Opinion- WHEN the Government could not care less

The mid-day meal scheme has been lauded the world over for bringing hungry children to school. But given how it is has been mismanaged by the state, it has now turned into a death trap
Once admired by UN agencies and the World Bank as among the most effective initiatives to improve child nutrition and school enrolment at the same time, India’s mid-day meal scheme has now become a veritable death-trap due to the state’s apathy, mismanagement, lack of accountability, and, above all, greed and corruption.
This was evident yet again earlier this month in Bihar when more than 20 students died and over six dozen fell sick after having their Government-sponsored mid-day meal at school. The food had been contaminated with pesticide that was five times deadlier than the standard product sold in the market. An inquiry conducted by the Bihar Government has found the school principal responsible for the deaths, due to gross negligence. It is believed that she had forced the cook to use contaminated oil despite the latter’s complaint that it had a pungent smell.
In response, the director of the mid-day meal scheme in Bihar said that the primary school in the village would be merged with the nearest middle school as the latter has a better meal programme. He also added that the Government had decided not to run schools from rented and dilapidated structures, and equip them with full-fledged kitchens.
This is a classic case of bolting the stables after the horses have fled. It is amazing that the Government only wakes up after a tragedy such as this occurs and the lives of children lost. It only goes to confirm that those in power can get away with murder, or in this case child murder, and then pass the blame onto lower Government functionaries or the Opposition parties.
But still, questions must be asked regarding what the functionaries at the district level, and those who were immediate superiors of the headmaster, doing. Did they ever check the quality of the food grains and other ingredients or even the utensils that were being used? At the national level, it would be worthwhile to check in how many schools such incidents have taken place, and if any instructions were issued after that about the quality of the ingredients used in the preparation of the mid-day meal scheme.
It is also important to note that after such a terrible tragedy had taken place under their watch, Bihar’s Chief Minister and the State’s Education Minister thought nothing before passing on the blame to the Opposition, namely the BJP and the RJD.
According to a report, at least Rs 700 crore allocated for the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme and around Rs 1,000 crore earmarked for upgrading Government hospitals, are either lying unspent or there has been no proper documentation of how the money was spent. This is apart from the Rs 462 crore meant for the mid-day meal scheme that the Bihar Government returned to the Centre, unused.
As for the Chief Minister of Bihar, if he is so convinced that the tragedy was the result of a political conspiracy by his opponents, it would be helpful if he could also reveal the names of the culprits involved and their motive in the killing. Nevertheless, as if to salve its conscience and cover up its criminal negligence, the Bihar Government has now announced two lakh rupees in compensation to the victims’ families.
But in all fairness, why blame only the Bihar Government when the same story is repeated all over the country? For instance, nearly 100 students of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Higher Secondary School in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district fell ill on July 17 after consuming the mid-day meal, and had to be rushed to hospital.
As expected, the Tamil Nadu Government has ordered an inquiry into the matter. But this is just a tactic to deflect attention. The State Government knows well what is wrong with the implementation of this otherwise excellent scheme. Besides, umpteen inquiries have been ordered into the execution of the mid-day meal scheme relating to procurement of food grains and other ingredients, but nothing has come of them.
Our country, despite being food-surplus, has still not been able to curb grain wastage. According to a recent report, the amount of food grain wasted in India is equivalent to Australia’s entire annual production. Also, just 0.75 per cent of the total grain produced is wasted in Australia. In India, 21 million tonnes of wheat worth Rs 50,000 crore is lost every year; that was about 24 per cent of the total produce in 2012-2013.
India continues to be the second largest producer of wheat, yet it ranks 65 among 122 countries on the 2012 World Hunger Index. The Global Survey report says that 42 per cent of children in India are underweight and that the country is home to 216 million undernourished people — the largest in the world. The cruel irony is that 75 per cent of the Indian population suffers from hunger and malnutrition in varying degrees.
The problem of rotting food, however, is not new. And it will not go away anytime soon as there is hardly any punishment to those responsible for this colossal wastage. No Government has the courage to sack corrupt officials or even build into the design of future schemes necessary preventive and punitive measures, so that such situations do not arise.
Also, State Governments, especially the one in Bihar, must learn from each other’s mistakes. The Bihar school tragedy has spurred the Karnataka Government to re-start quality checks for mid-day meals, as well as introduce quality audits for the ingredients used.
 
The Government will also launch a new scheme to look into infrastructure issues that plague the mid-day meal scheme such as clean storage facilities, kitchens and quality drinking water. It will have a special team comprising nutritionists, food inspectors, dieticians, doctors and members from drug-testing laboratories, to ensure the good quality of food. The Government should remember that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. The past cannot be changed, but lessons learnt from it can prepare us for a better tomorrow.