Police inspector dismissed for tardy inquiries into TN dalit youth’s suicide
CUDDALORE: Sethiathope police inspector P Jaishankar has been dismissed from service for tardy investigation into the suicide of a dalit youth when he served as Kadar inspector in charge in Villupuram district in 2022. DIG (Villupuram range) A Arularasu passed an order in this regard on Monday. Police said a quarrel erupted between two groups from different communities over a petty issue in Soorapattu village under Kadar police station limits on Dec 21, 2022. Jaishankar registered cases against the members of the two communities involved in the clash following complaints and counter-complaints. Two days later, M Raja, a dalit, who was also booked, died by suicide. The Kadar police arrested two members of the vanniyar community on charges of forcing the dalit youth to die by suicide. However, investigating officer Jaishankar failed to probe the case in an effective and efficient manner, following which he was suspended. A few months later, his suspension was revoked. He was transferred to Sethiathope police station in Cuddalore district. The committee, which was inquiring into the charges against the inspector, submitted the final report to the DIG (Villupuram range). Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
20,000 acres of land allotted to Dalits, OBCs, tribals in Gujarat not handed over yet: Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani
Gandhinagar: State Congress working president and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani said in the assembly on Tuesday that 20,000 acres of land allotted to Dalits, OBCs and tribals was not yet handed over to them in the state. Speaking during a discussion on the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, Mevani said that in Surendranagar district, Dalit farm labourers wrote to authorities for 15 years about encroachments on their 7,500 acres of land, yet no action was taken. “I raised this issue multiple times over the past eight years in the assembly. The govt must commit to resolving this issue. If we can allocate land to large corporate entities, why is the state not handing over land for cultivation? The state revenue department must act to remove illegal encroachments and ensure justice for the marginalised,” he said. During past assembly sessions too, Mevani had asked the govt to register offences in cases where Dalits have been allotted land parcels under Gujarat Agriculture Land Ceiling Act, but the same remained illegally encroached upon by non-Dalits. He demanded that preventive measures should be taken by the police to ensure that the land allottees do not suffer loss of life or property in case they go on their own to take possession of the illegally encroached land. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
SP MLA flags policy on nod for Dalit events
Lucknow: A heated exchange took place in the UP Assembly after Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Jasrana, Sachin Yadav, questioned the state govt’s policy regarding permissions for religious events, jayantis, and processions primarily related to Dalit ideologues. Raising the issue during Question Hour, Yadav asked whether the govt would consider formulating a “simple and safe policy” to address alleged administrative irregularities in religious programmes and shobha yatras carried out by Dalit communities. He sought to know if govt would remove condition of “presence in conventional police register” and allow “every section” of society to observe jayantis and carry out processions of their leaders without discrimination. Yadav asked govt if process for obtaining permission would be simplified and whether approvals for village-level processions could be granted locally. Responding to the query, state parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna squarely rejected allegations of discrimination levelled by the SP legislator. Courtesy : TOI
Rape of Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh: Man sentenced to life imprisonment
Ballia (UP): A local court in Ballia on Tuesday convicted the accused in a year-old case of raping a Dalit girl and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) provided this information. PPO Officer Vimal Kumar Rai stated on Wednesday that in February 2025, Manjeet Gupta, alias Neeraj Gupta, of Pur village, lured a 14-year-old Dalit girl from a village in the Pakadi police station area and raped her for approximately three months. The girl’s family learned of the incident only after she became pregnant. He stated that a case was registered against Gupta at the Pakadi police station on February 26, 2025, based on a complaint from the girl’s mother. After an investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against the accused in court. Rai stated that the court of Additional Sessions Judge First Kant, hearing the case on Tuesday, convicted the accused, sentenced him to life imprisonment, and also imposed a fine of ₹75,000. Salim Surabhi This story was auto-fed from Bhasha news agency. ThePrint is not responsible for its content. Courtesy: Hindi News
Can’t a Dalit fly? Bihar IAS officer’s charter flight for family sparks row
A chartered flight from Delhi to Patna taken by a Bihar-cadre IAS officer and his family has triggered a political storm over privilege and propriety. After a Congress MLA raised questions over who paid for the trip, a BJP minister invoked the officer’s Dalit identity to defend him. He turned the row into a slugfest charged with caste. A senior Bihar-cadre IAS officer is at the centre of a political controversy. The Opposition in Bihar questioned how a civil servant flew his family on a chartered flight. However, a debate that should have centred around accountability and use of public money sank into the swamp of caste politics. The Opposition—the RJD and the Congress—questioned how the IAS officer, Nilesh Ramchandra Deore, could afford a chartered flight and who paid for it. Deore took the chartered flight with his family from Delhi to Patna last year. The JDU-BJP-led Bihar government said that the plane was already returning to Patna, and he only made the best use of it. However, the controversy took a turn when Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary used Deore’s Dalit identity to hit back at the Opposition. He wielded the convenient weapon of caste, and asked whether the officer had no right to fly because he was a Dalit. Here’s all that has happened so far. WHAT TRIGGERED ROW OVER IAS OFFICER’S CHARTERED FLIGHT IN BIHAR The controversy began in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on Monday. RJD MLA Rahul Sharma flagged that Nilesh Ramchandra Deore had travelled by a chartered plane with his family from New Delhi to Patna in June 2025, reported Bihar Tak, India Today Digital’s sister portal. Sharma questioned how an IAS officer could afford such a flight. He asked how Deore managed to take a chartered plane, which is costly. “On June 5, 2025, a chartered King Air Falcon 2000 flew from Delhi to Patna. It did not park at the regular civilian airport but reportedly went to a flying institute, raising questions. A Bihar government officer was on board with his family, four people in total. Was permission taken or not? I do not think the Bihar government can officially extend such a facility. If someone else paid, why did they pay? What did they receive in return?” Sharma, an MLA representing Jahanabad’s Ghosi seat, asked. “His entire tenure should be audited to establish the facts. People do not pat for a tempo ride, but he was given access to a private aircraft. There appears to be a nexus of corruption operating in Bihar, and this must be thoroughly investigated. There appears to be a nexus of corruption operating in Bihar, and this must be thoroughly investigated. The government’s silence is telling and only deepens suspicion. Bihar is a poor state, and allegations of corruption are both serious and deeply concerning. We only want to know how an IAS officer can afford a journey by a chartered plane,” Congress MLA Sharma told News4Nation, a local YouTube channel. The allegation quickly snowballed. The Congress MLA’s focus was not only on the flight. It was also over the (mis)use of privilege, propriety and public money. Deore, who is a Secretary with both the Tourism and Civil Aviation departments of the Bihar government, is a native of Maharashtra. WHAT BIHAR GOVERNMENT MINISTER SAID ABOUT THE FLIGHT AND WAS IT AN OFFICIAL TRIP? The Bihar government moved to clarify on the matter. Bihar Rural Works Minister Ashok Choudhary responded in the Assembly. “Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Civil Aviation Secretary Nilesh Deore and I were on an official trip from Patna to Delhi last July. The plane had to return to Patna anyway. Deore and his family boarded the plane on its return journey,” Choudhary said in a video. Though the flight was reportedly in June, the minister said it was in July. The month, however, is incidental to the entire saga as of now. Choudhary also sharpened the political tone. He asked if Deore had no right to fly because he was a Dalit. “Do Dalits and backward communities not have the right to board an aircraft? What sin has been committed here? And what is the background of those raising these questions?” Choudhary asked. The BJP leader’s explanation suggested that the aircraft was already scheduled to return. The implication was that there was no additional burden on the exchequer because of the flight. “He is an officer with a service record. He worked extensively in the education sector in Banka and Bettiah. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appreciated his work and later gave him a role in the Civil Aviation Department. Supporters argue it is not a big deal as the flight was, anyway, returning empty. They say questions are being raised without homework and ask why Nilesh Deore is being targeted. Some also point out that during his stint in the health department he took stern action against 25 people, and wonder whether that has anything to do with the controversy now,” Choudhary said while speaking to journalists. Choudhary’s remark shifted the debate to caste. It was no longer just about a flight, professional conduct or accountability. It became a matter of caste and entitlement. IS IAS OFFICER’S CHARTER FLIGHT ABOUT CASTE OR ABOUT USE OF PUBLIC MONEY? The Congress pushed back against the BJP leader’s response, saying the issue was not about caste but about transparency and accountability. “Rather than the government or the officer in question putting the record straight, Choudhary has been trying to play the Dalit card. We only want the government to tell us if the officer was charged a fare for his travel or if the journey was at the expense of the poor,” Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari was quoted as saying by The Indian Express newspaper. The Opposition’s central question has been simple. Was any fare paid? If yes, how much? If not, why not? The JDU-BJP government has so far only clarified the circumstances of the return flight. It has not publicly detailed whether Deore paid
Dalit activists demand Karnataka release and implement Rohith Vemula Bill in budget session
Dalit groups, academics and students warned of protests if the Congress government delays the draft of the Rohith Vemula Act, seeking safeguards against caste discrimination in educational institutions. BENGALURU: Even as the Congress government in Karnataka has delayed releasing the draft of the Rohith Vemula Bill, Dalit activists, academics, and students have demanded that it be made public and implemented in educational institutions during the upcoming budget session. Activists have warned of massive protests if the government fails to act. The “Campaign for Rohith Vemula Act,” active for the past two years, has prepared a “People’s Draft” aimed at providing equal educational opportunities for SC/ST students and eliminating caste discrimination in institutions. This draft has already been submitted to the state government during previous meetings. Condemning the delay, Mavalli Shankar, State Convener of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Vaada), said, “The state government has already promised to implement the Rohith Act. It is regrettable that the draft has not yet been made public or discussed in the Assembly. This Act is essential to ensure equal opportunities in higher education for Dalit and Adivasi students. The Congress party, which swears by the Constitution, must take concrete steps to realise the values of the preamble. Enacting the Rohith Vemula Act would mark a historic step toward ensuring dignity, equality, and justice in Karnataka’s universities and colleges.” Ashna Singh, Assistant Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, who conducted research for the draft, said, “To break the caste hierarchy, reservation in government jobs was first implemented during the reign of the Mysore Wodeyars. Karnataka has a history of protecting Dalits, Adivasis, and Bahujans through special laws such as PTCL, KTPP, the abolition of the Devadasi system, and anti-social boycott laws. In this same spirit, implementing the Rohith Act is a necessity.” Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Odisha caste row ends; children return to anganwadi centre, consume food cooked by Dalit employee
“I hope caste discrimination will not lurk its ugly head in the village anymore,” Sharmistha Sethy, the woman anganwadi employee said A three-month-long caste row at an anganwadi centre in a village in Odisha’s Kendrapara district ended on Monday (February 16, 2026) as children from upper caste families returned to the facility and consumed food cooked by a Dalit woman helper. Of the 20 children on the roll, 16 came to the anganwadi centre in Nuagaon village under Ghalimala gram panchayat with their parents and ate the food cooked by the helper, with the absentees reporting ill. Villagers in Odisha boycott anganwadi over appointment of Dalit employee The anganwadi centre remained shut since November 21 last year, following the appointment of Sharmistha Sethy, a Dalit woman, as a helper, with several upper caste families refusing to send their wards to the facility or even accept nutritious food items supplied by the government for pregnant women and lactating mothers. The caste row triggered nationwide outrage, and the matter was even raised in Parliament, with Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, voicing concern over caste discrimination in the workplace. On Monday (February 16, 2026), Kendrapara Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) Dipali Mishra and Rajnagar MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo were present at the anganwadi centre to welcome the children. Anganwadi employee on caste discrimination “I served ragi ladoos to the children. Later, I cooked rice and ‘dalma’ (vegetable curry) and served the children. Seeing them eat the meals made me overjoyed. They also played with toys, bringing back life to the centre, which was left deserted for around three months,” Ms. Sethy said. Caste row over Dalit woman’s engagement at anganwadi centre in Odisha resolved, says official “I hope caste discrimination will not lurk its ugly head in the village anymore,” she added. CDPO Mishra said the children, flanked by their guardians, had joyous moments at the centre. “The centre functioned sans the children for almost three months due to some villagers’ disagreement over the appointment of Sharmistha Sethy as the anganwadi centre helper. Now, the vibrancy is back,” Ms. Mishra said. On the absentees, the CDPO said they could not join as they are not well. “We hope the absentee children will come to the centre on Tuesday as the dispute has been resolved. People have decided to relegate the differences to the background. This is heartening,” she added. Rajnagar MLA Dhurba Charan Sahoo said, “The issue is now a thing of the past. I hope the camaraderie among the villagers will remain intact.” Taking to X, Kendrapara MP and BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda said, “Delighted at children having a nutritious meal today at the Nuagaon anganwadi which I had reviewed yesterday and had a wonderful lunch along with local leaders and villagers. It was heartening to see the community coming together to ensure great beginnings for their children.” Mr. Panda and other villagers joined a feast where Ms. Sethy served food to the guests on Sunday. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) member Sujata Nayak hailed the children’s return to the centre and said the commission will launch an awareness drive aimed at safeguarding the rights of the children. Kendrapara district sub-collector Arun Nayak had earlier said the matter was resolved in the presence of stakeholders, including members of the SCPCR and Odisha State Commission for Women, as the officials sensitised villagers on the matter. Courtesy : The Hindu Note: This news is originally published on https:/thehindu.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Save child nutrition from caste prejudice
The shocking episode of villagers in Odisha boycotting a Dalit cook appears too commonplace, with such discrimination dotting the social landscape—from ostracisation in villages to discrimination in elite educational institution campuses; from workplaces to reservations in jobs In Nuagaon village of Odisha’s Kendrapara district, Sarmista Sethi’s forlorn figure at the anganwadi centre, ready to cook a meal but with no child willing to eat it, will remain a lasting image of the deeply entrenched caste prejudice prevalent in India. For about three months, the 23-year-old Dalit woman waited for students to turn up, but barring a couple, the rest from upper-caste families gave the classes a miss. The social boycott began when she was appointed cook in November last year. Villagers protested, notwithstanding her merit, and asked her not to cook. When she stuck to her ground, the village committee instructed families to stop sending their children. Her pleadings fell on deaf ears as pregnant and lactating women also did not show up. The matter caught the attention of the media and even Parliament, but the villagers initially did not budge. It all appears too commonplace, with such discrimination dotting the social landscape—from ostracisation in villages to discrimination in elite educational institution campuses; from workplaces to reservations in jobs. Even Constitutional guarantees have not made much cut. So deep-rooted is the caste hierarchy that it has left in its trail violence, oppression and economic deprivation. Turn a newspaper page or switch on a TV channel, and one story or the other pops up. In Uttarakhand, a similar episode took place and even ended in reverse ostracisation by the Dalit community. Notwithstanding this history of discrimination, affirmative action has helped. In Kendrapara, the district administration and the Odisha State Commission for Women ended Sethi’s ordeal through awareness camps and street plays. Residents were reminded that their discriminatory approach had brought the village a bad name. Kendrapara MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda shared a meal cooked by her as a gesture. However, the administration’s subtle yet stern stance on legal action eventually resolved the issue. The incident demonstrates how caste can impede access to nutrition for disadvantaged children. The anganwadi exists to feed and support those who need it most. When parents refuse meals because a Dalit woman cooks them, children lose first. Social rigidity undermines efforts to deliver free nutrition and expand public employment for women from disadvantaged communities. Caste-based prejudice remains a blot on India’s socio-economic progress and must be fought with strong administrative action and wider conversation. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Odisha’s Nuagaon Anganwadi dispute ends as children return, Dalit helper welcomed
A three‑month-long caste dispute that paralysed an Anganwadi centre in Nuagaon village of Odisha’s Kendrapara district has been resolved, as children returned to the facility and parents agreed to accept food prepared by a Dalit helper, restoring normal operations to the rural childcare and nutrition centre. Nuagaon, located under Ghalimala gram panchayat in Rajnagar block , is a small riverside village with roughly 450 residents . The population is predominantly upper caste, with only a handful of Dalit families—about seven households. The community depends largely on agriculture, and traditional social hierarchies have historically influenced access to public services and communal life. The village anganwadi serves about 20 children , providing early education, supplementary nutrition, and support to pregnant and lactating women under India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. The centre had remained non-functional since November 21 last year after 23-year-old Sharmistha Sethy , a Scheduled Caste graduate, was appointed as a helper-cum-cook. Several upper caste families refused to send their children or accept government-supplied nutrition for mothers, leaving the centre deserted and disrupting services for the community’s most vulnerable members. The standoff drew national attention, with Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge , raising the issue in Parliament. He said, “In the 21st century, when we talk about social development, social reform, and the unity of Hindus, people of a particular community are refusing to let their children eat food cooked by a Dalit woman… That Anganwadi centre has been boycotted for the last three months.” His statement highlighted persistent caste-based discrimination in public welfare delivery. To resolve the deadlock, the district administration , Odisha State Commission for Women, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) , and local leaders engaged with the community. Officials including sub-collector Arun Nayak , CDPO Dipali Mishra , and member of the State Women Commission Kalpana Mallick held multiple rounds of door-to-door outreach and community meetings. Cultural initiatives, including pala (folk) performances and street plays , were organised to sensitise villagers about equality, inclusion, and the harmful impact of discrimination on children’s health, education, and development. A breakthrough came when over 150 residents attended a key meeting on Saturday , where they took a pledge to send children back to the centre from Monday and ensure its smooth functioning. The villagers also participated in a community meal , where Sethy served food to parents and local leaders, signalling reconciliation. On Monday, 16 of the 20 enrolled children returned with their parents and consumed meals prepared by Sethy, while four were absent due to illness. CDPO Mishra and Rajnagar MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo were present to welcome the children. Officials had previously visited households to reassure families and emphasise the importance of uninterrupted services. Expressing relief, Sethy said she was overjoyed to see children back at the centre and play freely after nearly three months of closure. She hoped the dispute would not recur and that the centre would continue serving the community effectively. Kendrapara MP and BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda , a member of the Brahmin community, visited the village on Sunday, shared a meal prepared at the Anganwadi, and lauded the community and administration for coming together to prioritise children’s welfare. Members of the State Women Commission reiterated that constitutional guarantees of equality and the abolition of caste-based discrimination must be upheld in public services. Officials stated they will continue monitoring the centre to ensure regular attendance and proper functioning. Villagers expressed hope that the dispute is permanently behind them, and authorities plan to improve the anganwadi’s infrastructure to better serve children and mothers in the future. Yekkirala Akshitha Courtesy : The Morning Voice Note: This news is originally published on https:/themorningvoice.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
AI knows how caste works in India. Here’s why that’s a worry
When Usha Bansal and Pinki Ahirwar — two names that exist only in a research prompt — were presented to GPT-4 alongside a list of professions, the AI didn’t hesitate. “Scientist, dentist, and financial analyst” went to Bansal. “Manual scavenger, plumber, and construction worker” were assigned to Ahirwar. The model had no information about these “individuals” beyond the names. But it didn’t need any. In India, surnames carry invisible annotations: markers of caste, community, and social hierarchy. Bansal signals Brahmin heritage. Ahirwar signals Dalit identity. And GPT-4, like the society whose data trained it, had learned what the difference implies. This was not an isolated error. Across thousands of prompts, multiple AI language models, and several research studies, the pattern held. The systems had internalised social order, learning which names cluster near prestige and which get swept towards stigma. Sociologists TOI spoke with were unsurprised. Anup Lal, associate professor (sociology and industrial relations), St Joseph’s University, Bengaluru, said: “Caste in India has a way of sticking on. Even when Indians convert to religions with no caste in their foundation, the caste identities continue. I am not surprised that AI models are biased.” Another sociologist added: “If anything, isn’t AI being accurate? It is, after all, learning from us.” Far-reaching implications The need for bias-free AI becomes critical as AI systems move into hiring, credit scoring, education, governance, and healthcare. The research shows bias is not only about harmful text generation, but about how systems internalise and organise social knowledge. A hiring tool may not explicitly reject lower-caste applicants. But if its embeddings associate certain surnames with lower competence or status, that association could subtly influence ranking, recommendations, or risk assessments. Beyond surface-level bias The bias was not merely in what models said. Often, surface-level safeguards prevented overtly discriminatory outputs. The deeper issue lay in how they organised human identity within the mathematical structures that generate responses. Multiple research teams have documented that large language models (LLMs) encode caste and religious hierarchies at a structural level, positioning some social groups closer to terms associated with education, affluence, and prestige, while aligning others with attributes that attach to poverty or stigma. “Although algorithmic fairness and bias mitigation have gained prominence, caste-based bias in LLMs remains significantly underexamined,” argue researchers from IBM Research, Dartmouth College, and other institutions in their paper, ‘DECASTE: Unveiling Caste Stereotypes in Large Language Models through Multi-Dimensional Bias Analysis’. “If left unchecked, caste-related biases could perpetuate or escalate discrimination in subtle and overt forms.” Most bias studies evaluate outputs. These researchers examined what happens under the bonnet, as it were. LLMs convert words into numerical vectors within a high-dimensional “embedding space”. The distance between vectors reflects how closely concepts are associated. If certain identities consistently lie closer to low-status attributes, structural bias exists, even if explicitly harmful text is filtered. The DECASTE study used two approaches: In a Stereotypical Word Association Task (SWAT), researchers asked GPT-4 and other models to assign occupation-related words to individuals identified only by Indian surnames. The results were stark. Beyond occupations, the bias extended to appearance and education. Positive descriptors such as “light-skinned,” “sophisticated,” and “fashionable” aligned with dominant caste names. Negative ones like “darkskinned,” “shabby,” and “sweaty” clustered with marginalised castes. “IIT, IIM, and med school” were linked to Brahmin names; “govt school, anganwadi, and remedial classes” to Dalit names. In a Persona-based Scenario Answering Task (PSAT), models were asked to generate personas and assign tasks. In one example, two architects, one Dalit, one Brahmin, were described identically except for caste background. GPT-4o assigned “designing innovative, eco-friendly buildings” to the Brahmin persona and “cleaning and organising design blueprints” to the Dalit persona. Across nine LLMs tested, including GPT-4o, GPT-3.5, LLaMA variants, and Mixtral, bias scores ranged from 0.62 to 0.74 when comparing dominant castes with Dalits and Shudras, indicating consistent stereotype reinforcement. Winner-takes-all effect A parallel study, that included researchers from the University of Michigan and Microsoft Research India, examined bias through repeated story generation compared against Census data. Titled, ‘How Deep Is Representational Bias in LLMs? The Cases of Caste and Religion’, the study analysed 7,200 GPT-4 Turbo-generated stories about birth, wedding, and death rituals across four Indian states. The findings revealed what researchers describe as a “winner-takes-all” dynamic. In UP, where general castes comprise 20% of the population, GPT4 featured them in 76% of birth ritual stories. OBCs, despite being 50% of the population, appeared in only 19%. In Tamil Nadu, general castes were overrepresented nearly 11-fold in wedding stories. The model amplified marginal statistical dominance in its training data into overwhelming output dominance. Religious bias was even more pronounced. Across all four states, Hindu representation in baseline prompts ranged from 98% to 100%. In UP, where Muslims comprise 19% of the population, their representation in generated stories was under 1%. Even explicit diversity prompts failed to change this pattern in some cases. In Odisha, which has India’s largest tribal population, the model often defaulted to generic terms like ‘Tribal’ rather than naming specific communities, demonstrating what researchers called “cultural flattening”. Embedded in structure Both research teams tested whether prompt engineering could reduce bias. The results were inconsistent. Asking for “another” or “different” story sometimes reduced skew, but rarely corrected it proportionally. In Tamil Nadu birth stories, even explicit diversity prompts still overrepresented general castes by 22 percentage points. For religious representation in UP weddings, all prompt types produced 100% Hindu stories. The DECASTE study found similar limits. Some models avoided generating personas when caste names were explicit, but this avoidance did not reduce implicit bias — it simply sidestepped engagement. The core problem lies deeper. Bias exists at the representational level — in how models internally structure knowledge. Researchers found that uppercaste identifiers showed stronger similarity to high-status and education-linked attributes. Historically marginalised caste identifiers showed stronger similarity to economic hardship or lower-status occupations. These separations persisted even when context was tightly controlled. Safety fine-tuning reduced overtly harmful outputs but did not eliminate underlying structural disparities. “Filtering affects what