BENGALURU: “We have been fighting for nutritious food for school children for years. Despite several protests, the quality and quantity of food has only worsened over the past decade. We are following it,” said Sumarata (name changed), a head cook at a school in Kalaburagi.
Sumalatha has been involved in the school kitchen for the past 15 years. Over the past decade, the prices of some essential goods, especially vegetables, have increased.
However, budgets for key schemes such as the Prime Minister’s Comprehensive Plan for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) have stagnated, without taking into account rising prices of essential goods.
The allocation for the POSHAN scheme in 2014-15, just before the first round of cuts, was Rs 13,215 crore. The scheme’s budget for 2023-24 is Rs 11,600 crore.
The Right to Food Campaign estimates that due to rising food costs, the POSHAN scheme will require funding of Rs 20,500 billion. In real time, this means a 43% reduction.
The interim budget for 2024 provided some relief with a 3% increase in allocation to Poshan and Saksham schemes, but it was still not enough to address rising food prices.
In the field, this manifests itself as a decline in quality and an increase in labor.
“In order to meet the quantity requirements of food grains for the current beneficiaries in such a budget, the quality has dropped significantly. We have to sit for hours and scavenge the food grains provided by the government. No,” she added.
PM POSHAN standards specify the amount of protein and carbohydrates that must be provided to children. In reality, these requirements are not always met due to rising food prices, explains Dipa Sinha, professor of economics at his BR Ambedkar University in Delhi. “Cooking costs per child need to be reviewed. This has not happened in recent years,” she added.
Material costs are revised every year, but the latest revision was in 2022, after two and a half years.
With a 9.6 per cent increase in material allocation under Prime Minister Poshan, the price of a midday meal in primary schools has been set at Rs 5.45 and Rs 8.17 for upper primary grades. Even this increase was not enough, Sinha added: “Eggs alone cost him Rs 6 rupees.” Cooking costs in the ICDS program have been ignored for at least five years.
According to Trading Economics, food inflation in India averaged 6.03% from 2012 to 2024. Vegetable inflation also increased, averaging 5.7% from 2020 to 2023, compared to 0% from 2016 to 2019. This rise in vegetable prices contributed to the rise in overall average food inflation.
A lunch cook in Chikkaballapur district explains that the money that the School Development Monitoring Committee (SDMC) receives for purchasing vegetables has not changed.
“The price of vegetables has increased in the last few years. Funds are allocated without taking this into account. So instead of buying 2 kg of vegetables in the market, you will buy 1 kg.” she added.
Cooks are choosing cheaper vegetables such as potatoes and squash to cut costs.
“Or use less. Instead of 2 kg you have to buy 1 kg. Sambar is made with less vegetables. Many SDMCs and cooks believe that something is better than nothing. But I don’t think we should approach nutrition this way,” says a cook from Mysuru district.
Another set of problems plagues Anganwadis, the workers explain.
“Now we have a different menu. We are being served ready-to-eat meals but our children are refusing it,” says an anganwadi worker residing in Kalaburagi.
The ready-to-eat khichdi in masala packs, prepared by the Defense Food Research Institute in Mysuru, has been approved for consumption in anganwadis.
“We are expected to encourage parents to provide vegetables for khichdi. But how long can they maintain the supply?” she asks.
Even funding for hot meals prepared under maternal nutrition programs does not take into account cooking costs.
The new menu includes ready-to-eat items mixed with dal and other masalas without cooking ingredients such as vegetables or salt.
To meet the needs of the system and maintain the trust of beneficiaries, workers sometimes commit their own funds to fill these gaps.
“There is no regularity in funding for cooking. It also affects the payment of cooking gas and rent. Then we have to scavenge for money,” says an Anganwadi worker in Mysuru district.
Menu changes without local consultation are also a major concern in the local community.
“We must feed our children nutritious, local menus in a way that they recognize and appreciate. Rather, we are regressing,” she added. .
Without adequate funding, children are not receiving nutritionally adequate meals from a variety of sources, explains Raj Shekhar Singh, a member of the Right to Food Campaign.
“In recent years, menus have focused on meeting caloric needs. Even these menus are underfunded, meaning that children are getting less protein from seasonal sources such as vegetables. , vitamins and other nutrients are reduced,” he added.
State government officials declined to comment, citing the ongoing election.
(issued April 13, 2024, 23:32 IST)
