’Stop religious fundamentalist impositions’: Mid-day meal workers body on Bengal’s ’no eggs’ move

The Mid-Day Meal Workers Federation of India on Friday questioned the West Bengal government for partnering with a ‘corporate NGO’ like ISKCON notorious for its ‘religious fundamentalist impositions’ and ‘substandard food and financial misappropriation,’ to implement the PM-POSHAN scheme in state-run schools.

“The move to give food from centralised kitchen is detrimental to the basic concept of the scheme to provide freshly cooked locally available food supplied in schools to address the classroom hunger and severe malnutrition among children," it said.

“It is shocking that the BJP — which was vouching for non-vegetarian food in West Bengal and publically eating meat before elections — is now engaging ISKCON to promote ‘satvik’ food among Bengalis by abandoning eggs in mid-day meals in schools," it added.

The Mid Day Meal Workers Federation of India (MDMWFI) said the step will retrench nearly 4,000 mid-day meal workers in Kolkata whose only income for survival is the meagre amount from this scheme.

The West Bengal government recently announced that eggs are being removed from mid-day meals in government and aided schools across Kolkata as part of an overhaul to the scheme. The administration partnered with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to provide cooked, strictly vegetarian meals featuring paneer, rajma and soya chunks instead of eggs.

The opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) and various teachers’ associations have heavily criticised the move. They argue that eggs are a culturally familiar source of protein for children, crucial for combating malnutrition and serve as an important incentive for school attendance.

In a statement, MDMWFI said that ISKCON Akshayapatra Foundation is ‘notorious’ in refusing to serve not only eggs but also onions and garlic citing religious dietary principles.

“It is facing mounting allegations of impropriety across its 52+ kitchens in 21 states. Civil society groups have demanded cancellation of all Akshayapatra Foundation contracts pending probe for misuse of government funds and FCRA violations," it claimed.

The workers’ body argued that handing over the scheme to NGOs is privatisation of the scheme, and loss of jobs to lakhs of mid-day meal cook-cum-helpers. It also said that in 2024-25, 1.13 crore children were enrolled but only 77.9 lakh, about 69 per cent, actually received the meals.

The MDMWFI said the mid-day meal workers’ movement under CITU has the history of struggles, forcing various state governments such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Assam, to withdraw such a move to hand over the scheme to ISKCON Akshaya Patra.

“We also reiterate our demands of strengthening the school mid-day meal scheme to include all school children up to Class 12 in all schools with adequate financial allocation for nutritious locally cooked meals, including eggs, fish, meat, among others, and minimum wages and social security to the workers," it said.

“Mid-day meal is not charity. It is a legal right of every child. Turning it into a vehicle for a corporate sponsored religious outfit in centralised kitchens will affect the jobs of workers, nutritional status of the children, and the socio cultural practices and secular values of the nation," it added.