*Dalit cook 'spoils' meal for kids* Students of Government Primary School at Brahmin-dominated pipri village in Rohtas district have been going without their mid-day meal for the last two months. Reason: School committee secretary and his henchmen have damaged the hearth and taken away utensils to prevent a Dalit woman appointed as cook from preparing mid-day meals for the school children.
"They rear that if touched by a Dalit, the hearth and the utensils would turn impure," rued a Dalit woman. This is not all. The secretary has withdrawn the fund meant for construction of a lavatory, for he fears that once completed, Dalit students would start using it. The Dalit cook was appointed by the Mahila Samakhya Society set up to implement the mid-day meal scheme under the Bihar Education Project. In May this year, the Society had constituted a five-woman committee, four of the Dalits, to oversee the mid-day meal scheme for 87 students, including 39 Dalits. The committee recruited Lali Devi a Dalit, to lift ration from the block headquarters and cook the meal. The hearth was damaged twice because Lali Devi had touched it. She was dragged out of the school kitchen, her husband assaulted publicly and threatened with dire consequences if she dared to enter the campus again. Written complaints to the authorities, right from the local police to senior district officers, have failed to get any response. School headmaster Raj Mani Pandey has taken log leave to escape an embarrassing situation. This is the second instance in the district in which a Dalit women-cook has been boycotted by students, teachers and school committees. Source: The Hindustan Times, 11th August 2007 PK Pradhan STATE WATCH Team, Ranchi email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.swatchindia.blogspot.com -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
