Caste and race conference in India

An international conference against racism and caste-based discrimination has begun in the Indian capital, Delhi.

Nearly one-hundred delegates are attending the four-day meeting, which will prepare the ground for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism to be held in Durban later this year.

The conference organisers say the Indian government needs to accept the inclusion of caste as a form of social discrimination.

But a sociologist on an Indian government advisory committee, Professor Andre Beteille, told the BBC that attempts to mix race and caste were mischievous because race has its roots in genetic identity, while caste was a result of a social system.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service