selected districts of Central India collectively called Berar.

Atlantic slave trade

Just as the Europeans justified the Atlantic slave trade in terms of civilizing the savage, Christianizing the heathen, and making the barbarian productive through a work ethic based on reason, so was the British imperialist project in India and Asia.i Here the so-called ‘tropics’ were condemned as naturally unhealthy, diseased and famine prone.ii Overtly implying that somehow European weather, climate and geographical environment was healthier than the conquered territories.iii But the most influential ideology behind western imperialism was the classical political economy propounded by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. Accordingly, a laissez-faire doctrine of market capitalism was introduced in the late 18th century, which guided the European imperialist project whereby government interference in the economy was objected to even in the face of acute crisis like the famine. Although it should be noted here, this market capitalism was in fact imposed on conquered territories with the might of European gunboats and arms. However, to this doctrine was later added the Malthusian theory of population whereby famine was regarded as a natural check to over population, relieving the state and government from the responsibility of expenditure on relief.iv However, the driving ideas behind the Indian Famine Commission Reports of the 19th century were those of Jeremy Bentham. The utilitarian principle that relief should be bitterly punitive in order to discourage dependence upon the government was purely Benthamite. The reports relieved the British government of India any responsibility for the horrific mortality. It was asserted that the cheap famine labour could be fruitfully used in modernizing projects such as the railways, road construction, and repair of tanks, stone and masonry works, etc. The famine reports further held that the calamity was caused by natural phenomenon and that human agencies have no control over it. The staunch Benthamite cronies like James Mill and his son John Stuart Mill also supported this utilitarian orthodoxyv of the East India Company and the British Empire after 1857.
All the British imperial viceroys, governors, and proconsuls like Lytton, Temple, Elgin, and Curzon strongly adhered to the doctrine that it was the climate and failure of rains that caused failure of crops and famine. It was believed that the empire had to be governed for revenues and not expenditure. And any act that would influence the prices of grains such as charity was to be either strictly monitored or discouraged. Even in the face of acute distress, relief had to be punitive and conditional. So the ‘Temple Wage’ propounded by Sir Richard Temple, a staunch laissez faire doctrinaire on government famine relief was set at only 16-22 oz of food or 1-2 annas with a minimum of 9-10 hours of work per day. The whole idea was to strongly discourage dependence on government relief. Viceroy Lytton (in late 1870s) vehemently supported the Temple wage of below minimum while Curzon (in early 1900s) implemented a tight press censorship to prevent Indian nationalists from making a political capital out of the macabre famine of 1899-1900.vi Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze in their study have suggested that the reasons why famines suddenly seized with the end of British Empire (post-1947) was not so much because the nationalist government was more benevolent but because the free press and public opinion put constant pressure on the government to respond. This kind of pressure could not be exerted under conditions of colonial subjection.

The British Empire, Ecology and Famines in Late 19th Century Central India

More than thirty million famine related deaths occurred in British India between 1870 and 1910, a phenomenon Mike Davis in his recent book has called the “Late Victorian Holocaust.”i The Deccan region of central India was the worst victim of these famines. This paper will analyze the official ideology, the reasons, and consequences of these famines.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Equality and Human Rights News

On 2 February, young activists from the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) will call for the Government to take action to address key children’s rights issues at a reception in Parliament. (more…)

Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Press Releases, Reports and Papers
NEP: An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK
February 2nd, 2010

On THE 27th January 2012, the National Equality Panel (NEP) published its evidence on the relationships between inequalities in people’s economic outcomes – such as earnings, income and wealth – and their characteristics and circumstances – such as gender, age, ethnicity – and the ways in which who you are affect the resources and opportunities available to you. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion, Race/ethnicity
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
Centre for Cities index: gap between UK cities has widened
February 2nd, 2010

Centre for Cities annual index published on the 18th January shows recession has widened the gap between UK cities. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
Work Entry, Progression & Retention, & Child Poverty
February 2nd, 2010

The Department for Work and Pensions published on the 21st January 2010 the report ‘Parents’ work entry, progression and retention, and child poverty’. (more…)

Subject(s): Age - children/young people, Employment, Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
Update on Single Equality Bill
February 2nd, 2010

Click here for an update on the Single Equality Bill from the Winning the Race Coalition (http://www.rota.org.uk/pages/WTRC.aspx) (more…)

Subject(s): Age - older people, Equality general, Multiple discrimination, Race/ethnicity
Posted in Briefings and Leaflets, Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News, Other, eNewsletter
Consultation: Indicators for Children & Young People
February 2nd, 2010

This is a specialist consultation launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on the 25th January 2010 and is about selecting a set of indicators for children and young people. (more…)

Subject(s): Age - children/young people, Equality general
Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News, eNewsletter
Voluntary measures proposed for publishing pay gaps
February 2nd, 2010

On the 19th January 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released proposals outlining the voluntary measures organisations with more than 250 employees can use to publish information on pay differentials between men and women. (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Ideas and Policy, eNewsletter
WNC consultation on single sex services
February 2nd, 2010

The WNC has launched a consultation on single sex services after concerns raised by a number of partner organisations that women-only services are currently under threat. (more…)

Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News, eNewsletter
Public Appointments- Awareness, Attitudes & Experiences
February 2nd, 2010

On the 14th January 2010 the IPSOS MORI research ‘Public Appointments- Awareness, Attitudes & Experiences’ was published. (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
New websites bringing together data & statistics
February 2nd, 2010

The data.gov.uk site enables the public to freely access government data in one place. (more…)

Subject(s): English regions, Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Other, eNewsletter
The TUC and Volunteering England: Volunteers’ Charter
February 2nd, 2010

On the 7th December 2009 the TUC and Volunteering England produced a joint ‘Charter for Strengthening Relations Between Paid Staff and Volunteers’. (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Training and Guidance, eNewsletter
Call for evidence on the impact of hate crime
February 2nd, 2010

Stop Hate in Central Scotland is a group of public and voluntary sector organisations working together to identify and eliminate unlawful discrimination, attacks and harassment and to promote good relations. (more…)

Subject(s): English regions, Equality general, Scotland, Sexual orientation, Violence/hate crime
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, eNewsletter
EU Rules on Gender Equality and national law
February 1st, 2010

The European Commission has published its report ‘EU Rules on Gender Equality: How are they transposed into national law?’ (August 2009). (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general, Europe, Gender
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
GEO Responses to the Proposed Equal Treatment Directive
February 1st, 2010

On 2 July 2008 the European Commission published a draft anti-discrimination Directive. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Europe
Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News, eNewsletter
Survey: ‘Transatlantic Trends: Immigration’
February 1st, 2010

‘Transatlantic Trends: Immigration’, a collaboration led by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, German Marshall Trust and three other foundations, has carried out a survey into attitudes about immigration in the UK, as well as the USA, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, International, Refugees/migrants
Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News, eNewsletter
Call for Abstracts: European Diversity and Autonomy Papers
February 1st, 2010

The European Academy in Bolzano, Italy, seeks papers contributing to the development and exploration of various approaches to diversity in Europe. Closing date for abstracts is the 20th February 2010.

Click here for more information:

Subject(s): Equality general, Europe
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers, eNewsletter
Access to Volunteering: 2nd Round of Funding
February 1st, 2010

The £2million fund aims to increase the number of disabled people volunteering through giving grant funding to volunteer-involving organisations. (more…)

Subject(s): Disability, Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Vacancies, eNewsletter
EHRC: Equality Impact Assessment Guidance
January 20th, 2010

This document published on the 21st December 09 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) provides a step-by-step guide to integrating equality impact assessment into policymaking and review. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Training and Guidance
Letter from Commissioner for the Compact on New Compact
January 20th, 2010

On the 19th January Sir Bert Massie (Commissioner for the Compact) sent an open letter to the Equality and Diversity Forum highlighting the content and relevance of the refreshed Compact including the “advancing equality” section and what the third sector is specifically asked to take forward. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general
Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News
The Equality Bill: Duty to Reduce Socio-Economic Inequalities
January 20th, 2010

This is a guide published by the Government Equalities Office (GEO) in January 2010 designed to form a bridge between the wording of the socio-economic duty, which was published in the Equality Bill in April 2009, and the draft statutory guidance to go with it, which we will be drafting and consulting on formally in the summer of 2010. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Training and Guidance
Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation
January 20th, 2010

This report was launched on the 6th January 2010. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
DCLG: Tackling Race Inequality – A Statement on Race
January 20th, 2010

On the 14th January 2010 the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) launched a report detailing the progress made in recent years on tackling racism and securing race equality. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Race/ethnicity
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
Call for Evidence Showing Positive Value of Human Rights
January 20th, 2010

The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) is coordinating a new micro-website to showcase the powerful stories about how the Human Rights Act (HRA) is making a positive difference to people’s lives. (more…)

Subject(s): Human rights
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Guidance
January 20th, 2010

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has launched a communications guidance and toolkit: ‘Tackling Violence against Women and Girls: a guide to good practice communication’, in order to support and inform government communication in the area of violence against women and girls. (more…)

Subject(s): Gender, Violence/hate crime
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Training and Guidance
Government Response to Report on Fair Access to Professions
January 20th, 2010

On the 18th January the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published: ‘Unleashing Aspiration: The Government Response to the Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions’. (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
DCLG Report on Tracking Economic Deprivation
January 20th, 2010

‘Tracking economic deprivation in New Deal for Communities areas’ was launched on the 7th January 2010 by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
ONS Report: Wealth in Great Britain
January 20th, 2010

The ‘Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/08’ by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) collected information about the economic well-being of households and individuals in Great Britain. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
Tackling Worklessness & the Social Impacts of the Recession
January 20th, 2010

The Cabinet Office’s Social Exclusion Taskforce published in December 2009 a report outlining how previous recessions have resulted in not just rising unemployment, but also increases in crime, mental health problems and family and relationship breakdown. (more…)

Subject(s): Employment, Equality general, Poverty/social exclusion
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Reports and Papers
European Commission: UK breaches two EU Equality Directives
January 11th, 2010

In November 2009 the UK was found by the European Commission to have incorrectly implemented two EU Equality Directives. The first breach concerns the EC Equal Treatment Framework Directive, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The second relates to the EC Equal Treatment Directive, which covers equal treatment between men and women in employment. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general, Europe
Posted in Equality and Human Rights News, Press Releases
Refreshed Compact is Launched
January 6th, 2010

On 16 December 2009, the refreshed National Compact document was launched. (more…)

Subject(s): Equality general
Posted in Consultations and Responses, Equality and Human Rights News

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