-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...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Bengal government is set to issue fresh guidelines asking primary school heads to taste the food before each midday meal and making ISI-certified oil a must for cooking. In the current system followed in most schools, the cook and a teacher are supposed to taste and check the food before it is served to students. The government wants to strengthen the quality check in the wake of the midday...

-Outlook Social indices topper Kerala just can't stop the baby deaths in its malnutrition-hit tribal Attapady belt Under the thick canopy of a peepal tree, beside the road that winds to Pallur Ooru in Attapady in the Western Ghats, is a small tribal burial ground. There are no tombstones to mark the graves and on closer look one sees tiny mounds where the mud has been disturbed. In a quiet corner,...

Just when the country is getting ready to expand the Right to Food for all, the recent deaths of school children in two districts of Bihar (Chhapra and Madhubani) have raised many uncomfortable question about our standards of cleanliness, sanitation and Hygiene in and around the kitchens being run under the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). These, and many more anomalies, have been brought out by a recent report titled...

-Outlook New Delhi: Ahead of the monsoon season, when threat of water-borne diseases is at its peak, 44 per cent of water samples taken from Sadar Paharganj area were found to be unfit for drinking, while the figure was 43 per cent for Civil Line zone, according to a report. According to the report of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, 225 of 667 samples failed to pass the potability test in Narela zone,...