Delegate Session   Pradeep Kumar, Patna Untouchability, caste-system and hierarchical discrimination have taken roots in the subconscious of the India psyche. We are the sinners who have misused God, religion, myths and scriptures to make this happen. Gandhi's saying that " Untouchability is a sin" Swami Vivekananda's describing it as " lunatic" and Dr. Ambedkar's statement" I shall not die as Hindu when Untouchability exists"- none of these seem to shock us. The biggest problem of our society is that since we have made discrimination itself a value, untouchability appears" natural" to us and therefore does not seem to be a problem of discrimination. Amarjit Singh, Punjab The actual slogan is Caste is Race and Worse. But what is actually being talked about is the discriminatory nature of the caste society. Caste Apartheid and untouchability is the best kept "open" secret in the world. Many years ago when the international community framed the preamble on race and discrimination, caste of course was not an issue in the international arena. Untouchables were not in a position to demand its inclusion. They are now. Ambedkar answered long time ago that the Hindu society was incapable of producing a Voltaire. Caste, it is claimed is being pushed into the political arena. But by claiming that caste and race are two different things (they are as every student of sociology knows - but casteism is akin to racism - and this is what is being denied by implication) the Indian anthropologists have voluntarily jumped into the political arena. Chandrabhan Prasad, New Delhi Untouchability may be outlawed on paper but the practice of social exclusion carries on in many forms. Today, about two-thirds of the untouchable population is illiterate and about half are landless agricultural laborers. Only 7 percent have access to safe drinking water, electricity and toilets. While the Indian government acknowledges the problems, it insists they are not racial. The government wants to avoid the international visibility that the Durban conference would give to the caste issue. At one of the preparatory meetings for the conference, an Indian diplomat unofficially pleaded with the untouchable coalition not to wash India's "dirty linen in public." But the pro-untouchable lobbyists would like to avoid "technical hairsplitting" and insist that caste discrimination in India urgently needs international attention. Martin Macwan, Gujarat Caste is India's hidden apartheid. "It concerns 160 million people in India who face a daily dose of discrimination and exploitation. It is worse than the one against Jews in the Nazi era or the black slavery," untouchable activists acknowledge that a victory at the U.N. conference would mean more in symbolism than in substance. It may not end deprivation and discrimination, but they hope that such a move would bring India under direct U.N. scrutiny. P. Arooran, Hyderabad Urban caste Hindus claim that they are not casteist. But they flaunt their caste marks on themselves, caste tails in their names; marry in the same caste despite their education; their food habits are caste-based; they would not rent a house to a Untouchable. Caste overdetermines the entire identity of a person. No wonder caste Hindus are terrified that, to quote Kannabiran again, ``the conduct of upper castes is to be made an international issue''.