Ritu Sharma from The Indian Express reports that in Hajipur village in Gujarat’s Patan district there are separate anganwadis for Dalit children. On her way to school, Manavi Chamar walked towards a certain anganwadi No. 160, lost in conversation with her four-year-old friend Suhani Patel. Manavi was stopped at the gates and asked to return to Anganwadi 159, reserved for Dalits.
Anganwadi No. 159 is for us Dalits. That day, people in the other anganwadi told my daughter to go to her own. She came home and asked me why she couldn’t go with her friend to No. 160 and I didn’t know what to say.
Pinki Chamar, Manavi’s mother
The Hajipur village is a small one, with a population of just 2000 people. The caste ratio is tipped heavily in favour of the Patel or Patidar community, which constitutes 70 percent of Hajipur’s population. 40 Dalit houses are spread over two mohallas, and in the two anganwadis, which schools children between the age of six months to six years, untouchability is one of the first lessons they learn.
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