Quality of midday meals prompts Telangana HC notice

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued summons to State government functionaries to disclose relevant data related to the “Midday Meals” served to pre-primary and primary school pupils in all government schools within four weeks in a taken-up Public Interest Litigation. A bench, comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili issued the summons to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, School Education, Director of School Education, Principal Secretary Finance, and Secretary, Child Welfare Department. 

The court turned a letter from one Bagkekar Akash Kumar, a student of the Osmania University, into a PIL. The letter emphasised the State government’s low and pitiful budgetary allocation to the “Midday Meals” programme, which is provided to impoverished pupils enrolled in state-run institutions. The State government has the obligation and responsibility to guarantee that children in state-run schools receive free education, nutritious and high-quality food, which it does not accomplish, depriving disadvantaged pupils of a decent education and nutritious food, the letter said.

According to the headmaster of a government school, water is being added to dal and curry provided to pupils, causing the preparation to lose its natural flavour, resulting in children not eating nutritious food. Rice is delivered to schools via the PDS system, and the quality is poor (broken rice). Because the government’s budgetary allotment for midday meals is so meagre, pupils from low-income families are denied access to nutritional food, which is a clear violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.