Non Vegetarianism | SabrangIndia

IIT-Madras, a Modern Day Agraharam?

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 05:25:22 +0000

The institute’s recent order, now withdrawn, of separate entrance for non-vegetarians is just a part of the overall policing and push for vegetarianism after the Modi government’s ascent.

Image Courtesy: Catch News

Nagesh (name changed), a bright student at the Indian Institute of Technology- Madras, who hails from a very poor economic background, had a shock of his life when he was entering the hostel mess. Someone literally stopped him at the gate and asked him to enter the mess from the other door if he is not a vegetarian.

A notice was duly pasted at the entrance of the mess, informing everyone of this ‘new order’. Even separate basins were demarcated for the students’ cuisine choices. Talking to a reporter with rage in his eyes, Nagesh questioned how the IIT-Madras management could issue such a discriminatory order without even consulting the students.

As of now, the notices have been removed after taking into consideration the uproar this ‘untouchability of a different kind’ caused at the national level. management is now trying to save itself by putting the blame on the caterer. Anybody can guess that a caterer, who is basically a contractor serving food for a fixed period, cannot suddenly disturb the existing arrangements, divide the mess into two separate sections, and have the courage ‘instructing’ his customers to use separate gates.

Commenting on this episode, the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle – a student group within the institute- which brought this issue to national attention, says:

“Caste masquerades as something else in ‘modern’ society. In IIT Madras campus, it manifests itself as separate entrance, utensils, dining area and wash area in the mess for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students…:

Remember, this is the same student group that comprises mainly Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi students and was derecognised by the institute’s management in 2015 on the instructions of bureaucrats in the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), just because the group was critical about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies and had been raising issues of caste, communalism as well as corporate loot of resources. It is now history how the management had to revoke its order following a nationwide protest.

The group had further exposed the hypocrisy inherent in this stand, underlining how despite 80% of its population eating meat in India,

..[t]here is an aversion to meat food, especially in elite spaces and institutions, because of the brahmanical culture. (do-)

Can the institute’s management alone be singled out for this discriminatory order?

Perhaps, yes and no.

In fact, this push towards vegetarianism is a direct fallout of the ascent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre and many states. It is well documented how the MHRD, then headed by Smriti Irani, had taken the unusual step ofpolicing university campuses to find out what was cooking in their kitchens, supposedly acting on a representation from an RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) worker in Madhya Pradesh.

The directors of all IITs and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were sent letters seeking details of cooking and catering arrangements in their institutions, and were directed to send “action taken’’ reports to the Ministry. In his letter, the RSS worker, who was not at all related to any of the IITs and neither had any ward who was studying there, had demanded separate dining halls for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students on the grounds that “these institutes are spreading bad culture from the West (kusanskar) and causing grief to the parents’’.

One can say that, of late, this fetish towards pushing vegetarianism has reached new extremes, disregarding the disturbing fact that in our country a significant section of the population suffers from chronic hunger, and India stands ranks 103 out of 119 countries in Global Hunger Index 2018. In this situation, it is a cruel step to forbid people from eating particular food items that are a source of cheap protein. It is a different matter that, under the name of protection of the majority’s faith, people are told what to eat and what not to eat, in fact their eating habits are being criminalised.

And this despite the fact that, perceptions apart, a majority of the Indian population is non-vegetarian.

The most authoritative study is the People of India survey, a mammoth enterprise of the Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) completed in 1993. The eight-year study was steered by its director-general Kumar Suresh Singh and covered every rite, custom and habit of every single community in the country. At the end of it, the army of ASI researchers found that of the 4,635 communities, nearly 88 per cent were meat-eaters. A 2006 State of the Nation survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for Hindu-CNN-IBN reinforces the ASI report that the overwhelming majority is non-vegetarian. It revealed that only 31 per cent of Indians are vegetarians.

This criminalisation/stigmatisation is not limited to beef, which has already been banned in many BJP-ruled states. The denial of food has been extended to all other non-vegetarian foods and even eggs. The closing of abattoirs in BJP-ruled states has reached a feverish pace under the name of ‘illegality’.

Despite egg being an excellent source of protein and the National Institute of Nutrition making eggs compulsory for mid-day meals for school children, eggs do not find a place in mid-day meals served in schools in 15 states. One still remembers how the outgoing Madhya Pradesh government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan had refused permission to give eggs to children and had suggested bananas as an alternative, knowing fully well that it was a perishable item.

What is atrocious is that the same party that opposes beef consumption in general has no qualms in claiming in other states — where beef is not banned and is a staple food — that if it comes to power it would offer its good quality (Kerala) or it will ensure that the ban is not effected in their state (Goa), or representatives of the party’s parent organisation going to the North East and saying that eating beef cannot come in the way of becoming a member of the RSS.

One could have a premonition of such things to come when the Gujarat government bowed to the demands of the Jain community, who wanted that Palitana, near Bhavnagar, considered a sacred place by the Jains, be declared a purely ‘vegetarian area’ immediately after the ascent of Modi as Prime Minister. This resulted not only in banning of the ritual slaughter of animals and closing of an estimated 260 butcher shops, but even restaurants engaged in selling of such items.

Coming back to the issue of ‘separate entrances’ in IIT-Madras, it would be untrue to say that the ambience existing in the institute was not conducive for promoting vegetarianism, an idea which is integral to what is understood as ‘Brahminical culture’.

In her essay titled ‘An anatomy of the caste culture at IIT-Madras’, Ajantha Subramanian, Professor of Social Anthropology at Harvard University, who was investigating caste and meritocracy at the IITs, has underlined how ‘caste and casteism have shaped IIT Madras for a very long time, generally to the benefit of upper castes’. According to her ‘until the implementation of the OBC (other backward classes) quota in 2008, general category made up 77.5 percent of student admissions’ indicating that the general category were mostly upper castes. She adds ‘Not only students, the composition of the faculty at IIT-Madras is also overwhelmingly upper caste with 464 professors drawn from the “general category,” 59 OBCs, 11 SCs, (Scheduled Castes) and 2 STs 9Scheduled Tribes).’

How a deep antipathy toward oppressed castes is ingrained in the institute’s culture can also be gauged from the fact that when in early 1970s quota for SCs and STs was extended to the IITs, P V Indiresan, who was appointed director of the institute from 1979 to 1984, was one of its most vocal opponents.

In his 1983 Director’s Report, Indiresan drew a distinction between “the socially-deprived” who demanded “special privileges” and “the talented” upper castes who deserved “rights of their own.” For him, and many with similar views, upper castes are simply “the talented” who inhabit a casteless, democratic, and meritorious norm threatened by reservations. In 2011, it was Indiresan who took the Indian government to court challenging the constitutional validity of the 2006 reservations.

Interestingly, this study was rather a corroboration of a report done by Tehelka magazine, titled ‘Caste in Campus: Dalits not Welcome in IIT Madras’ . It had provided details about the ‘[h]andful of Dalit students and faculty members at the elite institute, but they face widespread discrimination and harassment.” According to the report:

” [i]nstitute like IIT Madras has parted with only a fraction of the 22.5 percent quota for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs). According to information provided by the institute’s deputy registrar, Dr K. Panchalan, in September 2005, Dalits accounted for only 11.9 percent of the number of students. They were even fewer in the higher courses — 2.3 percent in ms (Research) and 5.8 percent in Ph.D. Out of a total of 4,687 students, Dalits made up only 559.”

Little wonder that activists who have been fighting for proper implementation of reservations for Dalits, describe IIT-Madras as a modern day agraharam — a Brahmin enclave.

(The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal.)

First published on Newsclick.in

The post IIT-Madras, a Modern Day Agraharam? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Separate utensils, wash basins for vegetarians at IIT Madras; students term it ‘full-fledged untouchability’

Sat, 15 Dec 2018 05:45:32 +0000

In what seems like another step in the direction of an already regressive and discriminatory food policies in campuses of Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Madras has introduced separate entry and exit points, separate wash basins and separate utensils for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students on the campus .

The mess in question is ‘R R North Indian Mess’ which introduced this segregation three days ago. As this is the vacation period, only three messes are currently operational at the campus. There was no official communication sent out to the students regarding the segregation. To the surprise of students, posters were put up inside the mess, indicating entry and exit points and separate wash basins for non-vegetarian students etc. The segregation has also introduced separate seating space, and separate plates for non-vegetarian students. Also, IIT Madras recently introduced a ‘vegetarian only’ mess to cater to vegetarian students on the campus.

One such student Mohan*, who was not aware of segregation said, “Three days back I sat towards the vegetarian side, I had an egg in my plate, the management came and forced me to sit on the other side, I was told that other students do not like if non vegetarian students sit here, so they asked me to sit on the other side.” Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a Facebook page by IIT Madras students, termed this move as ‘full fledged’ untouchability.

The issue of food choices and targeting of non-vegetarian food has been going on for the last few years. In 2014, the MHRD through its under secretary forwarded a letter to 14 IITs asking them not to provide “tasmic” food and the action taken in this regard was also sort from the Directors of IITs. Earlier this year, IIT Bombay asked the canteen in the civil engineering department to stop serving non-vegetarian food including eggs. Again, the same campus in one of the hostels asked student who have non-vegetarian food to use separate plates.

Currently, students eating non vegetarian food have been forced to enter from other side of the mess, and take separate plate for food. Students intend to take up this issue and file a complaint against this segregation with the administration

*Name changed to protect the student

Courtesy: Two Circles

The post Separate utensils, wash basins for vegetarians at IIT Madras; students term it ‘full-fledged untouchability’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The myth of a vegetarian India

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 07:03:40 +0000

India has a reputation as a vegetarian nation, and Indians certainly consume far less meat than the global average. But the view of India as a predominantly vegetarian nation may not be quite accurate.

India, whose population is predicted to overtake China’s, is rapidly changing from an agricultural society to an industrial economy with a surging urban population. This is driving the fastest-growing poultry market in the world, as cultural norms change and eating meat becomes a status symbol.

Total vegetarianism is rare

Vegetarianism in India has been gradually becoming less strict over the past 30 years. Only about three in ten Indians now claim to be vegetarian, and a 2016 national survey found that more than half of people aged between 15 and 34 eat meat.

A recent National Family Health Survey found that only 30% of women and 22% of men describe themselves as vegetarian. Other studies have similarly found that a relatively small minority practise vegetarianism.

(India has a booming poultry market. Credit: Pau Casals/Unsplash)

Even these numbers may well be underestimates. Indians are said to underreport their meat consumption due to religious and cultural stigmas associated with it.

Tastes like chicken

Poultry is India’s most popular type of meat, and India is projected to be one of the world’s largest growth markets for poultry consumption.

The rise in meat consumption is predominantly driven by urban India, and the highest percentages of non-vegetarians come from southern states such as Telgana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Another reason may be that chicken can be considered a universally acceptable meat, given the religious taboos associated with beef among Hindus and pork among Muslims. Although 80% of Indians are Hindus, India is home to several other major religions and sub-faiths, each with its own strictures about food and eating. Vegetarianism is less common among Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Bahais, Parsis and Jews who collectively make up 15% of India’s population.

Upwardly mobile urbanites

In addition to religious and cultural variations, several key factors have influenced India’s shift, overall, towards meat consumption. These include rising urbanisation, increasing disposable incomes, globalisation and cross-cultural influences. Many urban Indians are embracing consumerism as a sign of upward social mobility and meat is widely considered to be a status symbol.

Despite this, others still consider meat-eating to be socially and culturally unacceptable. A 2015 study found young people felt “you eat [meat] in secret, away from your family”.

This appears to reflect differences in front-stage and backstage behaviours, a trait mainly found in collectivist cultures. “Front-stage behaviours”, which is how we act in public, may have more role-playing elements than backstage behaviours, which tend to be carried out in private.
It seems urban Indians today face a dissonance. On one hand, increasing exposure to new lifestyles is creating cultural change, but there is still pressure to adhere to traditions that have prevailed for centuries.

This contradiction is reflected in some of the urban Indian attitudes from the 2015 study on meat consumption. On one hand, some felt:

…in our Bhagvad Gita, Ramayan (in reference to the Hindu holy books) there are old teachings that non-veg is impure. It is the food of demons/monsters.

On the other hand, it was also claimed:

[When it comes to] holy men and Brahmins, it’s not like they don’t like eggs or meat. In front of people they will behave, but on the quiet/sly, they will smoke and drink and eat everything else.

Meat eating in India is a complex issue, with many facets. However, recent trends and figures certainly seem to indicate one thing: it is a mistake to label India as a vegetarian nation.

Tani Khara, PhD student in Sustainability, University of Technology Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post The myth of a vegetarian India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Most Indians Non Vegetarian; Men More Than Women, South & East Most

Tue, 22 May 2018 04:10:32 +0000

New Delhi: India’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has been advocating vegetarianism on grounds of religion and ideology, the latest being an effort by Indian Railways railways to enforce vegetarian menus on all trains on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, October 2.

Indian Railways Kitchen Coach

However, around 80% of Indian men and 70% of women consume eggs, fish, chicken or meat occasionally, if not weekly, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of national health data. But their daily diet tends to be vegetarian, consisting of milk or curd, pulses or beans and dark green and leafy vegetables,

Overall, 42.8% Indian women and 48.9% men consumed fish, chicken or meat weekly, according to the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4).

It is important to assess the average diet of an Indian because both malnutrition and obesity are a problem: 53.7% women and 22.7% men are anaemic and 22.9% of women and 20.2% of men are thin (with body mass index of less than 18.5) while 20.7% of women and 18.9% men are overweight or obese, according to the same data.

The ministry of health and family welfare had recently courted controversy when it tweeted an image that grouped non-vegetarian foods such as eggs and meat with junk food, implying that both cause obesity. The image was subsequently deleted.

In 2015, Madhya Pradesh government had banned eggs from meals served in anganwadis or day-care centres allegedly due to pressure from Jain groups.

These moves come despite the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad which advocate the consumption of protein-rich animal foods such as milk, meat, fish and eggs–and plant foods such as pulses and legumes.

“Animal proteins are of high quality as they provide all the essential amino acids in right proportions, while plant or vegetable proteins are not of the same quality because of their low content of some of the essential amino acids” said NIN’s dietary guidelines.

The Indian Railways are now planning to celebrate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a vegetarian, as ‘vegetarian day’. It plans to serve only vegetarian food on its premises and appeal to all its employees to abjure meat that day, reported Times of India on May 21, 2018.

Dietary risk including poor diet–low in fruits, vegetables, whole grain but high in salt, fats–is the third biggest risk factor for death and disability in India after air pollution and malnutrition, IndiaSpend reported in November, 2017.

In women, 37.4% have eggs, 36% fish, chicken or meat weekly

More men than women eat non-vegetarian food in India; almost three in ten women do not consume eggs (29.3%) and chicken, fish or meat (29.9%) compared to two in ten men who do not consume eggs (19.6%) and chicken, fish or meat (21.6%)

Among women between 15-45 years of age, 45% have milk and curd, 44.8% have pulses or beans and 47.2% have dark green, leafy vegetables daily while 37.4% eat eggs and 36.6% eat fish, chicken or meat weekly. Almost half–51.8%–of them have fruits occasionally.

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16

Among men between 15 to 45 years of age, 46.2% have milk and curd, 46.5% have pulses or beans, 46.6% have dark green, leafy vegetables daily while 44.7% eat eggs, 43.3% eat fish, chicken or meat weekly and 47.6% have fruits occasionally.

Source: National Family Health Survey 2015-16

Age, marital status, geography, wealth and caste are factors

Weekly consumption of food items is not the same for all groups and follows different trends. But those over 19 years tend to eat more eggs and any kind of meat every week.

Among men, the highest consumption of eggs and meat was among those who were never married (50.5% for eggs and 49.2% for fish, chicken or meat). Also, urban men (53.8% for eggs, 52.8% for fish, chicken or meat) eat more non-vegetarian food than rural men (47.1% for eggs, 46.5% for fish, chicken or meat).

Among women, the highest consumption of eggs and meat was among those who were widowed or divorced or deserted (41.5% for eggs and 47.4% for fish, chicken or meat).

Education appears to decide the choice of vegetarian/non-vegetarian foods. Those who have studied up to five years eat the highest amount of eggs and meat–men (54.2% and 57.6%) and women (48.2% and 51.8%).

Among religions, Christians consume eggs and meat the most–men (71.5% and 75.6%) and women (64.7% and 74.2%). This is followed by Muslim men (66.5% and 73.1%) and women (59.7% and 67.3%).

The highest consumption of eggs and fish, chicken or meat is among those who said they did not know their caste–men (49.2% and 51.6%). This holds true for women as well for eggs; for fish, chicken and meat it is highest in ‘other’ caste.

And while the consumption of eggs and meat increases with household wealth, a lower percentage of men and women among the richest 20% Indians consume eggs and meat.

Source: National Family Health Survey 2015-16

Most meat eaters in Kerala, fewest in Punjab

Data on women show that Kerala (92.8%), Goa (85.7%) and Assam (80.4%) have the highest weekly consumers of fish, chicken or meat while Punjab (4%), Rajasthan (6%) and Haryana (7.8%) rank the lowest.

Figures for men show that Tripura (94.8%), Kerala (90.1%) and Goa (88%) are the highest weekly consumers of fish, chicken or meat while Punjab (10%), Rajasthan (10.2%) and Haryana (13%) are the lowest.

The consumption of meat on a weekly basis is high in the northeast and south India. It is the lowest in the north for both sexes.

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

The post Most Indians Non Vegetarian; Men More Than Women, South & East Most appeared first on SabrangIndia.

भारत की 71 प्रतिशत आबादी है मांसाहारी

Fri, 16 Sep 2016 07:00:47 +0000

आम धारणा है कि भारत मुख्य रूप से शाकाहारियों का देश है, लेकिन वास्तविकता इसके विपरीत है। सर्वेक्षणों से पता चला है कि देश की करीब 71 प्रतिशत आबादी मांसाहारी है। शाकाहारी केवल 29 प्रतिशत हैं, लेकिन इन्हीं शाकाहारियों का एक हिस्सा बाकी देश पर खान-पान संबंधी प्रतिबंध थोपने की फिराक में रहता है।

महापंजीयक और जनगणना आयुक्त के कार्यालय के सर्वेक्षण से खुलासा हुआ है कि भले ही भारत को दुनिया में सबसे बड़े शाकाहारी देश के रूप में प्रचारित किया जाता हो, लेकिन दरअसल यहाँ देश की बहुत बड़ी आबादी अपनी धार्मिक मान्यताओं के बावजूद माँसाहार अपना चुकी है।

सैंपल रजिस्ट्रेशन सिस्टम के 2014 के सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार, भारत में 15 साल से ऊपर के लोगों में करीब 71 प्रतिशत मांसाहार करते हैं। यह संकेत भी मिला है कि 2004 की तुलना में मांसाहारियों की संख्या में कुछ गिरावट आई है। 2004 में मांसाहारियों का प्रतिशत 75 तक पहुँच गया था।

नवरात्रि, मंगलवार और अन्य हिंदू त्यौहारों पर माँस, मछली और अंडों की बिक्री में आने वाली भारी गिरावट भी इसी बात का प्रमाण है कि देश की हिंदू आबादी बड़े पैमाने पर मांसाहार करती है।

आँकड़ों के अनुसार तेलंगाना में मांसाहारियों की संख्या सबसे ज्यादा है। वहाँ पर 98.8 प्रतिशत पुरुष और 98.6 प्रतिशत महिलाएँ अंडा, माँस-मछली का सेवन करती हैं।

अन्य राज्यों में मांसाहारियों की सर्वाधिक संख्या पश्चिम बंगाल में है, जिसके बाद आंध्रप्रदेश, ओडीशा और केरल का नंबर है। पश्चिम बंगाल में माँसाहारियों का प्रतिशत 98.55, आंधप्रदेश में 98.25, ओडीशा में 97.35 और केरल में 97% लोग मांसाहारी हो चुके हैं।

शाकाहारियों की सबसे ज्यादा संख्या राजस्थान में है, जहाँ अब भी 73.2 प्रतिशत पुरुष और 76.6 प्रतिशत महिलाएँ शाकाहार अपनाए हैं। इसके बाद 68.5 प्रतिशत शाकाहारी पुरुष और 70 प्रतिशत शाकाहारी महिलाओं के साथ राजस्थान का नंबर है। पंजाब में 65.5 प्रतिशत पुरुष और 68 प्रतिशत महिलाएँ शाकाहारी हैं।

The post भारत की 71 प्रतिशत आबादी है मांसाहारी appeared first on SabrangIndia.