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Sonia Gandhi seeks resumption of midday meals in schools
Speaking in Lok Sabha about providing nutritious meals to children, pregnant women and mothers, she sought the resumption of the scheme under which children get hot cooked meals
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday asked the government to resume mid-day meals as schools across the country were re-opening. The Covid-19 pandemic had forced the shutdown of physical classes in educational institutions for two years.
This is the second time in a week that the Congress president has intervened in the Lok Sabha on public issues.
On Wednesday, speaking in the House about providing nutritious meals to children, pregnant women and mothers, she sought the resumption of the scheme under which children get hot, cooked meals. She added that restarting the scheme will help attract those who dropped out of schools during the pandemic.
“Children have been the worst affected due to the pandemic. Schools were the first to be closed and the last to be opened. When schools were closed, mid-day meals stopped too. People were given ration under National Food Security Act and as per a Supreme Court order. But, there was no alternate for dry ration and cooked meals for children. True that families of children had to face a major crisis to earn a living. Such a crisis was never faced before... As children are returning to schools, they need even better nutrition,” said Gandhi.
“I request the government to strengthen its Integrated Child Development Services and re-start the mid-day meal scheme,” she stated.
On September 29, 2021, the Centre had approved the PM Poshan Scheme for five years to ensure holistic nutrition for students of over 1.1 million government and government-aided schools. The scheme will subsume the mid-day meal programme for schools.
The Centre aims to eradicate malnutrition among children by 2022 and reduce the level of stunting, undernutrition, anaemia etc.
On March 16, Gandhi had flagged concern about “the rising danger of social media being abused to hack our democracy. Global companies like Facebook and Twitter are used increasingly to shape political narratives by leaders, political parties and their proxies.”
