By MADHU AGRAWAL
A dead lizard has been found in the mid-day meal given to school-children in Kalyanpuri (Delhi). Two girls fell ill and were hospitalised.
These have become routine and regular incidents in different parts of country in the mid-day meal programme funded by government. Mid-day Meals programme is the world’s largest school-lunch programme catering to about 12 crores school-children every day.
There are frequent reports of sub-standard raw-material like rice and pulses with lot of foreign ingredients being used to cook mid-day meal in schools. Only packaged food with an expiry-date mentioned on packs should be served in schools to ensure hygiene. It will also take care of peculiar food-habits of some children like food without onion and garlic. Members of Civil-Society have expressed fear that accepting suggestion to provide packaged biscuits procured from private companies in Mid-Day meal-scheme may be on behest of influential private sector lobby. But in case such food comes from a sponsored programme from corporate sector or under Corporate-Social-
The best option would be to revive government-owned Modern Bakery with its units set up at district levels where different types of delicious and nutritious baked food-items may be produced not only for Mid-Day meal scheme but also for open market sale. Initial investment on such units can be easily recovered in the very first year of their being set up with land made available to these public-sector units by state-governments at a nominal price in larger public interest. It will create employment-opportunity also for people across the country. Or else scope of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) should be increased for supplying packaged food for mid-day school-meal.