Kendrapara anganwadi boycott ends as villagers agree to send children after dalit cook’s appointment

KENDRAPARA: Following the intervention of the Odisha State Commission for Women and the district administration, residents of Nuagaon village under Rajnagar block of Kendrapara on Saturday agreed to send their children to the Anganwadi centre from Monday. The villagers had boycotted the anganwadi since November after the appointment of a dalit cook.

The meeting, held at the centre on Saturday, saw participation of over 150 villagers. This was a marked change from a similar meeting on Wednesday that saw only two attendees despite persuasion by the district administration.

The meeting was attended by additional district magistrate Nabakrushna Jena, sub-collector Arun Nayak, member of state women’s commission Kalpana Mallick, along with police officers and activists.

Further, a community feast was held after the meeting, where the dalit anganwadi cook Sarmista Sethi (23), served food to villagers as a gesture of reconciliation. Officials also conducted door-to-door outreach, after which villagers expressed willingness to resume Anganwadi services.

The administration engaged local artists to stage street plays in the village to spread awareness against caste-based discrimination. Pala singers were also involved in spreading awareness on the day.

Nayak said these efforts helped villagers understand the social risks of boycotting the worker. Mallick said that after a series of talks, the matter has been amicably settled.

“The Anganwadi centre will function normally as parents have consented to send their children,” said Sujata Nayak, member of the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Notably, the authorities had appointed Sethi as a cook-cum-helper at Nuagaon in November, following which the village committee decided to boycott the centre in protest against the appointment of a dalit cook. Around 45 families, including seven dalit families, live in the riverside village.

According to Ghadiamala sarpanch Sailendra Mishra said that not only children, but even pregnant women had also stopped visiting the centre, missing out on nutrition, health check-ups, iron-folic acid supplements, immunisation and health education.