Rights panel seeks report on IAS officer's ‘Dalit students clean toilet' remark
NCSC Director G Sunil Kumar Babu warned that non-compliance could lead the Commission to invoke its powers under Article 338 of the Constitution, which allows it to summon the authorities concerned for a personal or representative appearance before the Commission.When India Today TV reached out to her for clarification of her remarks, Varsini said the comments were part of a 2.5-hour conversation. According to her, the discussion was with the principals about the implementation of an annual calendar that includes weekend 'shamdan' (cleaning) activities such as ground, dormitory and toilet cleaning. She explained, 'In the whole annual calendar, the shamdan should become a part of the children activity ... maybe 18 to 20 hours in the whole year the children would have put shamdan.'advertisementShe described the activity as an alternative to National Service Scheme (NSS) or Swachh Bharat programmes, stating, 'Our schools do not have NSS ... usually we do it only for one day. So what we thought is to include it as a regular part of the calendar.'She defended her earlier comments by saying the students she was talking about were from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds: 'Our children are not from posh societies. The annual family income cannot cross Rs 2 lakh. That is our basic selection criteria.' Varsini also said many parents had requested that the schools impart life skills to children, complaining that students were not helping with chores at home during holidays.'It is a very shameful thing that even in the era where we are introducing coding to our children, people still talk about caste politics,' she said. She alleged that the remarks were taken out of context and selectively edited to damage her reputation, adding, 'Many reforms we are bringing .. . they cannot influence me, so all that they can do is tarnish my image.'Trending Reel
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