Madhya Pradesh: Akshaya Patra to Provide Mid-Day Meals in Bhopal District
Bhopal: The ‘soft Hindutva’ line which the Congress has tried to toe, often unsuccessfully, is again in full view in Madhya Pradesh. The government has turned to the ISCKON-backed Akshay Patra Foundation to run its mid-day meal programme in Bhopal district. The foundation is also likely to take over a 473-acre cow sanctuary which was started by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government.
An MoU was recently signed between Akshaya Patra and the state government to supply mid-day meals to 48,000 school children in Bhopal and the neighbouring Mandideep Industrial area. It will be run through a centralised kitchen, which has been sponsored by the Hindustan Electro Graphite Limited (HEG). The money for the programme comes from the Union government and the HRD ministry’s mid-day meal funds. HEG will divert its CSR funds into this kitchen.
At present, the foundation runs mid-day meal programmes in 12 states and claims to feed about 1.7 million children every day. The foundation ran into controversy last year, when it refused to use onion and garlic in its meals in Karnataka. Additionally, Akshaya Patra also opposes the use of eggs in its “satvik meals”.
Earlier this year, the Chhattisgarh government made it clear that Akshaya Patra, which has been running a centralised kitchen in Bhilai since 2009, will have to comply with the state’s decision to provide eggs to children on demand. Eggs are the richest and most cost-effective source of protein for school children.
Also Read: The Egg Debate Boils Over – Will Governments Stop Playing With Children’s Food?
Bhopal district collector Tarun Pithode and HEG chairman Jhunjhunwala were unavailable to answer questions regarding the ‘satvik meals’, as imagined by the foundation. The story will be updated with their response, as and when it is received.
Role of bureaucrats?
Sources suggest that dyed-in-saffron bureaucrats have pushed the Kamal Nath government to implement Hindutva ideas. Senior IAS officer Manoj Shrivastava, who was considered extremely close to Shivraj Singh, is now running the animal husbandry department. Srivastava paraded his “RSS roots” during the 15 years of BJP rule and is apparently trying to convince Kamal Nath to follow Hindutva ideas. He has suggested that the state’s only cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa region should be privatised and handed over to Akshaya Patra, which runs a similar sanctuary near Jaipur.
Among other Hindutva ideas that Shrivastava has proposed is the training of purohits. The idea fell flat during Chouhan’s regime because of opposition from Brahmins. Shrivastava has repackaged it with a Brahmin tilt. He has also proposed that stray cows should be taken care of either through a public-private partnership or by private temple trusts in every town and village.
The Congress government has not been able to decide how it wants to play the Hindutava card better than the BJP. A previous BJP chief minster’s decision may have helped Kamal Nath. Cow owners were responsible for their own milch animals until Uma Bharti became the chief minister. She also disbanded all the Kanji Houses – shelter homes where animals are held until claimed by owners – because she held that gau mata
Kamal Nath has been caught up in the Hindutva cacophony over cows, giving bureaucrats like Shrivastava this great opportunity to spin their own ideas. Akshaya Patra is likely to queer the pitch further with its ‘satvik meals’ in a district with 30% Muslim and 12% tribal population.
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