Religion
Related: About this forumReligious row: Students clash in Osmania University over 'beef fest'
Source: PTI | Last Updated 00:01(16/04/12)
Hyderabad: A clash took place between two groups of students in Osmania University in Hyderabad over an event tonight, police said. A group of students wanted to organise a 'Beef festival' in the university campus tonight, while another group opposed the event, they said.
"The festival was intended to make the point that upper caste diktats over food habits needed to be resisted, however another group of students opposed the idea on the ground that it is against Indian culture," a police official said.
As the rival group of students reached the spot to express their protest, a clash followed and the students indulged in stone-pelting and some vehicles were set on fire in the incident, police said.
Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the students and bring the situation under control.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-religious-row-students-clash-in-osmania-university-over-beef-fest-3116562.html
That's the entire article. I'd like to know more about these upper caste diktats.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)They will decree that their caste won't do services for lower castes, and similar actions. Google "caste system" and you will get an eyeful. It's as barbaric as the action of white farmers in the US to keep the newly freed slaves "in their place" through laws.
rug
(82,333 posts)msongs
(67,406 posts)"...it is against Indian culture..." - not against "Indian culture" only the belief systems of SOME Indians, yet nobody should be allowed to do it because some don't
rug
(82,333 posts)I wouldn't intimate this is an example of "Hindu privilege" until I had information to support that claim.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,318 posts)...
The event, the first of its kind at the university, was to campaign for beef to be included on menus at student hostel accommodation.
"It is unfortunate that people who consume beef are looked down upon by the upper castes, but for centuries beef has been part of our diet," B. Sudarshan, a Dalit research scholar and festival organizer, told AFP.
"What is wrong in consuming beef? Those opposed to it can advise people not to have beef but they can't force their diktat on us."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2012/Apr-16/170354-clashes-at-beef-eating-festival-in-south-india.ashx#axzz1sCTStlm6
A bit from Googl Books about Dalits and beef-eating - I don't know if it's balanced or not:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8E8XyZNBy-AC&lpg=PA239&pg=PA241#v=onepage&q&f=false
rug
(82,333 posts)Silent3
(15,212 posts)...and the next thing I knew, a riot had broken out.
LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)In any case, if people want to eat beef, I think they should be able to; if others think it's immoral or against their culture, they don't have to attend.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,318 posts)I would guess the equivalent for the UK would be someone campaigning for horse or dog to be on the menu in a student cafeteria.
dmallind
(10,437 posts)The real equivalent might be complaints if universities stopped offering chips in order to salve the haute cuisine snobbery of the upper classes.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,318 posts)First of all, eating chips is not hated by the 'upper classes'. They may not be as 'traditional' to them as they are to people who have always had a chippie just down the road from them, but there is no moral prohibition on them for anyone. We need a food which British (or, roughly similarly, American) people would not think of eating, for moral reasons, though others do, to use for a comparison.
Secondly, it's not just a few 'upper class' people in India that object to eating beef - it's the majority. There is, however, one 'class', the most oppressed, among whom are some who say it's fine.
Thirdly, the non-serving of beef is already in place. The Dalits are fighting for a change.
dmallind
(10,437 posts)I am not sure if it is a majority or not. The population is majority Hindu and non-Dalit certainly (despite their 160-odd million strength), but we have no idea how many take the dietary code seriously, how many put up with it grudgingly for tradition's sake, and how many ignore it either openly or covertly. While we have to consider the affects of cultural influence, the diaspora of Indian people gives us some clue. I grew up in a Yorkshire estate wheere whites were a small minority. The many Indian restaurants sold beef to a one, and I doubt it was only to the few Anglos. IIRC just one of my dozen or so Indian classmates did not eat beef at school dinners - and he was a strict enough Hindu to be entirely vegetarian. Funnily enough I work and live now in an area of the US with a minuscule Indian population, but two of them are in my department. One beef eater. One veggie. I certainly know full well these are not people in India surrounded by its culture, they are adventurous enough to be emigrants, and educated enough to have escaped many superstitions. They are not representative of India's population. They are also however Indian by race, by origin and in most cases by birth, and do give us a clue as to how fungible the prohibition is.
There is no similar food morality in British or Americam culture. Perhaps a closer parallel may be in vegetarians, but here it is reversed, where a sizeable minority has an objection to something the majority (again, assuming there is one in the beef case) feels is acceptable. Few however would find the vegetarians' appeal for a non-meat option in their cafeteria to be a problem - but again there is no cultural ethos against vegetarianism, notwithstnding some lower-echelon antipathy.
The horse/dog is not relevant even though it fits the latter aspect as it would not be an accommodation of real subcultural norms, but a faked affectation for no reason.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,318 posts)though, even then, most of the ones I know serve lamb rather than beef.
Here's a list of the slaughter laws for Indian states - in the state in question, Andhra Pradesh, cows can never be slaughtered, while bulls and bullocks can only be if they are 'uneconomical' - so there won't be a major beef cattle industry there. http://www.dahd.nic.in/dahd/reports/report-of-the-national-commission-on-cattle/chapter-ii-executive-summary/annex-ii-8.aspx
In 2003, there was talk of an Indian-wide ban on the slaughter of cows, but it didn't go through, so each state sets its rules: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/19cow.htm
I think horse and dog are the relevant comparison, because they are meats that most British people would not think of eating, for moral reasons. Yes, if we were majority vegetarian, and typical cafeterias served no meat, there would be a good parallel.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)a German word. Has someone leaked the fact that Germans enjoy raw bacon occasionally?
dmallind
(10,437 posts)They have either a higher opinion of their readers or a refreshing lack of concern over whines about elitism, because they use a much more vatied lexicon and more complex grammar than most British or American public communication. I enjoy reading the Times of India world news for that precise reason - they don't assume I have only a 6th grade education and am frightened of words not used in reality TV shows.
Vehl
(1,915 posts)The same way American students would be revolted if their high-school decided to serve Roasted dogs and cats.
ps:
Btw on the issue of Caste, I have opened a new thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/121821286