Pricey pulses dilute mid-day meal

Hyderabad: The skyrocketing prices of pulses like red gram and also that of vegetables is casting a shadow on the Government’s avowed mid-day meal scheme that is provided to students in government schools.

And to make matters worse for the students, even the quality of the meal has nosedived. According to the scheme, sambar and eggs should be served to the students every Monday and Thursday, a vegetable curry on Tuesday, pappu and vegetable curry on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

As red gram is presently selling for anything between Rs 180 and Rs 200 a kg, a majority of the schools are unable to procure dal given the paucity of funds.

Following the steep hike in prices of dal and vegetables each school is shelling an additional amount, which now stands at Rs 8 per meal. On its part, the government chips in with Rs 6.80 towards subsidy with the schools compelled to chip in with the remainder of the amount.

In their bid to stay afloat the schools are now going in for poor-quality pulses while some institutions are making mixed vegetable sambar, which is more watery and contains less or namesake quantity of vegetables. This is tantamount to violations of the fundamental stipulation of the government’s stress on quality meal.

Making it worse, the liquefied sambar has a sizeable blend of soya-bean powder as an alternative to protein. Unable to bear the odour, a majority of the students are refusing to partake the food.

“The quality of rice is good but I do not like sambar as it doesn’t smell good. Like most of schoolmates, even I carry curry from home. Mixing it with the rice makes for a sumptuous meal,” says Sirisha, a class VII student at Zilla Parishad High School in Balapur.

While that was the case with Sirisha, K Narasimha a class IV student of Upper Primary School in Mallapuram carries his own lunch box. “I do not like the taste of the food,” he points making a face that reveals his hatred for what is served as meal.

“While I was studying in Nehru Memorial High School, there were small stones and insects in the meal. From then on I am carrying my own lunch box,” says E Hari Krishna, Class IX student of Government High School, Malakpet.

Meanwhile, the ZPHS in Balapur have started serving Telangana cuisine like pachi pulusu (also known as a poor man’s staple intake) instead of sambar due to the high price of vegetables.

“We are giving sambar or pappu on alternate days. Pachi Pulusu is served along with an egg which children love to eat,” points out Raghotha Sharma, Head Master of the school. When this correspondent surveyed some government-run schools in the twin cities, it was found that food provided to the students was deplorably tasteless. It had an excess of salt and chilli powder, neither of which children are supposed to eat in large quantities.

However, officials in the Directorate of School Education say that quality of food remained the same even after inflated prices.

“High prices of pulses and vegetables are temporary phases. Every year there is a 7 percent increase in the prices but the government pays accordingly. Students carrying lunch boxes to the school is not a new thing. We are providing quality food,” averred G Gopal Reddy, Additional Director, Directorate of School Education. The tall claims notwithstanding, the fact of the matter is that the students, and their guardians, are an unhappy lot.

By:Yuvraj Akula