-Live Mint We need to further strengthen and resource the mid-day meal scheme, and not consider its curtailment or dilution The bone-chilling tragedy of 22 children dying in Chhapra in rural Bihar after having their mid-day meal at a government school has rightly shaken the public conscience. But we should resist the temptation of simplistic knee-jerk conclusions, or from attributing blame to the local officials alone or to the state administration....

-The Business Standard The tragedy involving the death of children in a Bihar school should reinforce recent efforts to improve the programme, notes Amarjeet Sinha. The sad loss of 23 innocent lives after consuming hot cooked meals in a school in Bihar has rightly shocked and angered people. The highly poisonous pesticide monocrotophos found in children's food and a headmistress overlooking the cook and the children's protests about the oil and not...

-Rediff.com Let us recount some facts to understand the circumstances that led to the death of 23 children at a primary school at Gandaman, Chapra . First, some micro-facts : The primary school struck by the tragedy is a NAV SRJIT VIDYALAYA, a newly created school. In fact, it is a break away from an earlier existing middle school in the village. This school, if you care...

-Outlook Koraput (Odisha): Amid reports of students falling ill after consuming mid-day meal at schools in Dhenkanal and other districts of Odisha, tribal-dominated Koraput requires immediate steps to check the unhygienic condition in which food is prepared. According to official reports as many as 2,14,000 students have been enrolled at the 2,757 primary schools of the district but at least 1,378 schools lack proper kitchen to prepare food forcing the officials concerned...

-The Telegraph What happened in Bihar won't happen in Jharkhand, promise mandarins. Jolted out of slumber by the midday meal tragedy at a government primary school in Saran that claimed 23 children earlier this week, the lone food-testing laboratory of the state in Ranchi is considering an expansion of its ambit to cover all cradle kitchens. If lab officials are to be believed, a proposal to keep regular tabs on midday meals being...