Sir — This refers to the article, “Aspirational model for school children” (March 29) by Navneet Anand. A nutritious and hearty mid-day meal can check dropout rate as well as malnutrition among our children.
Word has it that eggs are being banished from the menu of schools and anganwadis in many States across the country, to satisfy upper caste vegetarian lobbies. Given that India is home to 40 million malnourished children with stunted growth, this is unfortunate. Eggs are highly nutritious. Further, milk and sweets can be adulterated, contaminated but a boiled egg is 100 per cent safe when it is served with its shell.
Moreover, an astronomical amount of eggs go bad every year in India due to lack of cold storage. The Government must see to it that no prejudice can deprive young ones from getting such a safe and nutritious food item. It will be suicidal if we fail our children for the sake of prejudices.