Egg-free school meals scramble politics in India<\/p>\n
KOLKATA: Teacher Raja Dey fears attendance might drop now that\ngovernment-run schools have stopped serving eggs for lunch in his\neastern Indian state, a dietary change that has stirred a political\nstorm.<\/p>\n
The humble egg, a popular food in West Bengal, was taken off the menu\nafter the state\u2019s recently elected Hindu nationalist government said a\nreligious charity would provide free, vegetarian cooked meals in\nstate-run schools.<\/p>\n
The new arrangement has rekindled a long-running debate over food,\nfaith and nutrition in the world\u2019s most populous country, with critics\naccusing the government of trying to turn schoolchildren vegetarian.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s party, which swept to power in West\nBengal for the first time in regional elections held in May, often\npromotes vegetarianism as a part of its nationalist agenda, although\nmost Indian Hindus eat meat and fish.<\/p>\n
Eggs, which Hindus generally consider non-vegetarian, are even more\nwidely consumed.<\/p>\n
Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, whose regional\nTrinamool Congress (TMC) lost May\u2019s vote after 15 years in power, has\ndenounced the move to remove eggs from school meals as going \u201cagainst\nthe culture\u201d of the state, home to more than 100 million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BJP government is trying to impose vegetarianism on school\nchildren,\u201d TMC lawmaker Dola Sen told AFP.<\/p>\n
Some teachers have expressed concerns over attendance rates as well\nas good nutrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mid-day meals have been one of the biggest attractions in\nstate-run primary schools,\u201d teacher Dey told AFP.<\/p>\n
WORLD\u2019S LARGEST SCHOOL LUNCH SCHEME<\/p>\n
While there is no nationwide data linking eggs to attendance in\ngovernment-run schools, Dey said that \u201cstudents turn up in large numbers\non days when eggs are provided\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the southern state of Karnataka, official figures from last year\nshowed that attendance rose from 93.5 to 98.97 per cent after egg\ndistribution had been expanded to six days a week.<\/p>\n
In West Bengal, eggs, previously served once a week, were replaced\nlast month with plant-based alternatives as the state government tapped\nthe International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - commonly\nknown as the Hare Krishna movement - as the new provider of school\nmeals.<\/p>\n
ISKCON is the leading provider of India\u2019s school lunches - the\nlargest such programme in the world, according to the UN - and serves\nonly vegetarian food.<\/p>\n
The lunch scheme is widely acknowledged to have improved enrolment\nrates across the country, with multiple peer-reviewed research papers\nidentifying an increase of up to 15 per cent.<\/p>\n
There are also nutritional benefits.<\/p>\n
A 2021 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute\nfound that the scheme has played a key role in reducing stunting among\nIndian children.<\/p>\n
With eggs off the menu, public health advocates have warned that\nchildren from poor families - the primary target of the lunch scheme -\ncould lose an important source of protein and other nutrients.<\/p>\n
\u201cGOLD STANDARD\u201d<\/p>\n
ISKCON has pushed back, arguing that soya chunks, cottage cheese and\nlentils are as nutritious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will ensure that whatever nutrients a child gets from eggs will\nbe matched or exceeded by superior quality protein and vitamins in our\nmeals,\u201d Surovijoy Govinda Das, a senior member of ISKCON, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s education minister, Dipak Barman, said that \u201cthere are\nmany people in our country who lead a healthy life on a vegetarian\ndiet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some nutritionists beg to differ.<\/p>\n
Eggs are \u201cthe gold standard for protein quality\u201d, Sylvia Karpagam, a\ncommunity health physician, told Frontline magazine.<\/p>\n
Without \u201cfact-based information \u2026 the country faces a looming crisis\nin nutrition and health outcomes\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
In the run-up to May\u2019s vote, TMC party members had accused Modi\u2019s BJP\nof seeking to ban fish and meat altogether.<\/p>\n
The ruling party denied any such intention, but last month\u2019s menu\nchange has revived concerns.<\/p>\n
The matter has made it to the High Court, which has asked the state\nto clarify its position on handing over the lunch scheme to ISKCON. A\nhearing is slated for next month.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/egg-free-school-meals-scramble-politics-in-india-1784011842", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }