Bihar midday meal tragedy: Govt probe panel hasn't met even once

A committee headed by Union Minister MM Pallam Raju to assess the mid-day meal scheme and its monitoring mechanisms, has not met even once since it was constituted in August 2013, a month after 20 children died after eating lunch served in a Bihar school. The empowered committee had been set up by the HRD ministry, comprising 31 members including four education ministers, secretaries from various ministries, social activists and others. [caption id=“attachment_132645” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo. AFP[/caption] “It is both unfortunate and surprising that the committee has not even met once. They should have convened at least one meeting by now,” Shantha Sinha, a member of the committee and a former chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, told The Telegraph. Activists and expert members of the committee are now calling the constitution of the committee an eyewash, lack of seriousness and tokenism. The committee was formed after 20 children died in a government primary school at Gandaman village in Saran, Bihar, after eating contaminated food on July 16. The principal of the school, Meena Devi, was arrested a week after the deaths and a first information report registered against her on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. Her husband Rai, accused of buying pesticide which eventually got mixed up with the grocery supplies, surrendered in court two months ago. A forensic report confirmed traces of toxic insecticide in the oil used for cooking the food. Around 16 million children in 72,000 schools across Bihar eat the mid-day meal every day. Against the backdrop of that tragedy, the Ministry of Human Resource Development decided to increase funds earmarked for the midday meal scheme’s monotiring and management from Rs 236 crore to Rs 550 crore next financial year, said this report. Emergency medical plans and medical kits have also been planned for schools, alongside a proposed increase in the honorarium paid to middal meal workers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000. In the Gandamal school itself, over five months after the tragedy, the survivors of the tragedy continue to bear the scars of losing a brother or sister, not to mention the persisting medical complications after a month in hospital, according to a report in The Indian Express. The Gandamal primary school was merged into the Middle School, and most children now carry along a home-cooked lunch. The report quotes one parent who lost a son, “It hurts to know that the police investigation has not borne any results." The Rs 13,000-crore midday meal scheme in aided schools across India is a flagship scheme of the UPA government. Nearly 11 crore children are fed the meals daily.