Caste in the Times of Corona: Cook in UP Snubbed by Quarantined

Ten people at a quarantine centre refused to eat food cooked by worker belonging to Scheduled Caste.

Twenty five km away from Basti district in Uttar Pradesh lies Siswa Baruwar village which, too, like most of the hinterland areas received migrants who had returned following the lockdown.

In Siswa Baruwar, which has a population of around 2,250, around 20 people had come back after 24 March. A government school in the village was converted into a quarantine centre with charpoys (cots) placed at some distance from each other to accommodate those who had to abide by mandatory social distancing and were not allowed to go back to their homes.

Suman (name changed), an employee at the school, who usually cooks mid-day meals for kids at the same school, was entrusted with the task of making food for those under quarantine.

On 2 April, a complaint was filed at the local police station by gram pradhan, Rajesh against 10 persons who were temporarily staying at the quarantine centre.

In a letter addressed to the in-charge of local police station, Rajesh informed local authorities that:

"People (at the quarantine center) refused to eat food saying that we will get food from our homes. There are chances of the spread of coronavirus due to this. The orders by concerned authorities are not being followed."

Letter from Village Pradhan

Speaking to The Quint, Rajesh, who had filed the complaint, confirmed that the incident did happen as "those under quarantine at the school belonged to a certain caste while the cook who has been working there for at least a decade belongs to the Scheduled Caste." Ten individuals who were among those to have raised objections against food cooked at the school belong to Kahar, Yadav and Lohar castes.

Basti witnesses large-scale migration to neighbouring districts of Gorakhpur and Faizabad every year with very few job opportunities for locals. Those belonging to backward class far outnumber their upper caste counterparts in Siswa Baruwar village.

Rajesh, the village head, also laments the waste of resources which was ideally meant to be mid-day meal for kids. Following his complaint, the concerned officials have shifted the ten to another quarantine centre for now. There has been no effort to resolve the issue through mutual dialogue with caste exposing the age-old fault line in rural India at the time of COVID pandemic.