Under pressure from religious and spiritual outfits, the Maharashtra government has withdrawn funding for vital sources of protein-eggs and sugar, under the mid-day meal scheme. This decision, however, has raised concerns among education and health experts about compromising the nutritional status of school children.
Maharashtra is the latest BJP-ruled state, after Madhya Pradesh and Goa, to ban eggs in government-run and funded schools. Last week, the state라이브 바카라 school education and sports department issued a government resolution eliminating provisions for eggs and sugar under the revised list of foods to be provided under the midday meal scheme.
The resolution states that no additional government funds would be offered to eggs and sugar, which is used to name nachni satva (sweet ragi millet), and schools wanting to offer these foods can voluntarily raise money.
The decision affects 85,267 Zilla Parishad and civic schools across the state providing hot and home-cooked mid-day meals to children.
In 2024, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government had introduced the provision of eggs in addition to the regular meals for school children under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojana’. Under this, the state government allotted Rs 5 per child for eggs once a week. The central government, which provides 60% of the funds for midday meals, does not specify eggs in its list.
The decision to give students eggs was criticised by religious sects including Jain, Warkari communities, ISKON and BJP라이브 바카라 spiritual cell.
“We had campaigned with the government to withdraw eggs from schools, to maintain the sanctity of religious beliefs of some communities. We welcome the decision by CM Devendra Fadnavis on withdrawing eggs,” said Acharya Tushar Bhosale, the head of BJP라이브 바카라 Spiritual cell.
Bhosale added that eggs were not always a norm in mid-day meals and including them in the meals could affect children from certain communities who were strictly ‘vegetarian.’
“When eggs are distributed in schools, children from families who are traditionally vegetarian can get inspired to emulate them. We should respect food choices of such families,” he said adding that the government should explore options like almonds or bananas to replace eggs.
The withdrawal was slammed by activists in the health and educational fields who pointed out that Maharashtra has a high prevalence of malnutrition among infants and school-going children. According to a recent survey by Jan Arogya Abhiyan, a network of health NGOs, every fourth child in Maharashtra is malnourished.
Even thought Maharashtra is an economically prosperous state, with massive budgets for the development of cities, towns and infrastructure projects, the state라이브 바카라 expenditure on health accounts for a meagre 4.1 per cent of the budget.
“It is criminal to roll back the provision of nutritious food like eggs from the food plates of school-going children,” said Nitin Dalvi, president of the Maharashtra Parents Teachers Association.
“It is akin to snatching food from the mouths of poor children. In the rural areas, families of farmers and labourers struggle to provide nutritious food to the children and mid-day meals were easy options,” he added.
Dalvi noted that to protect the food choices of minorities, the government was trampling on the nutritious source of the majority of children who do not have objections to eggs. “Children라이브 바카라 well-being and nutrition should be prioritised over political considerations or religious sentiments,” he said.
Public health expert Dr. Abhay Shukla, national co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan said there was an urgent need to improve nutrition levels among children.
“The state has the highest malnutrition levels among children -- at 25.6 per cent-- in the entire country. Young children require good-quality protein, which is easily digestible. Eggs are like protein capsules, easy to digest, and assimilate in the body. There라이브 바카라 no ethical and logical reason to ban them from mid-day meals,” he said.
Dr. Shukla, who works with the state government on nutritional programs for tribal people, said there was severe wasting and stunting among children, from tribal communities and scheduled castes in the rural areas and urban slums, due to poor access to highly nutritious sources of food.
“Middle class and upper middle class in the cities have the option of replacing eggs with dairy products or other items. But tribals living in remote areas do not have access to such supplements.”
He emphasised that non-fertilised eggs have no life and therefore come in the category of vegetarian foods, noting that milk is also an animal produce but there is “no opposition to its consumption.”
