Why force a non-vegetarian to eat in a vegetarian-only canteen using technicalities, is a question that a student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) posed to the management in a recent discussion about introducing vegetarian canteens in the hostel. A trail of emails accessed by TNM shows a raging debate among students after the IIT-H administration said it was planning to introduce a vegetarian-only dining hall in the coming semester. At the same time when IIT-Bombay was facing allegations of caste discrimination after some students had reserved a section of the mess dining hall for vegetarians, some students with meat-based diets at the Hyderabad campus were also upset that they may be forced to eat vegetarian food in the coming semester if they were unable to register for non-vegetarian food in the canteens.
It started in July this year when students at the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) received a mail introducing a survey among hostel students asking them whether they would like to register for a ‘veg only’ dining hall. The mail had a link to a form and informed students that it was being sent at the request of the Director of IIT-H and some students. The survey closed on the next day itself, and by July 27, another mail gave the students who opted for the ‘pure veg’ section a day’s time to register for it. By the first week of August, students saw that the new vegetarian section for diners had been demarcated in the new mess dining hall.
There are two canteens on the IIT-H campus – one old and a new one. “The old canteen does not have any such segregation. The vegetarian-only section is in the new canteen, where even faculty and other staff members come to eat now. It may also have something to do with the faculty members. They have set up a separate section entirely with utensils for vegetarians. The result of that survey was not made public,” said a student from IIT-H who did not wish to be identified.
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