Frontline – July 05, 2019

All schoolsin ruralareasanda
fewin urban areas are provided
freshlycookedmealsprepared in the
schoolpremises, andthescheme is
administered by the districtauthor-
itiesandtheDepartmentof Public
Instruction.In 5,494urbanschools,
with9.23lakhchildren,the depart-
menthasan arrangementwith 74
non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) to providelunch. Thisim-
pliesthatNGOsprovidemealsto
around17 per centof all schoolgoing
children.
ThelargestNGOis theAkshaya
PatraFoundation(APF). It wasan
earlyparticipantin theMDMSin
Karnatakaandprovides mealsto
4.32lakhchildrenin 2,825 schoolsin
five districts (Bengaluru Urban,
Mangaluru, Mysuru, Ballari and
Dharwad),thatis, around 8 per cent
of all schoolgoing children in
Karnataka.In Bengaluru, it covers
2,47,000childrenin 1,171schools,
includingall theschoolsunderthe
purviewof theMunicipalCorpora-
tion of Bengaluru, the Bruhat
Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP). (Theabovefiguresare from
theDepartmentof PublicInstruc-
tion. There is a slight variance
between these figures and those
providedby theAPF.Accordingto
the NGO,it providesmid-day meals
to 2,887 schools,covering4.49lakh
childrenin Karnataka.)
Overthe pastyear,therehas been
a controversywithregardto the role
of theAPFin providingthenoon
mealas it hasrefusedto include
onionas an ingredientin the prepar-
ationof sambaralthoughthe NGOis
mandatedto do so, by theDepart-
mentof PublicInstructionin its cir-
culardatedDecember 28,2013.(A
copyof thecircularis inFrontline’s
possession.) TheAPF’sfooddoesnot
include garliceither,but it is not
mandated to be includedin the list of
rawingredients. Accordingto the
circular, riceandsambarmustbe
providedfourtimesa week(from
Mondayto Thursday),bisibelebath
(a preparationwithriceandlentils)
on Fridays, and“foodproductfrom
wheat” on Saturday. Regionalvari-
ationsare allowed.Jowar(sorghum
millet)is usedinsteadof wheatin

northernKarnataka andragi(finger

millet)replaceswheatin southern

Karnataka.Thecircularsaysonion

mustbe usedfourtimesa week,on

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and

Saturday,in sambar.Themenuhas

beenprescribedkeeping in mindthe

calorific requirementsof a growing

child.Themenu is designed in sucha

waythatprimaryschoolstudentsget

450 kilocalories of foodandmiddle

andsenior schoolstudentsget 700

kilocaloriesof theirdailyrequire-

mentthroughthe mid-daymeal.

Interestingly, the menu was

formalisedwhencomplaints arose

thatNGOswerenot providingnutri-

tiousmeals. Thecircularparticularly

identifies Bengaluru Urban and

Dharwadas “SpecialFocusDistricts”

for poorutilisationof foodgrainsand

lowcoverage of children. Bothdis-

trictshavea largenumberof schools

to whichthe APFprovidesmeals.

Thecircularstates:“TheNGOs

thatare involvedin the implementa-

tionof mid-daymeals schemeacross

the Stateare supplyingsamekindof

foodeverydayto schools,usingsame

kindof vegetableseverydayandin-

steadof using foodingredients as per

the localfoodcustoms,are preparing

foodfollowing theirownorganisa-

tion’sfoodpractices andsupplying it

to children.Becauseof this,notonly

are children not eating the foodwith

enjoymentbutmonitoring institu-

tionshavealsoraisedobjections. Not

onlythat,duringvisitsto schools, the

opinionsoughtfromchildrenalso

supplementsthis.”

Thiscontroversyescalatedlate

lastyearwhenM.R.Maruti,Joint

Director, MDMS, Department of

PublicInstruction,wroteto the APF

on November 11, 2018,instructingit

to complywiththe prescribedmenu

of the Stategovernmentandinclude

onionandgarlicin its meals. The

APFrespondedby statingthatits

mealscomplied withthestipulated

nutritionalstandards.Whenthe Na-

tionalInstitute of Nutrition(NIN)

approved the APF menu, Maruti

wroteanotherletterto theAPFon

April12,2019,saying thatit wasnot

requiredto changeits menu.

TASTEOFFOOD

Whenthe issueis viewed froma lar-

ger perspective, three objections can

be raisedover theAPF’srefusalto

includeonionandgarlicin its meals.

First,therehavebeenwidelyrepor-

tedcomplaints withregardto the

tasteof thefoodserved. Tasteis a

subjectivematter,butthere seemto

be too many complaintsto treatit as

an aberration. “Wearenottalking

aboutthequalityof foodandnutri-

tion.Thereis no compromiseon the

qualityof thefoodprovidedby the

APFandit is hygienic.Thecom-

plaintis that it tastesthe sameevery

day,”saidMaruti. Thestatementis

valuableas it comesfromthenodal

officethatsupervises the implement-

ationof the MDMSin Karnataka.

What logicallyfollows fromthe

statement is thatthishasledto a

declinein theconsumptionof food

by childrenin theseschools,the con-

sequence of which would be a dropin

nutritional standards.

Siddharth Joshi, an independent

researcher associatedwiththe Right

to FoodCampaign,stated:“Foodbe-

ing blandis a contributingfactorfor

schoolchildren to opt out of the

scheme.The momentcentralised

kitchenscomeintothepicture, the

qualityof the fooddeteriorates. The

MDMSis designedto fulfil one-third

of thecalorific requirementsof the

day.As manyof thesestudentscome

from marginalised communities,

thisis theirchanceof havingtheir

onlygoodmealin the dayandevenif

thisis notbeingeaten,there is a

seriousproblem.”

Howdo we realise thatthefood

consumedby the pupils is inad-

equate? In a 2015report by the

ComptrollerandAuditorGeneral of

TheAPFprovides

mealsto4.32lakh

children in

2,8 25 schools

infiveKarnataka

districts.