California is poised to become the first state to outlaw discrimination based on a person’s caste. The system of social stratification, which dates back thousands of years, has been outlawed in India and Nepal for decades.Amy Qin, a correspondent who covers Asian American communities for The Times, explains why so many believe a prejudice that originated on the other side of the globe now requires legal protection in the U.S. — and why so many are equally convinced that it would be a bad idea.Guest: Amy Qin, a national correspondent covering Asian American communities for The New York Times.Background reading:
- The bill, recently passed by the California State Legislature, has led to intense debate among South Asian immigrants.
- Meena Kotwal, a Dalit journalist, started a news outlet focused on marginalized groups in India, hoping that telling their stories would help improve their lives.
For more information on today’s episode, visit
nytimes.com/thedaily Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at
nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here
https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See
pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
“Educational Disclaimer: This episode is presented as part of an independent archival project dedicated to media literacy and the preservation of modern journalism. The content is curated for academic reference, linguistic study, and socio-economic research purposes. All original rights belong to the respective content creators. Our mission is to provide high-fidelity accessibility and full AI-generated transcripts for students of global discourse and international relations in the 2026 digital era"