Caste discrimination a reality in Himachal Pradesh schools

Representational PictureCaste discrimination continues to leave a bad taste among students savouring their midday meals in almost every rural government school of Himachal Pradesh a state where the literacy rate is at a high of 828 per cent Lower caste students face social discrimination in all school activities including partaking the midday meal Even the chefs employed in 15000plus government schools for cooking meals are largely from the higher castesThe latest instance of segregating Dalit students in a government school in Kullu district during a live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modis programme has hogged the headlines But claim social activists that was not a stray incidentThey say centuriesold castebased attitudes persist in almost every rural school despite India banning discrimination in 1955 The midday meal is a nationwide school programme of the Indian government to improve the nutritional status of schoolage childrenSocial activist Kuldeep Verma said castebased discrimination during the serving of the midday meal is common in the state more prominent in the extremely backward transGiri areas of Sirmaur district and calls for dignity for the lowercaste communityYou can visit any government school in the transGiri area and you will find separate queues for Dalit students during the midday meal Even the head cook employed for preparing the meals is not from a lower caste Verma who runs the Peoples Action for People in Need PAPN NGO in Sirmaur told IANSHe said the students belonging to the higher castes are tutored by their parents against mingling with their peers belonging to the lower castes and to sit separately while in school Locals in the transGiri areas mainly farmers cultivating ginger on small landholdings have been fighting for decades to get the status of a Scheduled TribeHimachal Pradesh has a population of over 68 million as per the Census for 2011 and Dalits comprise one fourth of the states population It says more than 90 percent people live in rural areas in 17882 villages of the total 20690 revenue villages An optimistic Ashwani Kumar Thakur Principal of the Government Senior Secondary School at Chikhar Satlai one of the remotest schools located some 50 km from the state capital told IANS they are educating the students about caste discrimination lawsWe are sensitising our students so that they change their behaviour and attitudes but at times we face strong resistance from village elders Thakur told IANS As per the guidelines of state education authorities each student is asked to sit as per his roll number during all school activities Thakur addedArticle 15 of the Constitution bars discrimination on the basis of caste and laws are in place to penalise it But sociologists believe the practice persists in the state as the most marginalised communities including Dalits are often barred from public places in villages like temples and water taps Often students in schools across the state refuse to eat the midday meal because it was cooked by a DalitThey say such oral traditions and cultures are often practised in those areas where there is a culture of devta or deity worship Old Himachal areas that lie in Shimla Sirmaur Kullu Mandi Kinnaur and LahaulSpiti districts are known for worshiping deities for centuries Take the case of the picturesque Kullu Valley where 534 gods and goddesses live They travel play get angry and demand penance Each village or a cluster of hamlets has its own deityHere in the land of gods the devtas command and the people obey The gods here are not idols enshrined in temples they are alive says a book compiled by the Kullu administration in 2014 after yearlong research on local deitiesThe book says the gods live with the people They speak to their followers and tell them what to do The conduit between the mortals and the deities are the agur the traditional shamans who form the core of the communities spiritual sustenance The agur mediates between the people and the godsNoted Shimlabased writer SR Harnot who knocked on the state high courts door to end caste discrimination at a prominent Hindu temple near Bilaspur town said the caste system is deeply entrenched in the state He said the bajantris musicians accompanying the deities largely belong to the lower castesThe bajantris can accompany the deitys palanquin but they are not allowed to touch it or sit with their fellow villagers during puja Harnot told IANS Discrimination on basis of caste is a striking reality How can the state shirk its responsibility of creating a healthy society asked Harnot whose popular novel Hidimb brings to the fore the plight of suppressed people in the states remote areas The state must act proactively and begin the exercise in schools where a child learns hisher first lesson on the fundamental right to equality he addedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest 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