Untouchability is Ghoda's real disease
Jitendra Dave / DNA
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 10:59 IST
Ghoda: The outbreak of cholera in Ghoda brought many journalists to
this small village in Viramgam taluka of Ahmedabad district but the
reporters found here something even more disturbing than the disease.
More than 62 years after Independence, untouchability is still
practised in Ghoda. Caste prejudice is so deep-rooted in the village
that though its sarpanch belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, Ghoda
has separate wells for Dalits and caste Hindus.
Dalits comprise almost one-third of Ghoda's total population of over
3,000 people. Scheduled Caste people are not allowed to draw water
from the well located near the village pond. If they want water from
that well, they have to request people of other communities to draw
water from the well and pour it into their vessel. Untouchability has
been practiced in the village for many years and even caste Hindus
acknowledge this fact.
Some Dalits of the village alleged that untouchability was a daily
experience for them. "No scheduled caste student can serve food during
mid-day meals in the village's primary school," said Pankaj Parmar
(name changed), a Dalit villager of Ghoda.
"If a Dalit student gets up to serve the food, the students of other
communities leave immediately." Parmar observed that it was strange
that the three kirana (grocery) shops in the village which depended
heavily on scheduled caste customers, did not allow Dalits to enter
their premises.
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