Prestigious scheme but a pittance for those in charge

For a scheme that the Central government has declared an essential arm of its educational and nutritional objectives in the last three days, both the Central and the State governments have shown a remarkable lack of concern for the 27 lakh workers, most of them women, who administer it. The tragedy that killed 23 children in Bihar’s Chapra village has shone a rare spotlight on India’s mid-day meal scheme that feeds over 12 crore children every day. In over 12 lakh government-run and aided schools, children receive free, cooked lunch every day. Schools are allowed to hire one “cook-cum-helper” for every 25 children, two for every 100 children and 1 for every 100 children over this. The scheme’s state that widows and women from backward castes are to be given priority in hiring. While the scheme envisages mid-day meal cooks as part-time workers who need to do just two hours of work in a day, workers and unions claim that the work spills far beyond its defined norms.

While the grain comes to the school, the cook has to source vegetables and other condiments herself. She also has to collect firewood and clean the dishes. All this runs into several hours of work Many cooks are also forced to clean the school and at times, even the teachers’ houses. Mid-day meal cooks are not considered government employees, and are paid only an “honorarium”.

At the end of 2009, the Union government hiked this sum to Rs. 1,000 per “cook-cum-helper”, of which it pays Rs. 900 and the State government must pay at least Rs. 100, and are free to further top up this amount. They are employed for only those 10 months of the year that the school functions, and in many States contracts are renewed every year.

While States including Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Manipur have topped up the honorarium, Tamil Nadu is the only State that recognises noon meal cooks as permanent State government employees and gives them full benefits. The State’s “Nutritious Meal Organiser” gets paid Rs. 5,000 in addition to benefits like provident fund and pension.

The combination of low allowances for cooking costs that have not kept pace with food inflation, creaky infrastructure and a lack of securely employed workers shows that the mid-day meal is extremely low priority. The insecure work status of mid-day meal workers is not unique. Daily, over 1 crore workers, fan out across the country taking the government’s ambitious schemes — the mid-day meal scheme, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission — to the people. Yet their terms of employment remain insecure, honorarium lower than the minimum wage and payments usually delayed.

          Let the government take precautious step, that no more Bihar like midday meal tragedy may occur anywhere in the country.

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Bihar midday meal tragedy: 23 kids killed
No doctor, no needles and no water killed children Poison content in midday meal was 5 times higher than what it is in pesticide

Poison content in midday meal was 5 times more than what is found in pesticide

In an alarming revelation, forensic examination of the midday meal in the affected school in Bihar has found that the poison content in the food was five times more than what is found in insecticides and pesticides. Scientists found the presence of monocrotophos — an organophosphorus compound — in the samples of cooking oil and food. The report of investigators was, however, silent on why such quantity of monocrotophos was present in the meal. The forensic report said that, the peak area of the poisonous substance in the oil was more than five times in comparison to the commercial preparations.

Tests were conducted on samples of cooking oil, a plastic container found at the

school, leftover food (rice and vegetable) from the utensils and plates, as well as other material like froth from the mouth of a sick child, water and oil from the local cold press extraction process. The samples were compared with a pesticide called hilcron, procured from the market. Monocrotophos is used as a pesticide for agricultural purpose. It is very toxic to human beings and other animals.

The use of organophosphorus insecticides is “banned or restricted in 23 countries and its import is illegal in a total of 50 countries. Its use was banned in the U.S. in 2000 and it has not been used since 2003. The usage of such insecticides continues to be used because of the political patronage enjoyed by the manufacturers of these insecticides. 

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Bihar midday meal tragedy:23 kids killed
Prestigious scheme but a pittance for those in charge
No doctor,no needles & no water killed children

No doctor, no needles and no water together killed kids

With an aching stomach, little Kajal made the long journey from the local primary health care centre to the government hospital at Chapra in Saran district of Patna. Her brother Rajesh Sah, who rushed her for treatment, saw his sister die before his eyes. Rajesh told that, at the Chapra Sadar hospital, the doctor said there was no needle and not enough oxygen for everyone. I saw my sister convulse twice. She did not move later and I called the doctor. He asked me for my mobile phone and using its light, he checked her eyes and declared her dead. In Chapra, the facilities were worse than those at the PHC.

The death toll in the Bihar mid-day meal tragedy mounted to 23. Every devastated family in Gandaman village, from where the victims hailed, attribute the deaths to the delay in treatment.

Sad state of PHC in Bihar:-  When news of the children falling sick spread in the village, anxious parents and guardians first rushed them to the PHC. “There,” said Ramanand Rai, who lost his five-year-old daughter, also named Kajal, “we were told there are no doctors. They said there is no water here ‘so make your own arrangements.’ So I took my daughter to a private clinic like the rest. There the doctor said this case was beyond him.” People made a dash for the solitary ambulance that was carrying one patient. Mr. Raid told that, the driver was not ready to take so many at one go, but we forced him to take the children to the Chapra hospital. All the way I kept checking my daughter’s pulse. But when I put her on the hospital bed, she had died.

“Why has the government opened these hospitals if they cannot provide treatment? Shut them!” cried Vinod Mahato, uncle of Arti (8), Shanti (6) and Bikas (5). The family lost all the three children, throwing their parents into a state of shock. “The treatment itself started three to four hours late. Till then we were just moving from one place to another. The government is only playing politics with the bodies of the poor,” Mr. Mahato said. He said the children mentioned at home that the lunch tasted bitter like ‘neem’, but the headmistress Meena Kumari insisted they eat it. “She herself did not eat the meal, nor did her nieces. This is a clear conspiracy,” he said.

Shankar Thakur lost his only daughter, Kumari (7). “What can I possibly want now? Who can bring my daughter back? I can only hope that hospitals provide good facilities hereon. Many lives were lost only because of the delay,” he said.

 Denies charge:- Many parents said the doctor at the PHC initially refused to treat the children as he was on fast. However, A.R. Ansari, medical officer in-charge, denied the charge saying he was conducting a training programme at the time and had mobilised resources immediately. The two doctors at the PHCs had to be summoned immediately. A couple, employed on contract basis at the PHC, turn up only to mark attendance. The duo runs a nursing home. Over 50 children were brought to the PHC. Asked if atropine, an antidote to phosphorous poisoning was given, PHC’s store in-charge Satish Chandra Jha said the doctors had not asked for it. Mr. Ansari, however, said atropine was administered to the victims.

This is the country where private parties are running education & medicine, and Government is running LIQUOR SHOPS. Until unless education & medicine in this country is made free for every one, nothing is going to happen. Mafias running Schools and Colleges and is there any worth reflected in these places. Money being their only motto. Hospitals which are private have worse and pathetic than education. Does any one care why in a private hospital they charge us like as if we are going for a space travel? Until People pay lakhs and crores to study in a medical college is stopped, nothing is going to change.

See Also:-
Bihar midday meal tragedy: 23 kids killed
Prestigious scheme but pittance for those in charge
Poison content in midday meal was 5 times higher than what it is in pesticide

Bihar midday meal tragedy: 23 kids killed

23 school children dead after consumption of spurious midday meal at a government primary school in Bihar’s Saran district. While 16 children, aged below 10 years and studying in Class I to V, had died in Chhapra itself, four others were declared dead on arrival at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) late. Two died at the hospital.

Among the dead were two children of a woman cook of the midday meal project Panno Devi. Three children of another woman cook Manju Devi are under treatment at PMCH along with her. Twenty five others are under medical supervision in PMCH.

The Superintendent said the ailing children were admitted to ICU of paediatric department and senior doctors were attending to them round-the-clock. The tragedy took place at the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from Chhapra and 60 km from state capital (Patna).

Preliminary inquiries suggest that a high level of organic phosphorus content in the meal could have caused the deaths of the children. State Education Minister Mr. P.K. Shahi claimed that political conspiracy to destabilise the government was behind the incident. Some children complained to officials that the headmistress coaxed them to eat the food when they complained of bad taste. The police have filed an FIR against the headmistress and other unknown persons.

Submit the report; Centre tells Bihar:- The Human Resource Development Ministry has sought a report from the Bihar government on  mid-day meal tragedy in Chapra in which 22 children died. HRD Minister Mr. M.M. Pallam Raju said that, it is a very sad incident and we are deeply pained at the loss of lives of children. He said it looked like a case of food contamination and asked the States to exercise caution while implementing the mid-day meal scheme. It is an aberration. Although it is an unfortunate incident, it is not a recurring thing. The Ministry is the nodal agency for implementing the programme. The Minister said investigation was on and during probe it would be ascertained if guidelines were followed.

New panel to monitor mid-day meal scheme:- The Human Resource Development Ministry announced that a new committee would be set up to review the implementation of its flagship mid-day meal scheme with a view to monitoring the quality of food and ensuring hygiene standards. This will be in addition to the existing panel that meets twice a year to review the implementation of the programme and gives its feedback to the States. The new committee, likely to be headed by Union Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju himself, will have 20 members and have representation from civil society organisations, officers from related Ministries and other stakeholders. It will meet every three months. It will also look into the effectiveness of the food supply chain and kitchen hygiene standards.

Mr. Pallam Raju said the mid-day meal scheme was very important for promoting primary education in the country. Replying to the questions, Mr. Raju said Bihar was alerted about the unsatisfactory quality of food served in government schools in 12 districts, among which Saran — the worst-affected district — was one.

Little attention was being given to existing concerns over the cleanliness of drinking water and storage and serving spaces, it said. There was need for convergence between the departments involved and the schools must be made completely safe to support the meal programme. India has the world’s largest school meal programme: feeding 12 crore children in 12 lakh schools.

See Also:
No doctor, no needles and no water killed children
Poison content in midday meal was 5 times more than what it is found in pesticide
Prestigious scheme but pittance for those in charge