Over the week Tamil Nadu has been making national headlines for the controversial remarks by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, Uadayanidhi Stalin against Sanatan Dharma. The same state is now under the radar for a very casteist act. Notably, students of Karur district refused to eat food provided under the state’s breakfast scheme as it was cooked by a Dalit woman. As many as 15 students did not avail the free breakfast scheme as it was cooked by a Dalit woman.
The incident took place at Panchayat Union Primary School in Velan Chettiar village near Aravakurichi in Karur district of the state. Karur District Collector Prabhushankar visited the school on September 5, 2023, regarding this, but the parents said that they are ready to withdraw their children from the school if the school insists.
Ultimately, he had to warn the parents. He spoke to the parents and warned them of the consequences if they continued to discriminate against government-appointed cooks. Strict action can be taken against them, including registering a case against them under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Students from the backward class have problems with the cook
The Panchayat Union Primary School in Velan Chettiar village has 30 students. The parents of 15 of these students forbade them to have breakfast in school. According to officials, some parents belonging to backward caste and most backward caste communities refused to send their children to the school. They stopped their children from eating the breakfast provided by the government.
The parents took this decision only because the food was cooked by a Dalit woman cook appointed by the government in the school. Collector Prabhushankar T Gunalan reached the school after the incident of caste-based discrimination against a cook belonging to the Dalit community came to light. After his visit, the students had breakfast prepared by the Dalit cook showing solidarity. Actually, the female cook is from the Arunthathiyar community. This community is classified as a Scheduled Caste in the state.
What said the DM?
On September 5, Prabhushankar, along with Chief Educational Officer L Sumathi, Revenue Divisional Officer F Rubeena and other senior officials, made a surprise visit to the school.
“We cannot find any fault with the food. The parents do not want their children to eat that food just because it was prepared by a woman from another community. We wanted to send a strong message that we will not allow discrimination in any form,” the collector said.
“We made Sumathi sit alongside us and we had discussions with the parents of the students from the other communities. While we were having discussions, one Balasubramanian of the Thottia Naicker community said he didn’t want his children to eat food cooked by a Scheduled Caste woman and that he is ready to admit his ward in some other school,” he told media.
“I told him that the woman is a government-appointed cook and if he doesn’t want her to prepare food, it is against the law and a form of discrimination and that action would be initiated against him under the Prevention of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” he added.
Notably, after learning about the incident, Srinivasan, director of the breakfast scheme, requested the parents of the 15 students protesting against the breakfast to allow their children to have breakfast in the school. However, the guardians did not agree to the request. From August 30, only two students started eating food in the school. Due to this the matter caught fire.
It is noteworthy that this new breakfast scheme was started by Chief Minister MK Stalin on August 25, 2023 for the students of classes 1 to 5. A total of 17 lakh students across the state will benefit under this scheme. Tamil Nadu government has allocated Rs 404.41 crore for this scheme.
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