Last week Dalits working as school cooks became the focus of yet more openly aggressive caste discrimination, according to several reports in the Indian media^[1].

Earlier this month, in an attempt to tackle the problem of caste discrimination, the state government in Uttar Pradesh sent a directive to state-run schools to employ Dalits as cooks. However, despite the Government’s best efforts, when parents discovered Dalits were preparing pupils’ midday meals, they started to withdraw their children from the schools.

One school teacher said, "Upper caste parents are pulling their children out of school saying that they don't want them to eat food cooked by Dalits."

In the traditional understanding of caste, it is believed that Dalits will ‘pollute’ someone from a higher caste if they come into contact with them in any way. Accordingly, Dalits must eat and drink separately from higher castes to prevent this pollution occurring. Despite being outlawed, caste discrimination is still practiced today. A survey of practices of untouchability in 565 villages in 11 states, published in 2006, revealed that in as many as 38 per cent of government schools, Dalit children were still made to sit separately while eating. In 20 per cent of schools, Dalit children were not permitted to drink water from the same source.

In one school, last week, after upper caste pupils refused to eat the meal prepared for them by Dalits, parents and other villagers responded with violence when they discovered district officials were forcing their children to eat. Government vehicles were also set on fire.

This incident provides yet more evidence that caste discrimination is still widely practiced in India today. Not only does this story highlight the depth of feeling within Indian society but it also shows how the younger generations continue to hold on to the prejudices of their elders.

Dalit Freedom Network UK (DFN UK) realises that the mindset of discrimination and prejudice which pervades India today, lies at the heart of Dalit vulnerability. While DFN UK’s focus is to bring an end to the trafficking of Dalit people, the organisation recognises that unless the mindset which marginalises the Dalit people trapping them in poverty, changes, Dalits will remain vulnerable to traffickers.  DFN UK is working alongside its Indian partner organisation, OMIF, to address this mindset.

For more information about how you can get involved in or support DFN UK’s work both in the UK and India, go to 'What can I do?'.

[1] One India, 12 July 2010; India Tribune 13 July 2010; IBN Politics, 15 July 2010; Hindustan Times 16 July 2010