The Is has taken up the initiative to adopt the boy who faced the trauma of “untouchability” at his village for entering the temple. As per sources, the government will bear the entire expenditure of the four-year-old boy’s education. Minister for Social Welfare Kota Srinivas Poojari has confirmed it.
The boy faced an incident when his family had gone to the Marutheshwara temple in Miyapur village to get the ‘Abhishek (ritual)’ done on the occasion of the birthday of his son Vinay. They had to stop at the main entrance of the temple as Dalits are not allowed inside and priests would perform rituals and bless them.
There is a tradition of pieces of coconut being placed on either side of the doors of the main entrance. The boy ran and took one of the pieces of the coconut from there and it was observed by the upper caste people.
Later, a fine of Rs 25,000 was imposed on the family for letting the boy pick up the coconut piece saying that the sanctity of the temple has been lost. The news came out and it made headlines. After which the police were forced to take action. The family was allegedly forced to move out of Miyapur village following the police action against the practice of untouchability including the arrest of five persons belonging to the upper caste.
However, talking to IANS, Chandrashekar Shivappa Dasar, a 29-year-old father of the victim boy stated that after the incident they have been forced to move out of the village. “In my village, we lived in our house and somehow managed to find a livelihood. Now, we have to pay rent and also struggle for earnings,” he explains.
“What my son had gone through, no one should ever. After the incident, he does not allow me to go near the temple fearing that people would assault me. Whenever he sees police, he gets traumatised,” he said.
The government has decided to get the boy admitted to a reputed school for first to the fifth standard. From sixth to tenth grade, he would be given direct admission to Morarji Desai Residential School without entrance. For II PUC also, he would be given a place in Morarji Desai Hostel. The Social Welfare department would sponsor graduation studies of his choice and if he wants to pursue a professional course like MBBS, the government would also take care of the fees, sources said.
Speaking to IANS, Suralkar Vikas Kishore, Deputy Commissioner, Koppal stated that the government has declared a scheme in the name of the boy and there is a communication that he had been adopted. “But, exact guidelines and nature of the adoption we are yet to receive,” he said. The scheme in the name of Dasar’s son Vinay is to bridge the gap between the upper caste and Dalits in rural areas. It is called the ‘Vinaya Samarasya Scheme’. Dasar, the father of the boy, has got a Rs 1 lakh loan from the government and feels that at least he should have been given a loan of Rs 5 lakh to restructure his life.
Miyapur village in the Koppal district, where the incident had happened has 1,000 houses. Of these, 970 belong to the Ganiga Lingayat community people. Twenty-five families belong to Scheduled Caste and five belong to the Valmiki community.
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