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Where they’re denied eggs, they’d welcome it if they could afford it -Milind Ghatwai
-The Indian Express

In Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district, reeling under malnourishment, govt shuts eggs out of anganwadis while locals see hope in poultry farming

Maryarpura (Hoshangabad): Gagan Lachhu is so emaciated that he can hardly walk on his own. In a few months he will turn two but his weight is an alarming six kilograms. “Once, we nearly forced his mother to admit him at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in Itarsi but she ran away,’’ says anganwadi worker Maya Badgoti.

Gagan’s case highlights how difficult the battle against malnutrition is in this tribal-dominated block of Hoshangabad. The district, incidentally, is one of three in Madhya Pradesh for which officers had favoured inclusion of eggs on the anganwadi menu on a pilot basis before the proposal was shot down by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The anganwadi programme under the Centre’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is implemented by the states.

Consumption of eggs or meat is common among the tribal population. The only reason they don’t eat these regularly is that they can’t afford it. “If eggs are introduced, all but 10 per cent would welcome it. They relish it,’’ says Maya, who regularly interacts with parents and villagers.

In any case, anganwadi workers do change the menu depending on what’s available. When The Indian Express visited some anganwadis in Hoshangabad, kadhi-pakodas that were to be served with rice had made way for dal because the curd needed for kadhi was not available.

“The curd vendor flatly told us he would bother to come this far if we bought only five litres. What will we do with so much curd and where will be get the money to buy it?” says Yashoda Parte, a worker at the remote Nayachicha anganwadi that looks after 37 children.

Parte, who joined in 2011, says the children all eat eggs at home. Though she wasn’t in service then, Parte has heard eggs and bananas were served under the Shaktiman Project during 2007-08.

One of the few activities that have helped locals earn here is, in fact, poultry farming. In Morpani village about two kilometres away, several poultry sheds are either taking shape or have already come up — a pointer to the potential that the villagers see in poultry farming, even though that is at odds with the Madhya Pradesh government’s focus on promoting vegetarianism.

Based in Sukhtawa, not very far from here, is Kesla Poultry Sahakari Society, a cooperative of 1,000 women members who are engaged in broiler farming, and most of them have poultry sheds in their backyards. The average capacity of a member is to rear 700 birds, the maximum being 1,000 birds, and the average earning between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 a month. “Last year the co-op did business of Rs 30 crore,’’ says Dr Ranjan Neog, a veterinary doctor with the cooperative.

While referring to the alleged pressure the Jain community has brought to bear on the CM to declare his no-egg policy, Right-to-Food campaigner Sachin Jain says “imposing dietary habits followed by a minuscule section of the population on the majority is a dangerous trend”.

MP has more than 80,160 anganwadis and 12,070 mini anganwadis with the state and Centre sharing the cost of providing nutritious food to the beneficiaries. Besides children between six months and six years of age, these centres are also meant to provide nutritious food to pregnant and lactating women and malnourished children.

A beneficiary up to six years of age is provided 12-15 grams protein per day and the cost prescribed is Rs 9 per day. An underweight child gets 20-25 grams protein at Rs 9 per day. Lactating/pregnant women and adolescent girls get 18-20 grams protein at Rs 7 per day.

The breakfast menu, rotated over the week, includes khichdi, thuli (sweet/salted) and mithi lapsi. Lunch includes roti, vegetables, chawal pulao etc. Egg is part of neither breakfast nor lunch in anganwadis or, for that matter, mid-day meals for schoolchildren.

But more often than not, the menu depends on the anganwadi workers and the self-help groups that supply the food. When regular cooks don’t turn up, it’s left to the anganwadi workers to see the day through.

The seven-hour schedule goes through a drastic change in the summers when children are sent home around 11 or 11.30 am. If they are delayed, it’s only because the cook has turned up late.

The anganwadi managed by Maya is considered a model, and yet the nearest water source is nearly a kilometre away. In a village with a population of 820, as many as 72 children turn up daily.