Shiban Khaibri
Mahatma Gandhi had said that there were people in the world so hungry that God could appear to them in no way except in the form of bread. It is a travesty that even after 65 years of our independence and democratic rule , hunger is still haunting us and most of the children are under fed and undernourished in our country, throwing a challenge and posing an awkward but a plain question as well, as to what type of India we are building with our children, the future of this country, as not properly fed with the basic requirements of nutrition and the required intake of calories. It, however, is worth noting that some Indian visionaries with conviction did realize the ramifications of the issue as back as in early 1960s and addressed this problem of school children by starting serving a nutritious mid-day meal.
It was K. Kamraj, the veteran Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who got a whiff from a boy, he chanced to see grazing cows, that if he was given food to eat , he would go to a school and the concept of providing meals in the school itself to the attending children was started there in 1961. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat implemented the scheme in their states in late 1980s. Kerala was next to do it in 1995.The National Programme of Nutritional support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on Aug.15, 1995 by the Ministry of HRD. Supreme Court of India in a land mark direction in Nov 2001 in the matter resulted in the scheme being followed by other states across the country. When a child remains hungry or inadequately fed, it falls into a vicious circle of recurring sickness and contracting of infectious diseases, faltering growth and diminishing learning abilities. Such underfed and undernourished children even in schools grasp too little and learn abysmally less and on entering the work force are again paid less and later in life, enter a zone of high risk of becoming overweight and developing chronic diseases.
It is a matter of national shame that even in this noble cause, corruption, mismanagement and callous attitude of the authorities is defeating its very purpose, instead it has resulted in numerous instances when children fell sick, were to be hospitalized and in many cases, had to lose their lives. Sub-standard and even rotten rice and flour, spurious edible oil, contaminated water, unhygienic cooking space or makeshift kitchens and unclean containers result in the children falling prey to diseases and death after eating such food in schools. It is again a shame and a blot on those who manage such meals that as per news reports in many instances, lizards, rats, insects, flies ants and even snakes were found at or quite near the cooking places. The recent tragic incident purely of human callousness and utter carelessness resulted in the death of 27 budding flowers, of a primary school in the village of Dharmasati Gandwan in Saran district in Bihar. Many are critically ill and undergoing treatment. Again 50 children fell sick and had to be treated medically after having eaten meals in a Middle school near Madhubani , Bihar as a dead lizard was found in the food served to the unfortunate kids. Fortunately all were saved.
It is again a matter of utter shame that the school under reference, is functioning in a total space of 20×15 ft. and the children huddled with one another sitting – squatting on gunny bags with no arrangements of drinking water or toilets. In many schools, reports are that as many as 100 to 150 children are huddled in a space sufficient for not half as much. It is a question of priorities, a matter of according importance, an area which should concern the government that the premises, the buildings of the schools especially in rural and semi urban areas, are unfit for human inhabiting.
The state government citing the reasons for all this mess as paucity of funds holds no water as it can manage enough funds for fortifying vote banks with eye on elections, resulting in spending and earmarking crores of rupees for what it calls “development of minorities” which is borne by the fact that only a few days back, the Bihar cabinet approved a massive amount of Rs.800.30 crores for welfare of minorities in as many as 20 districts as against seven before. Could it not slice the whooping amount by at least one tenth to renovate, repair and maintain hundreds of primary and middle schools in the state? Are children no concern for the vote centric politicians? Can a paltry Rs. 2 lacs per child, as price of its life, assuage the inconsolable feelings of the affected parents who lost their dear ones? Was the food served to all these 47 children accidentally contaminated? Was it deliberately poisoned as alleged by the state education minister? Was there ever any surprise visit made to verify and ascertain how this mid-day meal was actually served in schools in Bihar? Why was not any heed paid to the cook who complained to the School Head that the mustard oil was emitting a strong foul smell? Under whose instructions, the cook used the same oil for cooking and even when the children complained about bitter taste and foul smell, they were allowed to consume the same stuff ? Why were bags of fertilizers and pesticides kept along with the items of uncooked food in the make shift store cum kitchen? Has mid-day meal in most of the parts of Bihar been made as a medium of making money at the cost of the health of the school children? Why even in such man made tragedy, Nitish government indulges in shifting blames and accountability? Why did the CM at least not sack the state Education Minister if his conscience did not on its own, stir him to do so ? At least , pending enquiry, what preliminary action by way of fixing accountability has been taken by the government? It is a matter to be rued that for issues like minority – majority or who is more secular and who is less, there are lightening like responses, rebuttals and rejoinders but about poisoning of school kids, none speaks with the same zeal. May be that none of the kids was related to any political leader.
Our political leaders are used to consume purest, nutritious and the healthiest non adulterated food, cannot know how poisonous food kills the poor innocent. It is the foremost duty of the media, the journalists, to call a spade a spade and raise the voice against incompetent, non- performing, corrupt and insensitive politicians. Congress would have asked for the resignation of Nitish government “on moral grounds” had he been in NDA but their morality is otherwise when the prospects of his party becoming a potent ally of UPA appears to them as guaranteed. What type of politics we are seeing? During the writing of these lines, many children have fallen seriously ill after they were given contaminated water in Dhulla, Maharashtra and as many as 12 children are reported to be very sick and undergoing treatment.
Let the manner of serving mid-day meal be emulated from ISKCON temple authorities on Banglore – Ahshya Patra from where as many as 13 lac children get their most hygienic, clean, no naked hand made food daily or from Mathura temple trust where 1.50 lac children are daily served meals with zero complaints whatsoever. Let mid-day meal be served like a mission and not as a farce or a ruse. Better wind it up, on the contrary.
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