The Politics of Eggs in India’s Schools

India Today has put eggs on the cover of its latest issue because 16 states in the country have decided to exclude eggs from the free midday meal programme for school children from the economically backward sections. Thus children’s lunch has also acquired a religion in the country.

Eggs are arguably the cheapest source of nutrition for the children concerned. India is a country with millions of undernourished/malnourished children, though its Prime Minister keeps harping on the string of being an economic superpower. Eggs can make a big difference to the quality of the meals for these children from backward sections.

Eggs have high nutritional density, in the first place. Not only rich in protein, eggs contain essential micronutrients like iron, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and choline. They cannot be adulterated – and that matters much in a country where even medicines are adulterated. Serving boiled eggs is easy too.

The alternatives provided by the ‘holy’ vegetarians of the country are milk, pulses, or soyabeans. Plant-based proteins lack the complete amino acid profile of eggs unless carefully paired with other foods.

The children concerned need the eggs. It’s as simple as that. Reason: the national and sub-national health survey data reveals a strong negative correlation between the inclusion of animal-source protein (specifically eggs) in school feeding programmes and the prevalence of child stunting and wasting.

States that systematically provide eggs in their midday menus consistently display lower rates of stunting (chronic undernutrition) and wasting (acute undernutrition) than states that exclude eggs due to political and cultural mandates.

The plain truth is that a vast majority of India’s population is nonvegetarian. Excluding eggs from state-funded welfare programmes prioritizes the vegetarian preferences of specific sociocultural or upper-caste groups over the dietary realities and traditional habits of marginalized communities like the Dalits, Adivasis, and other backward communities.

State policy should advance public health rather than enforce moral or religious orthodoxy. Why should the majority people of a country be governed by the likes and dislikes of a minority?

As India Today rightly concludes its report: The midday meal scheme “should maintain a nutrition programme and not another battlefield in the politics of the plate.”

 

Source: India Today