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Contaminated mid-day meal sends over 30 children in Rajasthan's Bhilwara to hospital

Jaipur: As many as 36 students of a state-run school in Rajasthan were admitted to a hospital after they complained of vomiting and diarrhoea on Tuesday afternoon. The children reportedly felt uneasy after consuming a mid-day meal at their middle school in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district. A doctor familiar with the condition of the children said that all of them are out of danger, however, about twenty of them are still being treated at the hospital.

The children of Jhabkariya village in Bhilwara district were served 'kadhi-chawal' on Tuesday. After they complained of vomiting and diarrhoea, the students were rushed to a government hospital in Gangapur where some of them are still undergoing treatment. While all of the children are now out of danger, samples of the food served to them as part of the mid-day meal program have been sent to a laboratory for tests.

Deputy Chief Medical and Health Officer of Bhilwara, Ghanshyam Chawla told a news agency that he is certain that the children started feeling uneasy after consuming the mid-day meal. Meanwhile, Karoi police station in-charge Mukesh Kumar Verma alleged that the 'kadhi-chawal'

consumed by the children was contaminated.

Served to government school students across the country, the mid-day meal program has been at the receiving end of criticism owing to repeated instances where students have fallen ill after consuming food served to them at their state-run school. The brainchild of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Kamaraj, the mid-day meal program covers over 1.2 million schools in India, catering to over 110 million students. It has been hailed as the largest schoolchild feeding scheme in the world.

However, unhygienic preparation of mid-day meals at schools in various parts of the country have painted a grim picture for the program. In February of this year, as many as 40 students in Karnataka's Koppal district fell ill after consuming mid-day meal served to them at their government school. Similarly, another 25 children had to be hospitalised in the state's Nimbekayipura district after they complained of stomach ache and vomiting in January of this year. Reports of identical instances have come to light from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other states.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) ruled out the introduction of breakfast in the mid-day meal scheme. Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that children studying in classes 1 to 8 or within the age group of 6-14 years are entitled to "one mid-day meal" free of charge.

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