Opinion Express View on Maharashtra midday meals: Not without egg

The Maharashtra government’s decision to remove egg from its midday meal scheme a year after it was introduced, ostensibly for financial reasons, seems to place political imperatives over public-health prudence, especially since it comes on the heels of protests from right-wing groups against its inclusion. The state government had earlier allocated an annual budget of Rs 50 crore to provide eggs or bananas or a local fruit once a week to government school children to combat malnutrition. It later amended it to state that in schools where a sizeable number of parents protested against the inclusion of eggs, it would not be served. The new directive cites a finance issue in its amendment and has asked schools to seek public sponsorship should they wish to include eggs or sweets in the menu. In withdrawing egg pulao and rice kheer or nachani satva, a sweet dish, for students of Classes I to VIII, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government has joined a list of BJP-ruled states that do not provide eggs in midday meals. Only three BJP-ruled states — Uttarakhand, Odisha and Assam — still do. The decision in Maharashtra shows a callous disregard for the already alarming rates of malnutrition among schoolchildren from economically disadvantaged backgrounds by a government that has returned to power with an overwhelming mandate.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), child malnutrition remains a significant challenge in India, with data pointing to alarming levels of undernutrition, stunting, and wasting. NFHS-V (2019-21) reported that 35.5 per cent of children under the age of five in India were stunted (low height for age), while 19.3 per cent were wasted (low weight for height). In Maharashtra’s Dhule and Chandrapur, districts in the bottom 10 across India in wasting, the numbers stood at 38.9 and 38.5 respectively. In Nandurbar to the northwest of the state, 57.2 per cent of children under the age of five were underweight, second only to Pashchimi Singhbhum in Jharkhand. These figures indicate the deep-rooted nutritional deficiencies many children face, particularly in rural areas. The data also highlights the critical role of protein in addressing these deficiencies. Compared to pulses, milk or even fruits such as bananas, eggs remain a more effective, affordable and easily accessible source of nutrition. The Maharashtra government has sought to replace eggs with alternatives like chickpea and soybean but the substitution ignores the logistical challenges of providing these at scale. By removing eggs, it risks exacerbating the nutritional gap.

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Food choices are inextricably tied to questions of caste and religious identity and to privilege. Over the last decade, protracted, and often violent, dissensions over non-vegetarian food, be it over eggs or beef, have propelled the myth of India as a vegetarian nation. Before Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh had dropped eggs from its midday-meal menu. In 2022, Goa, too, briefly introduced and dropped eggs from its midday meal. According to NFHS-V data, however, 45.1 per cent women and 57.3 per cent men eat non-vegetarian food at least once a week. In a country struggling to deliver nourishment to its children, to discriminate on the basis of food can have grave consequences. The Maharashtra government must reconsider its decision.