Caste discrimination with midday meal employee – ABVP seeks justice 

Student organization ABVP alleged that a female employee of mid-day-meal at Chikhar School in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh is facing caste discrimination. 

In a press statement issued here today Nancy Atal, State Co-convener of ABVP  Himachal Pradesh, said that it is extremely shameful for the state which claims to be second in the literacy rate across the country as employees working in state-run school of capital, a town facing caste-based discrimination in the mid-day meals which is incident of conservative notions in the state.

 A woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste was appointed as a mid-day meal worker at Chikhar School in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh.  Out of 40 students in the school, only 20 students take the food prepared by the lady employee and the remaining 20 students do not have lunch in the school.  The school has two Mid Day Meal workers in Upper Primary.  When meals are prepared by other personnel, all students eat at school.

 Nancy Atal says that even for lunch in school, students are served separately as students were forced to sit in the row on the basis of their caste, which is not acceptable at all.  ” If the local people believed in such discrimination same belief could not be forced on the kids of primary school ”  The Vidyarthi Parishad believes that this issue sending a wrong message to tender-aged students studying in the school, and their mindset is also being affected.  The schools are a place where they should teach the lesson of unity and inculcate the value of nondiscrimination toward caste, sex, creed, and faith

Student organization demands the administration take strict action on this matter as soon as possible.