The Hindu Business Line : Knowledge-hungry yes, food-hungry no

AT A panel discussion at IIM-Lucknow, Jean Dreze pointed to a paradox of Indian media and/or mindset. Newspapers and magazines are full of articles on such issues as nuclear war, globalisation and even cricket, but it is rare to see writings on as basic an issue as tackling hunger or malnutrition, which is one of our major problems.

Note that 50 per cent of the world's hungry lives in five countries: India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia. Malnutrition is a silent killer particularly of children. Studies suggest that the risk of death from common childhood diseases doubles for a mildly malnourished child, treble for a moderately malnourished child and zooms approximately eight times for a severely malnourished child compared to a well nourished child. Hunger caused by poverty is also one of the oft-cited reasons for children keeping away from schools either by not registering at all or dropping out early on.

The problems of hunger and malnutrition can be well handled within the framework of education reform. Mid-day meal schemes are a very plausible proposition to persuade children to attend school. As Jean Dreze pointed out, mid-day meals have several positive dimensions that help in the social, academic and nutritional progress of children. With nutritional supplements, the meal provides them the energy to make academic progress, especially to those who cannot afford to bring meal to school.

The concept is not new and many State governments introduced mid-day meal schemes as early as the 1940s, by themselves and with the assistance of the FAO, Unicef and the WHO. During 1990-91, 17 States were running midday meal schemes.

To enhance enrolment and reduce drop out rates, the Human Resource Development Ministry introduced in 1995 the National Programme on Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NSPE) under which the Centre bore the cost of foodgrains to be supplied through the FCI. Expenses thereafter, including of cooking, were to be met by the State governments. Since the launch of the programme, overall, 22 per cent of children in State government schools were being provided cooked meals. Many States continued with the distribution of foodgrains as permitted by the scheme.

In response to a petition by PUCL, Rajasthan, on right to food, the Supreme Court passed in November 2001 an interim order directing the States to provide cooked mid-day meals to all children in government and aided schools. States that did not run the scheme were to start one and cover half the districts (by the order of poverty) by February 2002 and the rest by May 2002.

Thus, since November 2002, States have been providing cooked meals. In Delhi, ready-to-eat food is being distributed. In 2002-03 about 1.75 lakh schools provided cooked/processed foods under the mid-day meal scheme. The meals supplied by the States/Union Territories differ according to local food habits but they have been requested by the Supreme Court to maintain a minimum calorie value of 300.

Despite the success in many States, the programme has had an interrupted run mainly because of operational difficulties and paucity of funds. There are many problems in implementing the programme: Of providing additional manpower, getting cooking appliances and utensils, maintaining supplies, keeping reasonable hygiene, and caste prejudices.

Recently, children in West Bengal, in a symbolic protest, begged in the streets of Kolkata drawing attention to the alleged non-supply of mid-day meal due to lack of funds. Similar protests were organised in Bihar for implementing the scheme. It must be recognised that the gains of mid-day meal out weigh the problems; States should do everything possible on a war-footing to implement this programme by cutting wasteful expenditure, which is really the thrust of reform. The country should certainly pass to the future, knowledge-hungry progeny, not food-hungry, because, we cannot afford to lose our most important asset — citizens of the future.

(The authors are with the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, and can be contacted at kala@nipfp.org.in)

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Twisted policy

Knowledge-hungry yes, food-hungry no

A corporate body over board

Perverse logic

Separate platform for small-caps ideal

The all-important FDI flow factor

Pseudo-victory at Cancun?

`No standards world-wide for pesticide residues in soft-drinks'

Government audit

Social responsibility of companies