5 min readJun 25, 2026 12:06 PM IST
First published on: Jun 25, 2026 at 12:06 PM IST
Most of us who grew up in the pre-liberalisation era will likely remember the public messaging advertisement by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC): Sunday Ho Ya Monday, Roz Khao Anday. The series of ads, endorsed by the likes of wrestler-actor Dara Singh, superstar Dharmendra and even cricket icon Kapil Dev, ran on Doordarshan through the ’80s and ’90s. Not only did it help organise the poultry market, but it also broke myths and upheld the scientific consensus: Eggs are the most complete form of protein and multivitamins, and therefore, important for a child in her growing years.
As a foundational diet staple, eggs gained acceptability, with 14 states and Union Territories in India providing them as a supplementary nutrition item in their government mid-day meal programmes. West Bengal was on that list, but now the newly sworn-in BJP government has decided to hand over the preparation of mid-day meals in Kolkata schools to ISKCON, resulting in the removal of eggs from school menus.
This is deeply unsettling on many counts. But the most serious is a government believing that the food habits of millions of children should be shaped not by nutritional science, public health evidence or local culture, but by the dietary philosophy of a religious organisation. For the first time, there is an unfortunate top-down intrusion of religious preferences into a welfare programme whose sole purpose is to nourish children and create a productive human resource. Worse, this has been made without consulting parents, most of whom are underprivileged and who send their children to government schools, hoping the mid-day meal will do for them what they themselves cannot afford.
The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) strongly recommends eggs in mid-day meals because they are an affordable, high-quality and easily absorbable source of protein and essential nutrients required for the physical and cognitive development of children. They are also difficult to adulterate.
Let’s not forget that stunting and undernutrition continue to be a problem for one in three children, according to the latest National Family Health Survey-6. Although stunting among children under five years has declined from 35.5 per cent to 29.3 per cent, nearly three out of every ten children remain affected. Underweight prevalence stands at 31.8 per cent, while 5.2 per cent of children continue to suffer from severe wasting.
So no matter what Bengal’s new ministers may be saying about eggs being matched or exceeded through vegetarian alternatives and plant proteins, none have an equivalent nutrient density. In practice, achieving the same quality of protein and micronutrient density requires a carefully designed and often more expensive combination of plant foods.
One must, therefore, ask a practical question: Will every child receive milk, curd, nuts, fruits, millets and high-quality legumes in sufficient quantities to compensate for the loss of eggs? At this point in time, the meal plan looks carbohydrate-heavy.
Yes, there are vegetarian students, who may have soybean, milk or protein-fortified foods instead, but a uniform choice cannot be made for people who have, for generations, been used to animal protein as meal staples. Certainly not when adult politicians reserve the luxury of having maach-bhaat in government canteens or of not sending their own children to government schools.
Besides, why is taxpayer money being routed through a religious organisation to perform a function that the state itself is meant to provide? The mid-day meal scheme was never designed as a vehicle for cultural instruction, spiritual reform, or, in this case, officialising bhog as a mass nutrition intervention. It was conceived as a public health intervention to combat malnutrition, improve school attendance and reduce educational inequalities.
The child at the receiving end of the meal is not a devotee, a vegetarian or a member of any particular community. The child is a citizen entitled to nutrition. If only the Bengal government had looked at its home-grown spiritual-charitable organisations like Swami Vivekananda’s Ramakrishna Mission, it would have known that Swamiji himself was practical about diet, allowing meat and fish for physical strength.
Lastly, the decision also robs women’s self-help groups of a source of livelihood, besides the opportunity to remain emotionally invested in their children’s future. In Brazil, for instance, community mothers are actively part of school nutrition programmes, a reason why that nation’s soccer champions come from slum schools.
Welfare schemes funded by public money cannot become vehicles for the subtle transmission of religious or cultural values, however benign those values may appear. Nor can vegetarianism turn into a public nutrition policy by default. A school meal should remain exactly what it is, a simple hot meal that children love and are familiar with. So that they can play the games they want, not the games politicians play.
The writer is senior associate editor, The Indian Express. rinku.ghosh@expressindia.com
Will every child receive milk, curd, nuts, fruits, millets and high-quality legumes in sufficient quantities to compensate for the loss of eggs? At this point in time, the meal plan looks carbohydrate-heavy 
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