SCHOOL FEEDING-THE KARNATAKA SITUATION

After the Bihar midday meal program tragedy every state government vested with the management of this education-cum nutrition oriented Central scheme woke up suddenly running helter skelter for cover fearing that their weaknesses also would be exposed. School inspections became more frequent and erring officials were hauled up for not doing their job properly. But all these knee jerk reactions slowly faded away once the news became "cold" and forgotten by every body. Here is a typical PRO exercise by the Karnataka government to claim how efficient they are!

"Maintaining that the scheme in the state was near to 100% error free, the minister said over 60 lakh school children are getting the benefits of mid-day meal every day. "Barring one incident, where a girl child died after slipping into sambar vessel last year, the scheme is running successfully since it was introduced in 2002. More than 6 crore children have benefitted by the scheme till date," Ratnakar said. Mid-day meals is being given in around 55,000 schools and the government was into building quality kitchens in these schools. Only 75% of the schools have kitchens. Ratnakar said the Centre has announced that it would provide Rs 3 lakh to built a kitchen and Rs 5,000 to buy utensils. "There is also scheme where Centre will provide Rs 3,500 per month to grow vegetables in water availability areas. Rs 7,000 grant per month on big schemes and government has planned to give milk from August at a cost of Rs 600 crore," he said. Of the Rs 18,000 crore allocation for the department, Rs 11,000 are being spent on the salary. Ratnakar informed that Rs 180 crore was being spent on providing free uniforms every year and Rs 3,500 crore needed upgrade school buildings".

Is it not a tragedy that instead of getting down to the basics and having introspection, governments tend to take high moral grounds trying to defend a system which is moribund at its best? The lay out is such that the present school feeding program cannot be an instrument of furthering the education system because the very purpose of the school is shifted from teaching to cooking food for all the children whether they want it or not. Teachers hardly aware of the logistics of mass cooking and feeding are forced to take up the chore against their free will. Sanitation and hygiene conditions can never be safe enough to ensure safety of children. Water used, qualitatively and quantitatively, is unsatisfactory. In the face of these heavy odds the government spokesperson is trying to defend the indefensible. Good luck to him till the next food related episodes which are waiting to happen, in spite of all the good intentions!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE "GUTKA" POLITICS-KARNATAKA EXCELS!

Arecanut has indeed high economic importance to the people of Karnataka and it contributes to 50% of country's production. India is the major producer of arecanut, its share in global production being 47%. One of its important uses is in the manufacture of products like Gutka, a concoction of tobacco and this tree nut. Recent ban of Gutka through out the country on the basis of food laws of the country has raised concern regarding its adverse impact of this policy on the livelihood of thousands of Areca farmers in the state. Thus there is a dilemma as to whether farmer's interest should be protected or consumer health is to be safeguarded. According to FSSAI provisions individual states will have to ban gutka initially for one year and then extend every year, though it is not clear as to why this vacillation when it has been proved scientifically to be harmful to health! What is of concern is the tendency of politicians to "over rule" scientific evidence and oppose such a ban on gutka. Here is an instance of a former Chief Minister of Karnataka criticizing the implementation of food safety laws under FSSAI and "certifying" that these products are not injurious!    

"As per the Supreme Court directive, States were asked to file affidavits by June 25. The case was posted for July 26.What was the urgency to decide on the ban, without discussing the matter with all the stakeholders," he sought to know. Gowda was particularly critical of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for what he called "ignoring" the repercussions of the ban. "Farmers have been petitioning the elected representatives from the arecanut-growing regions. It was not expected of the government to ban gutka without providing an alternative to farmers," he said. The ban on paan masala was also "thoughtless." Paan masala has no proven record of being injurious to public health. "The Kerala High Court has, in fact, reversed the government's decision to ban paan masala in that State," Gowda pointed out. BJP MLC Srinivas Poojar said people employed in the gutka industry had been pushed to the streets. In reply, Health Minister, U T Khader said that the government did not have any other option. "We had to comply with the SC directive. Even the Advocate General favoured the ban."

It is true that the matter is being discussed in the state high court on a private petition but the court has not given any direction to the state to stay the ban. Therefore the state administration has no choice but to implement the food law, passed by country's parliament. There are some similarities between tobacco smoking and gutka chewing as both contain tobacco as a common ingredient. The logical question is why there is no ban on making or selling of cigarette or bidi in this country and if the citizens come to the conclusion that the economic muscle of cigarette industry is influencing the government policy, there may be some grain of truth in this. Why not apply the same yardstick to gutka also and leave the farmers and the gutka industry alone by simply insisting on a warning label declaring it can cause cancer and other health problems?  Of course ideally all tobacco based products must be banned with out any extraneous consideration for which no government in the world seems to have the guts! The distinction between chewing and smoking cannot be stretched too far to punish the gutka industry. On a different footing gutka chewers can be hauled up for defacing public places by spitting their blood red saliva juice indiscriminately every where.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com