Sir,
The tragic incident of the death of 23 children in Bihar has sent shockwaves across the country. Forensic examination of the killer meal served to the children on that fateful day has found that it was contaminated by a pesticide. More shocking is the fact that the school Headmistress, who has been absconding, did not bother to taste the food herself or have it tasted by the teachers before serving it the innocent children.
Mid-day Meal scheme is an important welfare scheme covering about 12 crore Indian children in 12 lakh Primary and Upper Primary school everyday. Such a vast scheme certainly calls for strong commitment of implementation by officials and bureaucrats and parents need to be trained to monitor the quality and infrastructure for supply cum storage as also the nutritional standard of food grains. Effective social monitoring by parents is the soul of the programme and they must be empowered to demand accountability from the schools and officers responsible for the implementation of the scheme. Safety of food being served to the students is of paramount importance and none can understand this better than the mothers of the children who have to eat it. So Mother’s Groups should be formed on the local basis to oversee the delivery and cooking of food grains. Food grain need to be safely stored to make them free from pest infestation. Cooking costs and carriage charges need to be enhanced in view of the rise of price of eatables and fuels. The wages of cooks should also be enhanced. It must be ensured that the food is stored and cooked in hygienic places and water supplied is pure and uncontaminated. Regular inspection by the officers be conducted and any lapse on their part be viewed seriously. This scheme has been launched with the objective of improving nutritional status of children studying in Primary and Upper Primary classes and encouraging the poor kids and drop outs to attend school and improve enrolment in such schools. There have been complaints of sub standard and half cooked food being served to the students. As such social auditing of the scheme is must to implement the scheme, achieve the desired objectives and prevent such unfortunate incidents in future.
Fortunately, no such incident has taken place in J&K but we cannot afford to be complacent. We must learn lessons from the Bihar tragedy and adopt multi prolonged strategy to implement the scheme successfully and efficiently. Doctors and Food Inspectors should be asked to inspect samples of cooked food periodically to ensure quality of food being served to the poor children so that they may not become victims rather than beneficiaries of Mid day meals.
Yours etc…..
Ashok Sharma
Flat No. 4/A Housing Colony, Udhampur
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