What came before, eggs in midday meal or opposition to it? Maharashtra move on familiar course

The move has drawn flak from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). Sena (UBT) MLA, Aaditya Thackeray said the government was withdrawing the “only source of nutrition” for most students. “This clearly proves that the government belongs to greedy politicians, who are elected by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). It does not belong to the people, especially schoolchildren who have no vote, no voice,” he said. The EVM mention was a reference to the MVA’s claim that last year’s victory by the Mahayuti in the Assembly polls was due to manipulating of voting.

Removing the Rs 50 crore eggs from midday meals, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government has asked school management committees to raise the money if they want to provide egg-based dishes through public participation, citing “challenges” raised by stakeholders in implementing the move.

The “Tithi Bhojan” aspect of the PM-POSHAN scheme – under which midday meals are provided to students – allows the school or community members to offer something beyond regular midday meals on special occasions.

Politics over eggs also played out in Madhya Pradesh after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, which had a short stint in power starting 2018, considered a proposal to provide eggs to children in anganwadis, triggering opposition from former CM and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

“What somebody eats is up to them. But if the government says eat egg, that is not correct. We strongly oppose the distribution of eggs in anganwadis. There is no problem with what people eat at home. But there are many who are vegetarian, and they don’t allow eggs in their house. In this case, will you distribute it in anganwadis?” Chouhan said.

Then Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, Gopal Bhargava, went a step further claiming non-vegetarian food was prohibited in Indian culture. “If people are made to eat it (non-vegetarian food) from childhood, they may grow up to be cannibals,” he said.

The proposal in Madhya Pradesh never saw the light of day as Chouhan returned as CM after a rebellion within the Congress led by Jyotiraditya Scindia in 2020. And did not go through with the move for eggs to be given to children in anganwadis.

PM-POSHAN scheme

The PM-POSHAN or midday meal scheme has its genesis in a nutritional support programme launched 30 years ago to provide children with food grains. This developed into serving pre-primary to Class 8 students a cooked meal in government and government-aided schools. Besides nutritional value, offering a cooked meal in school is shown to have an impact on attendance, attention levels and learning outcomes.

Under the scheme, the Centre and states share the cost of the scheme in a 60:40 ratio, and the Centre provides the foodgrains and specifies nutritional norms. States decide the menu, and offer “supplementary nutrition” items like eggs (or fish in Lakshadweep), chikki or fruits, by paying out of their own pockets.

Usually, states that offer eggs as a part of the midday meals provide alternatives like fruits for those students who do not eat eggs.

Egg and egg-less states

Of the 36 States and UTs, 16 – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Mizoram, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Telangana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry – provide eggs in midday meals. This makes Uttarakhand, Odisha, and Assam the only BJP-ruled States to serve eggs in their midday meals. Goa briefly introduced eggs in 2022, but has withdrawn them.

Karnataka too has seen its fair share of egg politics. In 2021, the BJP government introduced eggs as a part of midday meals in seven districts where malnutrition was prevalent among children. Despite opposition by seers of the Lingayat community, the government persisted with the practice.

When the state government expanded the move to cover the entire state, it faced opposition from its own rank and file. “Why has the Karnataka government decided to give eggs in midday meals? They are not the only source of nutrition. It is also exclusionary to many students who are vegetarians. Our policies are to be designed such that every student has equal opportunity,” BJP leader Tejaswini Ananth Kumar said and called for the eggs to be given to students as “take-home ration”.

Since the Congress returned to power in May 2023, the Siddaramaiah-led government has scaled up the provision of eggs and last year announced that it would be provided six times a week as against the previous twice a week.

The previous Chhattisgarh government led by the Congress’s Bhupesh Baghel had introduced eggs for midday meals in 2019 but soon backtracked claiming they would be provided at home for those students whose families did not object to it. “Eggs should be cooked separately and while serving meals, a separate seating arrangement should be made for vegetarian students,” the government had directed.

Chhattisgarh, now ruled by the BJP, no longer provides eggs in midday meals. It told the Ministry of Education last year that it provides millet-based supplementary nutrition.