Uttarakhand: Dalit Students In Govt School Refuse Mid-Day Meals After SC Cook Dismissed

On Sunday, however, the district administration said that the situation had been addressed after residents of both communities reached an agreement.

Representation Image. (Getty Images)

New Delhi: After a cook belonging to the Scheduled Castes was sacked, Dalit pupils at a government school in Champawat district refused to accept mid-day meals made by an upper-caste woman.

On Sunday, however, the district administration said that the situation had been addressed after residents of both communities reached an agreement.

"I hope the Dalit students will resume eating the food prepared by the new Bhojan Mata (cook) from tomorrow," Champawat District Magistrate Vineet Tomar was quoted by PTI in its report. 

Sukhi Dang, a Dalit cook at the Government Inter-College, was dismissed when 43 youngsters from upper caste communities in grades VI to VIII refused to consume the meal she served.

Officials from the Champawat education department, on the other hand, blamed her dismissal on procedural flaws in her hiring.

She was replaced by a woman from the upper caste.

As a form of retribution, 23 Dalit kids at the school refused to eat the new cook's mid-day lunch.

Tomar, for one, stated that an investigation has been launched and that a report will be available in a week.

Following the news of the Dalit cook's dismissal making headlines, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta announced that his party would initiate an agitation to restore the woman's constitutional rights.

If the Dalit woman is not reinstated, Bhim Army head Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan has threatened to gherao Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

(With PTI Inputs)