Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday requested the Narendra Modi government to immediately resume the midday meal scheme, arguing that children had been the worst affected by the pandemic both in terms of education and food.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Sonia said: “This matter affects the collective future of our country. Our children have suffered the most since the start of the pandemic. Children are our future. Schools were the first to close and the last to open among all the institutions. Closure of schools stopped the midday meal scheme. Though dry ration was provided to the people because of the National Food Security Act and the Supreme Court’s direction, that was not a substitute for children getting cooked nutritional food.”

She added: “It is indisputable that the families of these children had to face extreme difficulties on the livelihood front. Such a crisis had never been witnessed in the recent past. But as children have started attending school, they need nutritional food. Not only that, this scheme will also help bring back to school those children who abandoned education due to Covid-19 disruptions.

“The National Family Health Survey 2019-21 suggests that the number of children below the age of five affected by malnutrition has increased in comparison with the situation in 2015-16. This is worrying and the government must take remedial measures.”

Sonia asked the government to ensure that nutritional food is provided to children below three years who don’t come to school, apart from pregnant women and lactating mothers, under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. She demanded the setting up of community kitchens in addition to the system of providing food with the help of anganwadi workers.

The Centre had issued guidelines to states to ensure supply of food to eligible children when schools were closed in March 2020 due to Covid-19. While some state governments distributed dry rations as well as cash, others failed to do so. Research papers on the impact of Covid-19 on the midday meal scheme suggest that offtake of foodgrains under the scheme came down drastically during the lockdown.

The supply chain also got disrupted because anganwadis were engaged in Covid-related work instead of looking after children and pregnant women. In addition to dry ration, cooking cost allowance was given through cash transfer but payments were erratic and inadequate. Many states have said the delay in cash transfer is because of non-availability of funds from the Centre.

Schools have opened now and many states have already announced the resumption of the midday meal scheme from April.