When ration ran dry for Delhi schoolchildren

State government failed to pick up any mid-day meal grains for three months and North MCD for nine months last year

Before the pandemic struck, 9-year-old Anamika was used to eating kadhi-chawal, aloo-puri or sambar-chawal for lunch every day as part of the government’s mid-day meal scheme at her Municipal Corporation of Delhi school in R.K. Puram. Since schools closed last March, however, regular meals have been hard to come by at her home in the nearby slum area of Motilal Nehru Camp.

Anamika’s mother Prema trekked to the school several times, asking about the dry ration which had been promised in lieu of the mid-day meals, but received nothing for her daughter, who studies in Class V, or her son Arav, who studies in Class II, until July 2021, 15 months after schools were shut.

Their story is not unique. The Delhi government did not lift any foodgrains allocated for the scheme for an entire quarter during the pandemic, affecting 16 lakh students in more than 3,000 schools, according to data provided by Central and State governments. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi-North, which runs 721 primary schools with over three lakh students, did not lift or distribute foodgrains for nine months last year, according to the minutes of a meeting held on June 29, 2021, between State and Central education department officials to consider the annual plan and budget for the mid-day meal scheme.