The Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on children’s health and nutrition cannot be overstated. The children of West Bengal have, unsurprisingly, not been an exception. A study conducted two years ago found that the number of children suffering from malnutrition had almost doubled in the state since the pandemic had forced the closure of the Integrated Child Development Services. Even before the pandemic, the rate of stunting among children in Bengal, the National Family Health Survey-5 conducted in 2019-20 found, had risen marginally. The link between nutrition and another crucial sphere — education — needs equal attention. A child can hardly concentrate on studies on an empty stomach. The mid-day meal programme has gone a long way in addressing the problem. A study found that children who were provided school lunches for three to four years scored upto 18% higher in their tests. Therefore, the Bengal administration’s recent decision to include an ‘extra day’ of nutrition in the meals served to children after the summer holidays is laudable. But why is it being implemented in government and government-aided schools in Jangalmahal, Sunderbans and the Dooars only? Bengal has shown that it is capable of inventiveness in welfare. The mandatory inclusion of eggs and a wide assortment of seasonal fruits in the prescribed diet of students — an initiative that was wholly funded from the state’s coffers — bears evidence of this. The state must find ways of widening the coverage of an extra day’s nutrition, a reliable and often the only source of calories and protein for poor children.

Multiple studies have shown that the mid-day meal programme — now rechristened the PM Poshan scheme — has been able to address classroom hunger, improve children’s concentration on the lessons, and lead to higher enrolment. And, yet, the initiative is hobbled by a number of problems. Central allocation has fallen to Rs 11,600 crores in 2023-24 from Rs 12,800 crores in 2022-23. There is an urgent need to raise the allocation keeping in mind the spectre of inflation that makes it impossible to feed the children nutritious food at the current miserly rates. Corruption remains an endemic challenge: the Union ministry of education recently found “serious discrepancies” in Bengal’s midday meal data. The salaries of anganwadi staff are low: even this pittance is not distributed on time. Politics remains a persistent concern even though the mid-day meal programme, whose finances are shared by the states and the Centre, could have been a platform to strengthen India’s federal ethos.