despondent
17 May 2005, 01:56 PM
newslink (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050517/od_nm/india_caste_dc;_ylt=AuqW.hjqgga1iOms.k0.LmgSH9EA;_ ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)
2 hours, 32 minutes ago
Indian officials are investigating reports villagers in one of the most backward states stopped a school giving lunch to its students because lower caste Dalits, or untouchables, cooked the desserts.
Two Yadavs, a cow-herd caste just above Dalits, forced a government school to stop serving the federally mandated lunches after they found out Dalit women had been hired to make the rice puddings, local newspapers reported.
District official Chaitanya Prasad told Reuters education authorities were looking into the incident at Pathari, 130 km (80 miles) from Patna, the capital of Bihar, a state where hundreds of people have died in caste wars over recent decades.
Although caste discrimination is outlawed, some Indians regard Dalits -- more than 16 percent of the country's one-billion plus people -- as less than human and abuse and even murder are still common.
Government schools give children lunch every day as part of a federal program to fight poverty and malnutrition.
2 hours, 32 minutes ago
Indian officials are investigating reports villagers in one of the most backward states stopped a school giving lunch to its students because lower caste Dalits, or untouchables, cooked the desserts.
Two Yadavs, a cow-herd caste just above Dalits, forced a government school to stop serving the federally mandated lunches after they found out Dalit women had been hired to make the rice puddings, local newspapers reported.
District official Chaitanya Prasad told Reuters education authorities were looking into the incident at Pathari, 130 km (80 miles) from Patna, the capital of Bihar, a state where hundreds of people have died in caste wars over recent decades.
Although caste discrimination is outlawed, some Indians regard Dalits -- more than 16 percent of the country's one-billion plus people -- as less than human and abuse and even murder are still common.
Government schools give children lunch every day as part of a federal program to fight poverty and malnutrition.