In early 2020, Prem Pariyar was almost at a breaking point over targeted harassment, discrimination and exclusion by the dominant caste group’s students at his alma mater, the California State University (CSU) in East Bay, the United States.Pariyar, 38, who is a Dalit, told Al Jazeera he tried to report the matter to the university management. But there was not much the authorities could do as caste was not a part of the institution’s non-discrimination policy.The Dalits, formerly referred to as “the untouchables”, lie at the bottom of South Asia’s complex caste hierarchy and have faced socioeconomic oppression at the hands of the privileged castes for centuries, especially in India.
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