West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said the government will implement a pilot project in Kolkata under which International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) would serve vegetarian food in schools in midday meals from August 1, eggs would separately be served by Self Help Groups (SHGs).
The move, inspired by the practice in Odisha, is expected to address concerns that the government would impose vegetarianism on schoolchildren by contracting ISKCON to supply mid-day meals. The organisation, which runs temples and institutions across the globe, promotes strict vegetarianism.
“A pilot project will be launched from August 1 in which ISKCON will provide pure vegetarian food in mid-day meals in schools in a large part of Kolkata. Eggs will be separately served in the mid-day meal by SHGs,” Adhikari said at a government programme at the state secretariat in which the government released ₹296 crore as Composite School Grant to more than 80,000 schools.
Dipak Barman, state school education minister, said that the pilot project would be launched in some schools in Kolkata and eggs would be served at least once a week. “Eggs are presently served once a week. We will serve them once or twice a week from now on,” said Barman.
On June 22 this year, more than a month after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government coming to power, finance minister Swapan Dasgupta in his budget speech announced that ISKCON would serve cooked meals in schools across West Bengal.
It triggered a political row with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other parties accusing the BJP of trying to impose vegetarianism on school children.
There were also concerns about the nutritional value of the mid-day meals without the eggs.
“A month ago, we had asked for EGGS not to be removed from mid-day meals for children in Bengal. Then came the big talk. Today, eggs are back announced the Chief Minister,” Derek O’Brien, TMC Parliamentary leader in Rajya Sabha wrote on X on Wednesday.
At present, eggs are served in mid-day meals only once a week in schools. On the remaining days, vegetarian food is served. On some days, rice, dal and vegetable curry is served while on some other days, soyabean is served with rice and dal, people aware of the matter said.