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TAMIL NADU |
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“We don’t eat their food, it is not untouchability, just our custom”
Upper caste parents refuse to send children to school because two Dalit women cooked the mid-day meal
S Ramaswamy
Chennai
Displaying their ignorance and probably violating multiple laws including provisions under the SC/ST act and the Right to Education Act, a group of parents have decided to keep their children out of school than let them be fed the mid-day meal by a Dalit.
The bizarre decision was taken last week by a group belonging to the Kambalathu Naicker community in Kammapatti village about 300 km from Chennai. The group which included parents, prevented 50 children from attending classes at the Srivilliputtur Panchayat Union Elementary School. According to them, they are “protesting” the employment of two Dalit women, as cook and helper respectively, at the mid-day meal centre of the school. The two women, Maragadavalli and Veeralakshmi were posted to the school after the recent recruitment drive conducted by the panchayat. They were employed as they fulfilled various criteria, set up by the panchayat. The women reported to the school in the afternoon to prepare the mid-day meal provided to the students. Word quickly spread in the village that Dalit women were cooking the food meant for “upper caste” children.
Parents refused to send their children for the lunch and kept them at home the next day onwards. According to the community leaders this does not amount to caste discrimination at all. “We are not against any particular caste. We maintain a cordial relationship with the Scheduled Caste people. But, it is our practice that our people, especially girls and women, do not eat food cooked by people belonging to any other community,” said B Sanjeevi, a ward member of the Kammapatti Panchayat. The women and girls from the community, if they had to go out of the village, would come back in the evening itself and would not take food outside, he said. The village is predominantly populated by Kambalathu Naickers, followed by Dalits and a small number of Maravars, another most backward community.
A team of officials from the Education Department, led by the District Elementary Educational Officer, Senthivelmurugan, and Assistant Elementary Educational Officer, Muthuramalingam, has held talks with the parents. However, the situation remains unchanged. “The officials said the issue should be settled by the Block Development Officer,” said Sanjeevi, who is also the Village Education Committee chairperson. Official sources said that following a similar protest in 2007, mid-day meal employees posted to this school were transferred.
District Revenue Officer, R Raju, who holds additional charge as District Collector, said the BDO had proposed to transfer the employees this time as well. He too said the parents were acting according to tradition and not practicing untouchability. “This is a peculiar habit of this community, we cannot treat this as a practice of untouchability,” he said. According to him posting people belonging to the Kambalathu Naicker community will be considered when the next round of recruitment takes place.
According to Dalit leader CK Tailarasan, MLA and Republican Party general secretary, the villagers are quoting tradition to escape the wrath of the civil rights groups. “This only the tip of the iceberg, in southern parts of Tamil Nadu, tea shop owners keep separate sets of tumblers, one for the upper caste and another for Dalits,” he said. State Harijan welfare minister C Subramnaiam was not available to comment.
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