The issue of students dumping “tasteless midday meals” was raised on two successive days during the ongoing winter session of the Jharkhand Assembly.

While CPI-ML MLA from Bagodar, Vinod Singh, raised the issue and referred to The Telegraph report on Tuesday at the Assembly, the Kharsawan MLA of JMM, Dasrath Gagrai, raised it on Wednesday and stated the problem faced by children because of midday meals being supplied from the centralised kitchen.

Both the MLAs asked the state government to stop the centralised kitchen scheme for the distribution of midday meals and again start the old system of cooking on school premises.

The Telegraph had in its report on Tuesday cited a survey report by an NGO Khadya Suraksha Jan Adhikar Manch, which campaigns for food security.

The report claimed that schoolchildren in four blocks of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand were fed up with the midday meals cooked at the centralised kitchen of the Annamrita Foundation. The survey reported instances of children throwing the food away or leaving large portions untouched on their plates as it was “tasteless”, was prepared without onions or garlic and did not include eggs in its menu.

On Wednesday, a delegation of the NGO met the West Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ananya Mittal at Chaibasa (district headquarters of West Singhbhum) and asked her to stop the centralised kitchen scheme for the midday meals and implement the old system.

The delegation shared the survey of midday meals being provided by centralised kitchens in 42 schools of 23 panchayats of four blocks of the district (Sadar, Khuntapani, Tantnagar and Jhinkapani) between September and November 2023.

The delegation claimed that in the survey, students of all 42 schools and teachers of 92 per cent of the schools said that earlier the midday meal which was prepared by the cook in the school itself used to be better in quality and taste than the food that is being provided now by the centralised kitchen.

“Teachers of 90 per cent of schools also said that earlier when food was prepared in the school itself, children used to eat more. Now it is common for them to throw away the food because of poor quality and not like the taste,” the survey reports.

During the survey, children, teachers and cooks of most of the schools said that earlier when the food was prepared on the school premises, it used to be hot, fresh and tasty. Green vegetables and pulses were available daily as part of the food.

“But the taste of food from the central kitchen is completely different from the food at home. Food gets cold quickly in winter and spoils in summer. Green vegetables are never available. Among the vegetables, only potatoes and gourds are available as part of the meal, of which there are large pieces which sometimes do not even get cooked completely. The pulses remain watery and sometimes are not even fully boiled. Rice and pulses often get spoiled too,” said Chaibasa-based activist Ramesh Jerai quoting the survey report.

The delegation also cited the NFHS (National Family Health Survey)-5 figures which state that 62 per cent of children under five years of age in the district are malnourished.

“In such circumstances, it is unjust for children to get poor midday meals and is a violation of the National Food Security Act. By feeding food without garlic and
onion, a particular religious ideology is being imposed on children, especially tribal children, which is contrary to constitutional values,” added Jerai.