Right to Food Campaign
 

Mid-day Meals: Day of Action (9 April 2002)

 

With the deadline of Feb 28th for introducing mid-day meals in half the districts in each state over, people took to streets across the country demanding the implementation of food related schemes. This is the first significant step for India's Right to Food Campaign. The action day also saw many groups getting together in the states to forming a local co-ordination committee. This has significantly boosted our local network.

Broadly the canvas of activities included:

  • Symbolic mid-day meal

    The theme of the event, if one could be called so, is cooking of mid-day meal by the community in form of demonstration. This was organised in places from the village schools to the cubban park of Bangalore. Miller school of Patna saw the largest of its kind with 5000 students participating in it. In Bhopal, 400 students had their fill and demanded 'energetically' the implementation of the programme in front of the CMs residence. The simple symbolic event caught the attention of the press and also the polity. A very wide ranging coverage of the same was given in many a journal and newspaper. Children with placards and having a meal harmoniously was on the pages of innumerable regional newspapers. Outlook magazine and Hindu too carried the same.

    Preparation of mid-day meal for children was done in strategic locations viz. in front of collector offices, other officials, etc. Chattisgarh had decided to do it in front of the CMs house, but it did not materialise with a permission being denied. Further, many schools in a large number of villages also did the same.

  • Demonstrations Galore

    Demonstrations were held in all but one of the participating states. All these capitals of States had some action. PMG square of Bubanehwar saw a rally that had participation from all parts of the state. Miller School of Patna and the Town Hall of Ranchi saw a gathering of thousands of children. Children stood in the prominent MG road of Bangalore with empty plates asking for mid-day meals to be served in their schools. At the district level, in scores of places demonstrations were held in front of collector offices. Similarly Thesil headquarters, village schools all saw some action in most of the states.

  • Media Coverage

    One of the high points of the campaign was the media coverage. Press conferences were held in all the 9 states. In many of them, interaction of children with the press was arranged. The press conferences and the ensuing events had got very wide coverage in each of the regional languages. Among the national journals, Times of India, Hindu, Business world, Outlook among others carried articles about the campaign. On the electronic media side, STAR and AAJ TAK covered it nationally. Many regional channels including DD Oriya, E-Tv, etc. covered the event. BBC radio carried a 3-minute item on the morning of 9th about the event.

  • The Alternate Media

    The event led to widespread discussion about the orders of the court by various sections of the community. Translation and distribution of the Supreme Court order was done extensively. The message about the entitlement reached a large section of the society that is normally out of the regular channels of information like the newspapers, etc. Locally organised meetings ensured that the participation by the local communities was high. This percolated the message further.

    In Benoi in Rajasthan and Shankargarh in UP, public hearings were organised. These were centred around the dysfunctionality of various food schemes. The jan sunwai that followed the efforts of the village of Badama in making complaints and securing the co-operation of the PDS dealer. These resulted in debates on the problems in the system among the wider public.

  • Consultation with the Government

    Consultation with the government was another prominent feature of the campaign. In almost every state, there were consultations with the government on the mid-day meals issue. In Bihar, a team led by PUCL met the education minister to demand the immediate implementation of the mid-day meal programme. In Orissa, an appointment was sought with the CM, but they had to meet the Additional Secretary to the CM. They submitted a ten-point memorandum that the secretary promised to discuss with them in a specially called meeting. The date for the same was supposed to be fixed within a week. Unlike in other states, our Jarkhand team managed to get a senior member of the ruling party to the event of April 9. The chief whip of BJP presided the meeting where children demanded the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in their schools. He promised to take question up very soon. The process of meeting the officials and politicians on this question was also taken up at the district levels. Many of them even participated in our events on April 9. Reactions from them were fairly positive. Most of them promised to do something about this. Interestingly some of them expressed ignorance about the Supreme Court order. The Thesildar that people from Jalon met told them that he would do his best but also told them that he had not got any order to that effect from the district administration. A collector in Karnataka grew quite angry at our demonstration and told our group 'the government is going to implement the scheme from June, I don't know why you NGOs are making such noise!' When many others promised to do things, only in Bihar did the Minister say that he cannot promise anything. Kudos to the straightforward man.

ISSUES TO TACKLE

In the process of the campaign certain issues propped up. These are important since they are pointers to the way the campaign should move forward on the mid-day meal scheme. Some of the most important issues and the responses are outlined below.

  • Quality of Food

    One thing that stood out in the campaign was the issue of food quality. In places where the scheme has been introduced, surveys established that the quality of food was of some concern. Our advocacy efforts were best made in Rajasthan. The grains from FCI were found to be of very bad quality. There were even cases of food poisoning reported.

    When a news came that a boy had died of food poisoning in Kota district, we felt that the programme was in jeopardy. PUCL rushed a team to Kota. It was felt that it is unlikely that it was caused by the mid day meal, since among other things, 70 others had taken the same in his class and the others did not complain of any problems. All the same, we need to take all precautions and start our efforts on this regard, if we want the programme to succeed in the time to come.

    In Rajasthan, efforts were taken immediately on various ends. With our advocacy, the government decided to set up the monitoring committees that the Supreme Court order demands. These were not set up by any state to our knowledge. The CM had also sent instructions to the district collectors to take personal care in this programme and even secretary level people were used in overseeing the implementation. The responsibility for administering the programme was given to the village itself. The centralised menu was withdrawn and the local government or the school was given the authority to fix the menu, etc. A regular monitoring of the quality is now carried on in the State by PUCL.

    In other states too, this issue propped up. In some places, affidavits were collected from parents about the quality of food served. In Calcutta, grains that were used in the preparation were shown to the press. We need to work on this issue intensively if we need to the programme to succeed.

    Many states have already set up monitoring committees. The stated aim of the committee of Jarkhand is to check the quality, regularity and quantity of the good served. We would be mooting a regular system of monitoring and using the feedback to work on the issue.

    The menu for the mid-day meal is another interesting issue. In Rajasthan the government had issued a centralised GO asking for 'gughri' to be served in all the schools. This takes a lot of time to prepare. It needs overnight soaking and 4 hours of preparation. In the process a lot of time was wasted of the school and of the teachers in particular. Contractors vied for 'ready to eat' meals (that were actually snacks) as a solution. But this posed the serious threat of diversion. Further, the same 'snack' on a daily basis would make children loose interest right away. Our efforts, as indicated earlier, have yielded villages the power to decide and to make the food of their choice. We need to get feed back from each state on the issue to know what direction our advocacy should take in each State.

  • Finances, salaries & expenses

    Inadequate allocations have been another area of grudge. 50 p for vegetables, Rs. 15 per day for helpers, etc. are the kind of allocations that are made for the mid-day meal scheme in various States. In Jarkhand, a detailed survey was done on these issues. They have started asking for increased allocations. Similarly, we should find out the allocations for vessels, for buildings, etc. Rs. 5 per kg of grain is being provided by the GoI for vegetables and other ingredients. This has been found to be too low an amount. Each state needs to arrive at its figure and press for its allocation before the programme restarts in June and July.

    The issue of helpers is also important. In Jarkhand, the allocation of Rs. 15 per day for a helper was found inadequate. It takes the helper atleast 4 hours of work to get the job done. For the amount of Rs. 15, it was difficult to find someone to work on the same. It this were to continue, a lot of teachers' time is liable to be wasted and the incentive for pilferage is also higher. Just one more issue to look at.

  • Ahead on the mid-day meal scheme

    Many of the issues outlined above are manifesting themselves as the schools are reopening after the summer vacation. Over these, there is also the challenge of bringing a more meaningful nutrition perspective to the mid-day meal scheme. The present scheme of things tackles only the calorie-protein deficiency. The other forms of malnutrition including the micronutrients, iron & other deficiencies are possibly of greater importance in today's context. The challenge of a more meaningful mid-day meal scheme that is implemented well looms before us.

Last updated: 28 March 2006