Sir — The editorial, “Bad egg” (Dec 18), makes a pertinent point. It is shocking that religious prejudices can rob children of their fundamental right to food in a secular country like India. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that a nutritious and hearty mid-day meal can reduce dropout rates in schools along with checking malnutrition among children.

Given that India is home to 48.2 million malnourished children with stunted growth, the careless disregard towards the menu of mid-day meals reveals the establishment’s apathy. Eggs are highly nutritious. Further, a boiled egg cannot be adulterated in any way, making it the perfect component of welfare schemes. Add to this the fact that five million eggs reportedly crack or go bad in India owing to the lack of adequate cold storages and the absence of the protein from mid-day meals seems more senseless.

The purpose of the mid-day meal scheme is to provide nutritious food to students and address the problem of malnutrition. The government should ensure that no prejudice stands in the way of this.

Sujit De,

Calcutta

Sir — The task of deciding the items on the menu for a mid-day meal should lie solely with the nutritionists or public health experts. The human resource development ministry or any private agency contracted by it to serve mid-day meals should not have a say in what the children will eat. It has been reported that Akshay Patra, the organization which provides mid-day meals to over 1.76 million children in 14,700 schools, has deliberately kept eggs, onion and garlic off the menu for its own religious beliefs. But according to the agency, the meals it supplies comply with the norms of the HRD ministry.

The government must remember that its decisions affect a vast number of people critically. The least it can do is set up a commission of experts to determine food items which will provide the highest amount of nutrition to children from underprivileged families.

Sukhamay Biswas,

Calcutta

Sir — Akshay Patra has been praised for the nutritious, clean and hygienic food that it serves to children as part of mid-day meals. The controversy around the inclusion of eggs, onions and garlic is needless, especially since the eggs that are mass-produced these days in factories are often laced with antibiotics. Worldwide, there has been a shift in consumption patterns towards plant-based food and beverages. These are widely believed to be more natural, sustainable and healthy. Akshay Patra should be allowed to continue running its well-managed programme.

H.N. Ramakrishna,

Bangalore

Flavours of Bengal

Sir — Bengalis have always taken pride in having a nuanced palate. But time — and the Green Revolution? — seems to have tamed their taste buds. A plate of pulao served at a famous Bengali establishment convinced me of this. The short-grained, sweet and sticky variety of rice known as gobindobhog that was synonymous with pulao has been replaced in most places with the long-grained basmati. No one can deny that basmati is flavourful, but can it ever replace the taste of parboiled rice with mangsher jhol? The ubiquitousness of basmati is killing the vibrance of Bengali cuisine.

Sanchari Mukherjee,

Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — Amitav Ghosh should be congratulated for winning the coveted Jnanpith award. He has the rare distinction of being the first Indian writer in English to bag the prestigious prize. Ghosh’s writings paint vivid pictures on a wide variety of themes like travel, the unique problems of the diaspora, post-colonialism, postmodernism, eco-criticism, history, memory, time, political struggle, communal violence and loss, among other things.

Ghosh’s research is always deep and illuminating and his books like The Shadow Lines and The Hungry Tide tug at the reader’s heartstrings. The award that he has just been given is well-deserved indeed. One expects many more enriching books from Ghosh.

Dileep D. Anand,

Alappuzha, Kerala