Food for Thought

For many mothers like Behera,the mid-day meal scheme implemented by the central government is crucial to keep their children fed. Yet,a scheme that was formulated with the basic goal to nourish and thereby improve participation in primary education,is also at the core of terrible accidents costing lives. A fortnight ago,at a government school in Bihar’s Chhapra district,a simple meal of rice,lentils and soya beans cost the lives of 27 children,aged between four and 12,as the food was contaminated by organophosphorus compounds found in insecticides.

While UP and Bihar are among the worst managers of the scheme,Orissa,particularly Ganjam,is no stranger to such tragedies. After several incidents of severe food poisoning,some of which led to deaths,the Orissa government handed over the reins of the mid-day meal programme in the Ganjam district to the Hyderabad-based NGO,Naandi Foundation,in 2008. But in March this year,more than 70 students of Gothagaon Upgraded High School in Ganjam’s Sergarh block fell ill after eating the meal served by them. While the NGO claims it was an act of political sabotage,such incidents indicate the negligence and abuse that the scheme is often subject to across the nation.

Berhampur,known locally as Silk City,is a prosperous business centre in south Orissa. But it also has a number of slumdwellers whose incomes are insufficient to support their families. Most of the students at the Hillpatna Upper Primary School are children of autodrivers,small traders or people with odd jobs,whose daily income ranges from Rs 200 to 300. In a state where the annual per capita income is less than Rs 30,000,free food is a huge incentive to send these children to school. Sarita Das,a class VI student,says,“We get warm food. Last year,we would often find stones in rice. Now,things are better.”

Headmistress Gitanjali Mohapatra says enrolment has increased significantly because of the mid-day meal programme — at present,there are 236 children in the age group of five and 13 in the school.

The Hillpatna Upper Primary School,however,does not have a kitchen of its own. Though initially employed as a cook,Behera has been working as a helper since the centralised kitchen started. Her job includes tasting the meal before serving it to the students.

The central kitchen at Berhampur,located near the railway station,looks less like a kitchen and more like an assembly line factory. Barefeet cooks and supervisors in food-grade masks,gloves and caps,keep an eye on the food cooking in massive stainless steel containers. The preparation for the mid-day meal starts the night before when the vegetables are diced.

The main kitchen comes alive at 4 am when the five cooks and a handful of supervisors troop into the asbestos-roofed room. “It’s a massive exercise as we have to feed over 50,000 schoolchildren in 400-odd schools in Berhampur,Chhatrapur and Hinjikatu area of the district. Time is of essence,otherwise,it can lead to delays in transportation,” says kitchen manager Makhan Malviya,who worked as a cook in a Bhopal-based restaurant for six years prior to this. Every day,55 quintals of rice and 3,000 kg of vegetables come to the kitchen and over 55,000 eggs are boiled before sending them to the schools. While the state government supplies the rice through the Food Corporation of India’s local godown,the eggs are bought from poultry dealers in Vizag. Vegetables,spices and oil are locally bought. For their daily toil,the cooks earn Rs 6,000 a month,the helpers get much less.

The cooking process is largely automated — while the rice is de-stoned in a machine and cooked in rice cookers,pest control executives sanitise the kitchen,fumigating cockroaches,lizards and other insects. Like rice,the curry is cooked in steel containers of 2,000 litres capacity each,using palmolein and mustard oils. Except rice and eggs,no inventory is maintained.

The cooking gets over at around 8 am. The first vehicle with the packed containers rolls out of the kitchen at 10 am and heads for Chhatrapur block,the farthest. Berhampur schools get food around noon.

The biggest concern is,of course,contamination and adulteration. In September 2011,primary schoolchildren in Lanjipalli area of the district started vomiting after eating rotten eggs from their kitchen. Malviya and the 60-odd staff claim they have been careful since. “All of us,including the drivers and helpers of the 19 odd vehicles,taste the cooked food. We also ask the principals to taste the food before distribution,” he says.

The feedback register maintained by the NGO,however,shows at least one complaint every day from schools. Sometimes,it’s about the quality of the food,at other times about the taste. Less than a week ago,children in Tamya Tank Upper Primary school found remnants of a centipede in the rice. “The dead insect was found after two of my friends were served their meals. The rest of us had to forego our lunch,” says SK Salim,a student of the school.