New York- New York State is considering S6531/A6920, a historic bill that would explicitly prohibit caste discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The bill was initiated by Swati M. Sawant, Esq., a Dalit attorney who identified a gap in New York law and brought the issue to state legislators.
The bill is especially significant for Indian and South Asian diaspora communities, where caste-based discrimination can continue after migration and affect workers, tenants, students, and families. The campaign is rooted in the constitutional vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who fought to dismantle caste oppression and establish equal rights and dignity for all.
In July 2023, Sawant reached out to Assemblymember Steven Raga’s office. Raga is a fellow alumnus of the Coro Fellows Program, and when Sawant approached him about the need for anti-caste legislation, he showed immediate interest. He connected her with his Legislative Director, Jamey Battle. It was through this process of pursuing the legislation that Sawant identified a critical legal gap: New York Executive Law §296 does not explicitly name caste as a protected category, leaving millions of South Asian Americans — Dalits, Adivasis, and others from caste-oppressed communities — without explicit legal protection when they face discrimination.
What followed was nearly two years of persistent advocacy. Sawant met with Raga’s office every one to two months, building the legal and community case for the bill. The bill was formally introduced in March 2025.
S6531/A6920 would establish caste as a standalone protected category, ensuring that every New Yorker is protected from caste-based discrimination in employment, housing, and access to public accommodations.
As of May 2026, the bill has secured 10 State Senate co-sponsors and 20 State Assembly co-sponsors, with more than 45 memos or formal statements of support from organizations, bar associations, labor unions, and individuals across New York, the United States, and internationally.
Sawant’s advocacy on caste began years before this legislation. In 2018, she filed New York’s first caste discrimination charge with the EEOC. Her client was a Dalit Nepali asylum seeker working at an Indian restaurant in New York City. After his caste identity became known through his last name, he faced repeated harassment, exclusion, and derogatory remarks from co-workers and the manager. When he raised concerns, he was terminated. He remained unemployed for nine months after losing his job.
He filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. The Division’s own order stated:
The EEOC similarly affirmed the outcome.
This case is exactly why S6531/A6920 is needed. Caste discrimination affects immigrants and is a labor rights issue. This client’s experience — and the state’s own written admission that it had no legal authority to help him — became the evidentiary foundation of the bill. Sawant used that finding to help develop legislation aimed at closing that gap. Seven years later, that bill stands before the New York State Legislature with formal support from a United Nations Special Rapporteur.
Sawant is a New York licensed attorney whose practice serves immigrant communities.
On May 5, 2026, Sawant organized and led a coalition Advocacy Day at the New York State Capitol in Albany. More than 20 advocates — including survivors of caste discrimination, organizational representatives, and community members — met with legislators across both chambers to demand passage of the bill.
In a remarkable show of legislative momentum, three Assembly Members co-sponsored the bill on the spot during Advocacy Day:
• Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera
• Assemblymember Ron Kim
• Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson
Participating organizations included the Sikh Coalition, Sakhi for South Asian Women, SASI, Begampura Cultural Society of New York, and Hindus for Human Rights. Activists from the Dalit community — including writer Yashica Dutt and advocate Shalini Jatav — joined as individual contributors.
The following organizations were unable to attend Lobby Day but continue to actively support the campaign: Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Project Hajra, and Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM). These organizations have helped advance the bill through community education, legislative advocacy, survivor-centered organizing, legal support, and public outreach.
Among the most powerful voices at Lobby Day was Punyawati Ramtel, a Nepali immigrant who traveled to Albany to share her personal experience of caste discrimination in New York City — the very discrimination that S6531/A6920 is designed to address.
Ramtel arrived in New York in 2017 with hopes of building a new life. Her first experience of caste discrimination came almost immediately. She was asked to vacate her room by a family from the Newar community in Kathmandu. Though they cited the arrival of relatives as their reason, the real cause was her caste identity. She was being turned away from her home because of who she was born as.
When she and a friend sought new housing, they found a landlord, agreed on terms, paid an advance deposit, and confirmed a move-in date. One week later, they received a phone call: the room was no longer available. The landlord’s parents had arrived from Nepal and refused to live in the same house as someone of her caste. The deposit, the agreement, the planning — all of it undone by caste.
The pattern continued into the workplace. When Ramtel interviewed for a domestic worker position with an Indian family, the family was impressed with her experience and skills — until she disclosed her caste identity. Their attitude changed immediately. She was not selected for the job. Not because of her qualifications. Not because of her character. Only because of her caste.
Ramtel’s testimony at Albany gave legislators a direct account of what caste discrimination looks like in New York today — in apartments, in kitchens, in job interviews. It is precisely the gap in law that S6531/A6920 would close.
The coalition distributed informational booklets to nearly every legislator in the Capitol. Filmmaker Angad Singh documented the day on film.
Voices of Support: Legislators
“There is no place for unjust discrimination in New York or anywhere else. This is why I am the Senate chief sponsor of S6531. The bill makes it clear that a person cannot be discriminated against based on caste regarding employment, housing, and access to public accommodations. Equality under the law is the foundation of a democracy.”
— Senator James Sanders Jr., Prime Sponsor, S6531
The bill has received memos of support from more than 45 organizations including civil rights groups, bar associations, labor unions, Ambedkarite organizations, faith communities, legal scholars, and attorneys across New York, the United States, and internationally — representing a broad and growing movement for caste equity.
Queens, New York is home to one of the largest South Asian Dalit diaspora populations in the United States and a center of Ambedkarite organizing, cultural life, and community resilience. Begampura Cultural Society of New York, based in Queens, has been a foundational pillar of this legislative campaign, representing thousands of caste-oppressed New Yorkers who stand behind S6531/A6920.
“We traveled to Albany on May 5 because our community deserves to be seen and protected. Begampura Cultural Society represents thousands of caste-oppressed New Yorkers. This bill is a recognition that our experiences are real and that New York will not look away, not just for our community, but for everyone.”
— Mr. Rajkumar, President, Begampura Cultural Society of New York
During Dalit History Month, on April 13, 2026, lawmakers, caste-impacted individuals, and community advocates gathered at Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights, Queens to announce S6531/A6920 and call for its passage. The press conference was hosted by the office of Assemblymember Steven Raga and featured testimonies of discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations, alongside statements of support from civil rights organizations, faith communities, and community leaders.
Voices of Legislators at Jackson Heights
“No one in New York should face discrimination, exclusion, or humiliation because of caste. From our neighbors in Queens to communities across the state, people are facing discrimination in housing, in the workplace, and in public life without clear protection under the law. That is why we are helping lead this fight, bringing together a broad coalition, and pushing this bill forward in Albany. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and equal protection under the law. New York should lead on civil rights, and we will keep fighting until caste discrimination is explicitly banned in our state.”
— Assemblymember Steven Raga, Prime Sponsor, A6920
Pinder Paul, Chairman of the Begampura Cultural Society of New York, grounded the bill in the vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the lived reality of caste-oppressed communities across generations:
“Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, our leader, predicted more than 100 years ago that caste would cross borders and become a global problem. We faced caste discrimination in India because we belonged to lower castes, such as Chamar and Valmiki, and when we came to other countries, we continued to face the same discrimination. Many people are victims of caste discrimination, but they do not come forward because they often do not know how to proceed. If people are protected from discrimination based on race, then they should also be protected from discrimination based on caste.”
— Pinder Paul, Chairman, Begampura Cultural Society of New York
On May 4, 2026, Ashwini K.P. — the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism and the first Dalit and Asian person ever appointed to this role — issued a formal communication to the United States government calling on the New York State Legislature to pass S6531/A6920. Her letter cited the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the UN Committee’s General Recommendation No. 29, which affirms that caste-based discrimination falls under international protections against racial discrimination.
The letter was addressed to Senate Rules Committee Chair Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senate Committee Chair Senator James Skoufis, Assembly Committee Chair Assemblymember John T. McDonald III, and all members of both chambers — reminding them of their binding obligations under international human rights law.
Caste discrimination does not stay behind when communities migrate. Research documents that Dalits in the United States face discrimination in workplaces, housing, and public life — yet until now, no state law in New York has explicitly named caste as a protected category. S6531/A6920 would close that gap.
If passed, New York would lead the nation in providing explicit state-level caste protections, joining a growing movement of cities, universities, and corporations that have already adopted anti-caste policies.
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