Caste bias halts Anganwadi services in Odisha village after Dalit woman’s appointment as cook
Bhubaneswar: An anganwadi centre in Nuagaon village of Rajnagar block in Odisha’s Kendrapara district has remained closed for nearly three months after villagers allegedly boycotted it following the appointment of a Dalit woman as helper-cum-cook.
According to a report published by The New Indian Express, 23-year-old Sarmista Sethi was appointed to the post on November 24, 2025. Soon after she joined, several families reportedly objected to food being prepared by a Dalit woman and stopped sending their children to the centre.
Sethi said resistance began immediately after her appointment. She claimed that some villagers openly told her not to cook for the children. When she refused to resign, parents stopped sending children to the anganwadi. She added that women in the village gradually stopped visiting the centre as well. Nuagaon has around 45 households, including seven Dalit families.
The boycott has affected nearly 60 children who are now deprived of supplementary nutrition and early childhood education services. Pregnant and lactating women have also stopped visiting the centre, missing out on health and nutrition support, said Ghadiamala sarpanch Sailendra Mishra. He said repeated appeals to villagers to resume participation have not yielded results.
Anganwadi worker Lizarani Pandav reported the matter to the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of Rajnagar block. CDPO Dipali Mishra said efforts were made to resolve the issue through dialogue. Meetings were held with villagers, including by the tehsildar, but the centre has not resumed normal functioning.
On Tuesday, a group of Dalit leaders visited the village and demanded legal action against those blocking the anganwadi’s operations. Nagen Jena, district president of Dalit Samaj, referred to a 2004 interim order of the Supreme Court in the PUCL versus Government of India case, which prioritises Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates in appointments of cooks under government nutrition schemes.
Kendrapara district collector Raghuram R Iyer said he has sought a detailed report from the district social welfare officer. He added that appropriate action would be taken after examining the findings against those found to be illegally preventing children and women from accessing anganwadi services.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
