The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government urged to remove NGOs from Akshara Dasoha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 27, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government urged to remove NGOs from Akshara Dasoha

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Government should withdraw permission given to non-governmental organisations and religious trusts to implement its Akshara Dasoha scheme in schools. Instead, the Government should implement the midday meal scheme, speakers at a meeting on the meal scheme said.

Participating in a meeting on "The dangers of privatisation of Akshara Dasoha scheme" organised by the Karnataka State Akshara Dasoha Employees' Association here, legal expert Raviverma Kumar said it was the duty of the Government to implement, through its own agencies, schemes related to the fundamental rights. The midday scheme was a scheme that was part of the fundamental rights, he said.

He alleged that the NGOs implementing the midday meal scheme were trying to impose "caste" feelings among children by not using garlic and onion in the food served by them and also making it known that these seasonings were not being used. Influenced by this, some students had now come to believe that it was wrong to eat garlic and onion, he said.

The midday meal scheme was an effective tool to fight feelings of caste, as the concept of eating food together would help students understand that everybody is equal. This aim could be achieved only if the Government implemented the scheme, he said.

G.V. Srirama Reddy, CPI(M) MLA, also said the Government should implement the scheme.

The writer Baragur Ramachandrappa said the Government was shirking its responsibility by allowing NGOs to implement the midday meal scheme. He suggested that a federation of well-meaning organisations should be formed to oppose this and a signature campaign should also be launched. A delegation of eminent personalities should meet the Chief Minister to convince him about the need to distance NGOs from the scheme.

General secretary of the employees' association T. Leelavathi expressed concern that lakhs of women, especially Dalit women, working on contract under the scheme would be rendered jobless if the scheme was privatised.

Prejudice in hostels

Prof. Raviverma Kumar, who is a former chairman of the Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission, said students from a few backward communities were refusing to join hostels run by the Government for Other Backward Classes because the hostels had Dalit cooks. Similarly, students of some communities in these hostels were refusing to eat food cooked by Dalits.

He urged the Government to blacklist such communities and take steps to remove them from the list of backward communities.

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