States likely to decide menu for children's meal scheme

The government is all set to put an end to the debate on whether hot cooked meals or ready-to-eat food like biscuits should be served in the anganwadis, the pre-school feeding centres run under the central government scheme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has proposed that the matter be left to the state governments to decide, even as it says that hot cooked food without clean rooms and hygienic conditions can be harmful.

The matter which is expected to get the final stamp of approval from the Cabinet tomorrow, has been a bone of contention between the lobby supporting pre-cooked food, backed by Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chaudhury, and that backing hot cooked food, a view supported by the Supreme Court itself and endorsed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Chaudhury has been stubbornly rooting for ready-to-eat food in spite of opposition from NGOs, the court, and even the Prime Minister’s Office and Planning Commission.

The CCEA proposal, noting that ICDS has failed to do anything to improve the nutritional levels of children in the country with the number of underweight babies increasing, says that there is a need to revisit the scheme. It is sympathetic to those who demand ready-to-eat food, saying that unless hygienically prepared, hot cooked meals can be unsafe for little children. 

It says that hot cooked food is served exclusively in 15 states, while ready-to-eat food is served in three states and a mix of the two in 11 states. “But questions have been raised against the conditions in which hot cooked food is served, with most anganwadis not running in their own space, having no running water or toilets,” it says. “There are no ‘mahila mandals’ or groups to do the cooking in many places and anganwadi workers and helpers are forced to cook the meals,” it says, defending the view of those who have been clamouring for biscuits and other fortified ready-to-eat food.

It says there is a strong case for recommending hot cooked meals, provided they are made in a centralised place. But the matter should be left for the state governments to decide on the basis of the conditions prevailing in their areas, it adds.

Right to Food Campaign, an advocacy group started by activists including Jean Dreze, Kavita Srivastava and Biraj Patnaik, which has been monitoring the working of ICDS on the orders of the Supreme Court, said that it was unfortunate that the government had succumbed to pressures from the industry to deprive children of nutritious food. “It is contempt of court,” said Patnaik. N C Saxena, one of the commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court on the ICDS, said he was always in favour of cooked food.