VRINDAVAN, INDIA // Churning out 1.2 tonnes of curry in under an hour, staff running the spotlessly clean, high-tech kitchen are hoping to turn around the shocking reputation of India’s free school lunch scheme.
As a large machine rolls out thousands of fluffy, hot rotis – or flat breads, aproned men add spices to vegetables and broths cooking in giant steel pots in the three-storey kitchen in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan.
“We had the vision that no child should be deprived of education because of hunger,” said Bharatarshabha Dasa, spokesman for the Akshaya Patra Foundation which manages the kitchen.
Hampered by corruption and inefficiency, the government’s midday meal programme is the world’s largest, with 120 million children to feed daily.
Students often fall sick after eating contaminated and poorly prepared food, and in 2013 about two dozen children died in an impoverished district of Bihar after they ate a meal laced with pesticide.
“Our endeavour is to change the perception of midday meals in the country in the long run,” Mr Dasa said.
Mr Dasa’s operations started small in 2000, serving just 1,500 children in the southern state of Karnataka. But it has since grown, with centralised kitchens in which meals are cooked and sent out to schools.
“Now we are catering to over 1.4 million children in 10,770 schools across 10 states using precision logistics,” Mr Dasa said.
Other charities also provide lunches for students, but many schools are responsible for running the scheme themselves, especially in remote, rural areas.
A national government report in 2010 found many such schools lack proper kitchens and adequate storage space, along with qualified cooks.
At the Vrindavan kitchen, food moves seamlessly on chutes and conveyor belts. Rice stored in silos on the terrace flows to an industrial tub for washing before heading into the pots on the bottom floor. Nearby a machine cuts up tonnes of vegetables.
Once in steel containers, the meals are packed into vans which navigate pot-holed roads to reach 2,000 government-run schools in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura region.
The charity receives subsidised produce and government grants for its operations as well as corporate donations, with each meal costing nine rupees (Dh0.52) to make.
For many children in India, where malnutrition is rife, free lunches are their only substantial daily meal.
The government scheme, which started nationally in 2001, is aimed at enticing particularly poor and vulnerable children to attend class instead of languishing at home hungry or helping their parents labour.
It has earned applause in some states, but has also become the target of corruption scandals with local media often reporting incidents of dead lizards, cockroaches or worse found in meals.
Yamini Aiyar, director of Accountability Initiative, a research group that tracks government programmes, said the scheme was hampered by too many layers of administration, resulting in poor coordination and delivery.
Ms Aiyar said it was also unfair to burden already-stretched schools with organising the meals.
“It’s important to allow schools to do what they are supposed to do.”
Unicef estimates that 57 million children in India are malnourished, a miserable scenario for a country that counts itself as an economic power. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh described malnutrition during his decade in power as India’s “national shame”.
At the brick-and-mud Chaumuah school in Mathura, scores of girls in khaki uniforms sit on floor mats once the gong sounds for lunch. After saying a prayer, they eagerly wait with their steel plates.
“There is hardly enough food ever in the house for all six of us. I like this food, it’s hot and tasty,” 12-year-old Anju Singh said, polishing off her meal.
Anju said she spends her days after school taking care of her five younger siblings because her ill mother was mostly bed-ridden and “can’t cook or clean”.
The menu at the school changes daily and includes roti with vegetable curry and different rice dishes, with dessert served on Saturdays as a treat.
Uday Mani Patel, an Uttar Pradesh government education officer, said more non-profit organisations needed to take part in the scheme, taking over from officials and schools.
“This would change the entire image of the school midday meal in the country,” he said.
Mr Dasa said his foundation was training other charities to set up their own large kitchens to provide meals for the scheme.
“[But] more people must come forward.”
* Agence France-Presse
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The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
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Scotland's team:
15-Sean Maitland, 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Nick Grigg, 12-Sam Johnson, 11-Byron McGuigan, 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ali Price, 8-Magnus Bradbury, 7-Hamish Watson, 6-Sam Skinner, 5-Grant Gilchrist, 4-Ben Toolis, 3-Willem Nel, 2-Stuart McInally (captain), 1-Allan Dell
Replacements: 16-Fraser Brown, 17-Gordon Reid, 18-Simon Berghan, 19-Jonny Gray, 20-Josh Strauss, 21-Greig Laidlaw, 22-Adam Hastings, 23-Chris Harris
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
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Emiratisation at work
Emiratisation was introduced in the UAE more than 10 years ago
It aims to boost the number of citizens in the workforce particularly in the private sector.
Growing the number of Emiratis in the workplace will help the UAE reduce dependence on overseas workers
The Cabinet in December last year, approved a national fund for Emirati jobseekers and guaranteed citizens working in the private sector a comparable pension
President Sheikh Khalifa has described Emiratisation as “a true measure for success”.
During the UAE’s 48th National Day, Sheikh Khalifa named education, entrepreneurship, Emiratisation and space travel among cornerstones of national development
More than 80 per cent of Emiratis work in the federal or local government as per 2017 statistics
The Emiratisation programme includes the creation of 20,000 new jobs for UAE citizens
UAE citizens will be given priority in managerial positions in the government sphere
The purpose is to raise the contribution of UAE nationals in the job market and create a diverse workforce of citizens
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