The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Dalit students at receiving end

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Saturday, Jun 30, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Dalit students at receiving end

Staff Reporter

Sangareddy: Parents of some schoolchildren belonging to upper castes still stop them from having the midday meal cooked by Dalit women in Medak district. The practice of boycotting the mid-day meal by schoolchildren has been noticed in more than 15 villages in the district. These villages include Giripalli of Gajwel mandal, Tirumalapuram of Doultabad mandal and Yelgoi of Zaheerabad mandal.

Considering the case of Giripalli where children belonging to upper castes have been abstaining from the mid-day meal from the past two years, Medak District Collector B.Venkatesam has ordered the Revenue Divisional Officer concerned to cancel all the benefits to the particular school, including the mid-day meal facility for practising untouchability. The Collector further directed the officers to restart the mid-day meal scheme with Dalit cooks. The Collector in an announcement also asked the parents to realize that it’s the cleanliness that counts but the not the caste of the person who cooks the food.

The Kulavivaksha Vyatireka Porata Sangham district secretary K.Rajaiah told The Hindu that the study carried out by the Sangham in April had revealed that the parents who obstruct their children from having a meal at the school had not been taken to task by the officers. He said that no cases were booked against them for practising ‘apartheid.’

He opined that few cases would instil fear in the people who still practice untouchability. Medak Superintendent of Police R.B.Nayak said that so far 110 cases booked under the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act had been solved. He said that 21 cases had been booked during the first two quarters of the current year.

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