Original version

BBC World Service Online

From Our Own Correspondent

News

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: India Special

India Special

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, India Special

Pascale Harter introduces personal reflections from Rahul Tandon and Rajini Vaidyanathan.

Personal stories and analysis from around the world, with Pascale Harter. Rahul Tandon argues racism really DOES exist in India; Rajini Vaidyanathan enters the country's boss class, by hiring a maid.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world, introduced by Pascale Harter. In this programme, a special edition on India:


The face of prejudice 

Over the last month, a convulsion of deadly violence has swept through the northeastern state of Assam. It was followed by a curfew, with the army marching through the street and shoot-on-sight orders from the government. Three hundred thousand people have fled their homes in the area. It's not the first time this region, nestled next to Tibet, has erupted – there have been decades of tension there between locals and immigrants, and different ethnic groups.  But there was a newer twist to the clashes this time around – the panic being felt even in cities hundreds of kilometres away from Assam, thanks to images circulating via social media. 

Rahul Tandon believes the clashes, and their aftermath, reveal that India has a problem that's been ignored for too long. Is it really possible that the country, or at least some of it, is racially discriminating against people from its Northeast?


Domestic strife

In most European countries, the employment of domestic staff has plummeted in the last half-century. Even in Britain, where the fine social distinctions between 'masters' and servants - and indeed between different sorts of servant - once seemed so vital, the numbers of people working in domestic service collapsed, and very few people aspire to such a job. 

But in India it's a different story, with over 90 million people depending on a job (or jobs) in someone else's home to survive. When she lived in London, Rajini Vaidyanathan could never have afforded a cleaner ... but in Mumbai she's now adjusting to being part of the boss class.

(Image: Bodo tribal people flee their homes in Kokrajhar district in Assam during violent clashes on July 23, 2012. Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

India Special

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service