Congress, BJP spar over Gujarat govt's new mid-day meal menu

Ahmedabad, Aug 30 (PTI) The Congress on Friday criticised Gujarat's BJP government for preparing a new menu for the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme for government as well as granted schools under which the opposition party said students will not be served snacks in the evening.

State government officials, however, defended the idea of serving only one meal in the afternoon, claiming there is no reduction in quantity of food to be served under the initiative known as Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) Scheme.

In its latest notification uploaded on its website, the state Education Department has announced a new and revised menu for students that must be followed by government and granted schools from September onwards.

In the new menu, there were various food items, such as vegetable pulav and cooked pulses, mentioned each day. However, in contrast to the present system of serving food twice during the day, the new menu mentioned only "first meal" and there is no mention of evening snacks, which are served at 4:00 pm.

"Till now, students used to get meals as well as snacks. Now, through this new notification, the government has removed snacks from the menu. Now, food will be served only once. This will deprive lakhs of students from getting quality food. This decision will only increase malnutrition among children. The government must rethink its decision," said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.

KN Chavda, Joint Commissioner of Gujarat's MDM scheme, said there is no reduction in overall quantity of food served to the students as per the new system.

"Till now, students used to get a meal at 2pm and snacks at 4pm under this scheme. If we serve vegetable pulav in a meal, we would give chana, weighing nearly 20 grams, at 4pm as snacks. Now, for better implementation of the scheme, we will give both these items at 2:00 pm," Chavda said.

"Earlier we used to divide the meal. Now, all of that, weighing 180 grams, will be served at once. It is also good for students. There is absolutely no reduction in quantity or calories," he asserted. PTI PJT PD BNM