Milk instead of ‘egg’ to fight malnutrition in MP

Child health experts doubt feasibility of Gau Cabinet substituting egg with milk

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday reiterated his government’s decision to not introduce the egg in the mid-day meal provided to children in schools and anganwadi centres in the state to combat malnutrition among them.

Chairing the first meeting of the Cabinet committee on protection of cattle, christened ‘Gau cabinet’, Chouhan said milk, instead of egg, would be introduced in the menu to tackle malnutrition.

“Cattle resource development will be the cornerstone of the self-reliance policy being implemented by the government. The move will give a fillip to milk production. This will make the proposal to introduce milk in midday meal a viable proposition”, he said.

Child right activists have been demanding introduction of eggs in the midday meals.

The BJP has been maintaining that any attempt to change the dietary habits of children belonging to a particular section of communities by adding egg to the menu may lead to cultural conflict.

“The BJP has always maintained that suitable alternatives to eggs should be made available for children so as not to hurt religious sentiments. Milk is a good alternative to egg for the purpose,” BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said here.

Child health experts have expressed apprehensions over feasibility of the proposal to introduce milk. “The availability and self-life of milk raise question mark over feasibility of the proposal,” said child health expert Sachin Kumar Jain.

As many as 72,87,819 children including around 1 lakh tribal children are enrolled in 97,135 anganwadi centres in the state.

Madhya Pradesh has 42 per cent stunted, 18.6 per cent severely stunted, 25.8 per cent wasted, 9.2 per cent severely wasted, 42.8 per cent underweight and 14.3 per cent severely underweight children under the age of five.

● CHILD RIGHT activists have been demanding introduction of eggs in the midday meals.

● THE BJP claims that any attempt to change the dietary habits of children belonging to a particular section of communities may lead to cultural conflict.