Food for Thought

Mid-day meal cooks in Assam remain a disgruntled lot, their forlorn hopes of being gainfully employed fast receding. Implementing a decision taken by the then State government in 2010, the powers-be at Dispur are turning over this scheme phase-wise to an NGO from outside. The cooks are agitating at the Sarva Siksha main office at Kahilipara but to no avail. It is but another instance of privatization gathering pace in various sectors, and education is not exempt either. When the government’s will to strengthen public education in schools remains suspect (never mind the fundamental right to education), where does mid-day meal figure in the bleak scenario? As usual, those at the bottom rung bear the brunt when the government jettisons a scheme with its share of irregularities and leakage. Before 2010, there were often complaints of school management and headmasters skimming off mid-day meal funds, procuring sub-standard foodstuff and inflating student numbers. Cooks were paid a pittance, while some school officials were not above demanding their cut when releasing payment!

Later, the government began to pay cooks an honorarium of Rs 1,000 for they were classed as ‘voluntary’ workers under the Education department (and therefore did not even qualify for minimum wages of casual employees). For years, the cooks sought some degree of social security like provident fund and medical benefits; now they wonder where they will look for another job. There are some 1,20,000 MDM cooks and helpers in the State, who could have been properly organized in community kitchens dishing out nutritious, local food in all its variety; committees of guardians could have kept watch over food quality; digital technology could have been used to ensure there were no bogus schoolkids.

Now that Dispur is going full steam ahead with its public-private partnership (PPP) in mid-day meal scheme as well, it will dispense with all the headaches! If it means another small opportunity lost to create some jobs for local people, it is a pity. Meanwhile, students of Kauli-Chandranagar primary school under Tamulpur block in Baksa district have been going without a mid-day meal for months on end. Their guardians are upset, it is a remote place, the village roads are in a shambles and there is no way of getting foodstuff there. Will an NGO supplying packaged food cooked in a centralized kitchen make a difference there? One wonders…

Also Read: Lakhipur Mid-day Meal Workers Rally, Demand Social Security

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