Hamirpur: Pregnant women ‘refuse’ to eat food cooked by a Dalit

A group of pregnant women, who were offered meals at an anganwadi centre in a village in Hamirpur as part of a government scheme, refused to consume them as the food was allegedly prepared by a Dalit anganwadi worker.

A group of pregnant women, who were offered meals at an anganwadi centre in a village in Hamirpur as part of a government scheme, refused to consume them as the food was allegedly prepared by a Dalit anganwadi worker.

A group of pregnant women refused to consume food that was allegedly prepared by a Dalit anganwadi worker. (Shutterstock/Representative image)

Reports suggested that the situation reached a point where the food had to be given to stray dogs. Namrata Gupta, local supervisor of the child welfare department, is investigating the incident, which has upset the Dalit population in and around the village. “I am looking into the incident. I am trying to convince the villagers that caste discrimination is a social evil,” she said.

Shakuntala Srivas, an anganwadi worker posted at one of the two centres in Bikodhar Purai’s primary school, had cooked ‘tahiri’ (rice and potato cooked together) for 28 women on Wednesday. She had also arranged curd and fruits. But the women neither refused to eat the ‘tahiri’ nor accepted the fruits.