Food schemes have a caste as well
The tragedy at a Chhapra school in Bihar, where 23 children have died after consuming contaminated midday meals in their schools has once again raised the quality of food that is served in the schools under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). The incident immediately made headlines because of the number of children who died eating that food. A couple of children dying after eating mid-day meals goes unnoticed. Children falling ill after consuming the food served is schools is common place.
let us have a look at the issues that the Chhapra tragedy has brought to the forefront. School children at the Government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh, about 25 km from Chhapra died because they ate food that was unfit for human consumption. The students are given the meal in these schools because it is assumed that they don’t get to eat nutritive food at home. The MDMS was introduced to provide good wholesome food to the students.
Most children in our villages are malnourished, at times more malnourished than even the poorest countries like Ethiopia. The reason for the malnourishment in India — shortage of food. To tackle this issue, the Government came up with the idea of Aanganwadi. An aangan (a courtyard) surrounded by a living room, a bedroom and a kitchen. To have a home in the village with a courtyard is a prestigious thing and not many can afford to have a home with an aangan. The Aaanganwadi scheme turn into an institution where the Government appoints women workers of the village to educate the women.
Role of the Aanganwadi worker is to educate fellow villagers as what to eat and what not to eat. She also has to educate pregnant women what best is for her to eat. After the birth, the worker need to tell the mother what food she should eat that is good for the newborn. The worker has to distribute foodgrains to those households where there is shortage of food.
The Aanganwadi food scheme is world’s largest free food distribution scheme. Despite this massive free food distribution scheme, India still needs a MDMS. WhyIJ Immediately after the Chhapra tragedy, I called my nephew who teaches at a Degree College to understand how does the whole free meal and education work. My nephew immediately connected me to an officer who is incharge of Aanganwadi workers in an east Uttar Pradesh district.
According to the officer, on an average, an Aanganwadi worker would get 10 quintal of foodgrain a month to be distributed amongst villagers. At best, the workers will only distribute about half the grains and the rest is sold in the black market. And why the black marketIJ
This is because, none of the villagers want their children to eat rotten food. The officer also said that the price per 100 kg of grains is Rs1,200 and that is sold in the black market for Rs300 per 100 kg. Why is the grain sold at such low price when the cattle compound-feed sells for over Rs1,500 per 100 kg. The answer that I got amazed me.
The officer said that the food served at these Aanganwadis is best used as fertiliser. Now, the question arises — if the Aanganwadi food is not able to tackle the issue of malnutrition, how will the MDMS going to solve the problem of malnourished children in the countryIJ Of course, the Aaanganwadi scheme and the MDMS are not the only sops that the Government has introduced in the country. There are several other schemes like the MNAREGA which have been introduced to benefit the people living below poverty line.
Unfortunately, the MDMS has not worked in favour of the underprivileged. In fact, it has worked against the people from the lower caste. This is because the forced mid-day meal in schools has ensured that the children of the upper caste don’t study in these schools. Their parents don’t want their children to eat a meal with the lower caste. In that sense, the upper caste has opted out of the system that practices food secularism.
This is not all. Children from the OBCs are not comfortable with Dalits. The result — Government schools are losing their charm. We need to take corrective steps. Unfortunately, the MDMS is causing death of the common school system.