Inflation adversely impacts the quality of mid-day meals

Rising prices of food has adversely impacted the quality of food provided to over 120 million children under the mid-day meal scheme, according to the school authorities.

Teachers of a government run-school that provides free meal to over 400 students in Gorakhpur said that the sudden rise in food prices has forced them to compromise with both quality and quantity of the food served.

"The prices of onions and cooking oil have gone up drastically which is why we have to compromise with both the quantity and quality of the food." said a teacher, Ranjana Jha.

Teachers of the school also demanded the Government to increases the budget of the scheme to deal with the issue.

Students at the school also said that the standard of meals served to them have fallen.

"I come to school everyday and eat the food prepared at the school during lunch. Food ingredients were not too expensive earlier. However, now the food is not that tasty " said a school student and beneficiary of the mid day meal scheme, Sashwati Devi.

According to the World Bank, nearly 400 million people in the country live on less than $1.25 per day and nearly half its children under five are malnourished.

Earlier in July, 23 children died in Bihar after eating a meal laced with pesticides and a lot of them were hospitalized. Some died within hours of consuming the food.