Poor kids denied nutrition due to lockdown

Mysuru: Due to the pandemic, lakhs of poor children from across Karnataka have been denied midday meals.
Now that the government has decided to provide midday meals to children only in 49 drought-hit taluks of the total 237 taluks in Karnataka, many children will not get proper nutrition.
Since the lockdown was clamped, children who were being provided a nutritional diet, including milk, vegetables and cereals in schools, are deprived of it, as schools are shut.It has been three months now since the children have not been getting their midday meal, and children from slums and backward regions of Karnataka are the worst-affected.
Saraswathi, director of Rural Literacy and Health Programme, a not-for-profit organisation working for the welfare of children, said schoolchildren are the worst sufferers, especially those from poor families who live in slums.
“They used to get a nutritious diet in schools, but are not getting it presently. Most parents of schoolkids in Ambedkar Nagar eke out a living by doing menial jobs like that of a domestic help or selling broomsticks. They’re unable to provide a nutritious diet for their offspring, as they are struggling to make ends need. Our study reveals that their children are eating rice and tomato curry daily,” she claims.
The government has to look into such issues and ensure that the children get proper nutrition, which will boost their immunity and help the children fight the threat of the novel coronavirus, states the study.
Gangappa, president of the Ambedkar Slumdwellers Association, said that about 80 children studying at a local government primary school are deprived of proper nutrition since the lockdown, as they are not getting their midday meals. The parents of these children are mostly from the North Karnataka region, and do unskilled jobs to sustain themselves. Gangappa, who is from Haveri, said that the government is doing nothing to ensure that poor children get proper nutrition.
Midday meal executive officer C Lingarajaiah said that schoolchildren got midday meals only till March. “Now the government has ordered to provide midday meal rations to families of children only in drought-hit taluks of Karnataka. We have one taluk in Chamarajanagar and two in Ramanagar that are drought-hit, and none in Mysuru. There is a Supreme Court directive to provide meals to children only during school days. We’re waiting for the government order to provide food or ration to children,” he said.
According to the official, about 207,744 children benefited from the Midday Meal scheme and Kshera Bhagya scheme, in Mysuru alone. Deputy director of public Instruction Panduranga says that earlier, even during holidays, midday meals were provided in some schools, but now, without the government’s directive, it can’t be provided to them.