West Bengal: Centre’s Fund Insufficient To Provide Nutritious Mid-Day Meals: Says State Government

Kolkata, 16th January 2023: The Union ministry of education has chosen to send an inspection team to West Bengal to review the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in the state. In response, the Trinamool Congress has raised a counter-question about whether the Central fund allocation per student under the scheme is sufficient to provide nourishing food.

According to an estimate made by the state government, administering that programme would cost Rs 595 per day for a school with 100 children. This figure includes the cost of cooking supplies, spices, fuel, and the wage for the cook. For a school of this type with 100 students, the average daily fund allocation under the programme is Rs 545.
An employee of the state department of education said, “The school administration is frequently obliged to make food quality and quantity compromises to keep within the permitted allotment. We cannot rely on the educators or principals to cover the additional costs out of their own pockets.

He continued, “Each student receives 50 grams of rice, 8 grams of pulses, and 100 grams of vegetables in a meal on average. There are frequent requests for protein-rich foods like fish or eggs. It is impossible to fulfil the bare minimum with this meagre allocation, thus adding extra nourishment is not an option.”

Senior Trinamool Congress lawmaker Tapas Roy claims that the choice to send the Central field inspection team without increasing the funding allotment for the mid-day food programme was made for purely political reasons.
Roy argued that instead of merely focusing on West Bengal, the Union government should send such inspection teams to the BJP-ruled states.