Representational image of the mid-day meal scheme.
Sixty students of the 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Vidyalaya', a government school in Maharashtra's Korti village fell ill on Saturday, after eating the mid-day meal, a meal programme by the Central Government aimed at offering nutritious food to school children. The condition of two students was serious. They're now out of danger but still under observation at the Solapur Medical College.
"Sixty of the 250 students fell ill after having the mid-day meal. They were admitted to the hospital and checked immediately. Doctors said it was a case of food poisoning but assured us that the students were out of danger", Tukaram Munde, Solapur District Collector, told NDTV.
Despite the jolting wake-up call in 2013 when 23 children in Bihar died after eating a mid-day meal contaminated with pesticide, the incident today, raises serious questions about the scheme's ground realities.
The mid-day meal is the largest school feeding scheme in the world. It was implemented in September 2004 and revised in 2006 to provide 450 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I to V in government and government-aided schools.