-The Times of India The tragic incident in Bihar has raised questions about the midday meal (MDM) scheme, an otherwise popular and successful programme. Laggard states should use this as an opportunity to catch up with others and protect the scheme against emerging dangers. For those unfamiliar with it, the MDM scheme is a huge programme that today feeds more than 11 crore children every day. It is also a very popular...
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Missing ingredient in the school lunch -Akansha Yadav, Kavita Srinivasan and Sowmya Kidambi
-The Hindu Social audits of the mid-day meal scheme by parents can ensure that the world's largest intervention against hunger that also helps keep children in school need not suffer setbacks like the Bihar tragedy This week, 23 children lost their lives after having a mid-day meal served at a school in Bihar's Saran district. Preliminary reports suggest that the school lacked a storage facility for foodgrain which led to contamination and...
More »Bihar midday meal tragedy raises concerns about food security bill
-Reuters Raipur/Patna: The deaths of at least 23 children who were poisoned after eating a free school meal has triggered an outcry over food safety just as the ruling Congress party is set to launch an ambitious plan to feed 800 million poor, with an eye on elections due within a year. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi‘s national subsidised food project includes free school meals and expands existing handouts to make it probably...
More »The Food Security Debate in India -Jean Drèze
-The New York Times Blog The right to food is finally becoming a lively political issue in India. Aware of the forthcoming national elections in 2014, political parties are competing to demonstrate - or at least proclaim - their commitment to food security. In a country where endemic undernutrition has been accepted for too long as natural, this is a breakthrough of sorts. The rhetoric, however, is not always matched by understanding...
More »Errant officials well-protected in UPA's game-changer food bill -Chetan Chauhan
-The Hindustan Times The UPA's new game-changer, the food security bill, provides for lesser penalty for errant officials than the watershed Right To Information Act and a tedious process for booking them. The RTI Act had provided for a maximum penalty of Rs. 25,000 against any official denying information to an applicant. The government has adopted a minimal approach by prescribing just Rs. 5,000 penalty for officials, who fail to provide subsidised...
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