The Justice Chandru Committee report suggested centralised kitchens to counter the caste discrimination the midday meal workers faced.
Published Aug 21, 2024 | 11:07 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 21, 2024 | 3:43 PM
File photo of students having a midday meal. (Supplied)
Activists, researchers, educationists, and Congress MP Senthil Sasikanth on Monday, 19 August, wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, regarding a recommendation of the Justice K Chandru Committee report— to replace on-site cooking of school meals with centralized kitchens.
The Justice Chandru Committee report suggested centralised kitchens to counter the caste discrimination the midday meal workers faced. There have been reports of students and parents refusing to eat the food prepared by Dalit midday meal workers.
However, the letter argued that the centralised kitchens would do more harm than good. The letter further read, “For one thing, it would amount to caving in. Experience shows that a much better approach is to insist on the right of Dalit women to cook midday meals. When the administration stands firm, opposition tends to fizzle out. This helps to address the problem instead of evading it.”
Further, the activists questioned if the views of the midday meal workers, especially the Dalit women were sought, “It is very doubtful that the concerned women (Dalit cooks who are victims of discrimination) would support the centralization proposal. There is no evidence that the committee sought their views.”
The missive also listed the reasons for opposing the centralised kitchens, citing various studies and reports.
Accountability: The letter noted that on-site cooking in schools promotes accountability because meals are cooked in front of students, teachers and even some parents. “When food is cooked at centralised kitchens, there tends to be little public scrutiny, Both the CAG and the parliamentary committee on the welfare of SCs and STs have expressed concern about irregularities in some of the country’s best-known centralized kitchens.”
Logistics: Citing the need for transportation, storage and refrigeration in the summer, the letter raised the issue of additional expenditure and logistical issues. “In the absence of adequate arrangements, there is a danger of food getting spoilt en route to the schools.” Further raising a related issue, it noted that the food transported from centralised kitchens gets cold, and less palatable for students, leading to wastage of food.
Job loss for marginalised women: Stating that the on-site decentralized kitchens employ large numbers of poor women as cooks and helpers, of which 27 percent are Dalit or Adivasi women in Tamil Nadu, the letter highlighted the possible job loss for them if the kitchens are centralised. While the Chandru committee report suggests redeploying cooks and helpers in other public-sector jobs, the activists says, “This is much easier said than done.”
Exclusion of nutritional food: Noting that some of the major organisations handling centralised kitchens in other states have imposed irrational food restrictions, such as the exclusion of eggs, onions, and garlic. The letter stated, “When centralized kitchen contracts are given to private contractors, they are more interested in making profits than in providing good nutrition to children.”
The conscious citizens and the MP concluded the letter by noting that, “Tamil Nadu has a good record of pioneering and implementing school meals.”
They further urged, “Replacing on-site cooking with centralized kitchens would be a step backward. We urge you to ignore this recommendation.”
The one-member committee headed by Justice K Chandru had submitted its report to Chief Minister Stalin on 19 June, recommending a series of measures to curb caste-based discrimination in educational institutions.
The committee was constituted by the state government in August 2023 after an incident in Nanguneri, Tirunelveli district, where two school students from the Scheduled Caste community were assaulted by their schoolmates from an intermediate caste.
The report was presented to the chief minister at the Secretariat in Chennai in the presence of School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena and others.
It prohibits students in schools from wearing coloured wristbands, rings, or forehead marks (tilaks) that may indicate their caste. It also recommended the removal of caste appellations in the names of schools.
Besides banning caste markers such as coloured wristbands, rings and tilaks, the report further recommended that seating arrangements in classrooms should be strictly based on alphabetical order.
The attendance registers of students must not contain any column or details relating to their caste. Teachers are also advised against referring to students by their caste or making derogatory remarks related to caste, it said.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula.)
