Jhansi police arrested a government school's officiating headmaster, Govind Das Arya, on Thursday for allegedly tampering with a cheque to embezzle Rs 2 lakh from mid-day meal funds. The case was registered on August 9 following a complaint by the village head, Seema Singh, who accused Arya of increasing a cheque amount from Rs 15,000 to Rs 2.15 lakh and misappropriating the funds.
In a recent decision the Tamil Nadu government increased the number of eggs for the meal scheme to three per week.
Around three lakh school teachers in Bihar have decided to boycott the mid-day meal scheme from July 25 after 23 students died of poisoning after consuming the mid-day meal served in a school in Bihar's Saran district.
Authorities suspended two teachers, apparently in an immediate damage control exercise.
The human resource development ministry plans to extend the mid-day meal scheme to children in the upper primary classes in the next financial year.
The move has sparked a political row, with the opposition accusing the BJP of promoting a vegetarian agenda.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has directed the state government to pay Rs 25,000 each to 84 students who consumed mid-day meals soiled by a dog. The court cited negligence on the part of the government and emphasized the need for vigilance in providing mid-day meals.
A scam of nearly Rs 11 crore in the mid-day meal scheme was brought to light in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district, leading to a first information report (FIR) against 45 people and the arrest of five individuals, including a village head and an assistant teacher, police said on Thursday.
Four days after staying off from duties in midday meal scheme, nearly three lakh primary school teachers on Monday decided to end their stir after assurance from the government to look into their demands.
The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund on Thursday said the deaths in mid-day meals in Bihar could have been prevented with strict adherence to protocols for preparing the meal.
A tiny dead snake was allegedly found in a packet distributed under the mid-day meal scheme meant for children aged between six months and three years at an anganwadi or a government-run nursery school in western Maharashtra's Sangli district, prompting the authorities to launch a probe.
Angry over the children's death, hundreds of people took to the streets and protested near the local police station demanding action against school teacher and officials responsible for the calamity.
Under attack from the opposition over the death of 22 school children after consumption of mid-day meal at Saran, the Bihar government on Wednesday said it suspected a conspiracy behind the tragedy.
The opposition Rashtriya Janata-Dal hit out at the Bihar government on Wednesday for accusing it of hatching a 'conspiracy' in the mid-day meal tragedy that claimed the lives of 22 children, alleging that by politicising the issue the Janata Dal-United government was trying to divert the people's attention from the incident.
The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the roll-out of the 'PM POSHAN in Schools' scheme that will provide hot cooked meal to students of elementary classes in government and government-aided schools across the country.
The mid-day meal tragedy has sparked a blame game with the Bihar government on Friday refuting Centre's contention of having sent alerts to 12 districts including Saran, where 23 children died after consuming food, over shortcomings in the implementation of the scheme.
Mid-day meals for students in Bihar could not be served in over 20 per cent schools on Thursday as primary school teachers boycotted the duties, with the state government calling the decision as irresponsible and said it would inform the Supreme Court.
In the backdrop of Bihar mid-day meal tragedy in which 22 students died, the Supreme Court on Friday sought a report from Centre and all states on steps taken by them to prevent such incidents and to provide hygienic food to children.
district were on Thursday admitted to hospital as they suffered health problems after consuming mid-day meal food, district officials said.
At least 51 students of Lolpura primary school in Kanvadi village in Anand district were hospitalised due to food poisoning, after they consumed school mid-day meals on Wednesday, officials said.
Around 64 students fell sick due to food poisoning after consuming mid-day meal at a government primary school at Juggaur in Chinhat area in Lucknow on Wednesday, officials said.
Facing the ire of people over the midday meal tragedy, the Bihar government plans to provide printed instructions to school principals about food quality and safety besides painting the norms on the schools walls.
Ravindra Kumar Pandey said that the mid-day meal scheme had become "poisonous meal", leading to strong objection from Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.
Inconsolable families of the 22 children, who died after they were fed a meal in school, blame greedy teachers and officials for the disaster, reports M I Khan
At least 33 children were taken ill after they were severed a meal at a government-run school in Bihar's Vaishali district on Friday.
As the mid-day meal school tragedy in Bihar fuelled food safety concerns, more cases of children falling ill after consuming free food or contaminated water have come to light from Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Delhi and Maharasthra.
Close on the heels of the mid-day meal tragedy in Bihar, the Allahabad high court has disapproved of teaching staff at government schools being saddled with the implementation of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
Self-help groups have taken over the responsibility of supplying meals to 70 per cent of the schools.
As 22 students died after eating mid-day meal in Bihar's Chhapra, about 50 children of another government school were taken ill on Wednesday after they were served food under the scheme in Madhubani district of the state.
'The Modi government is doing a good job but corrupt officers are siphoning off funds,' says journalist Pawan Kumar Jaiswal against whom an FIR has been filed for his video expose of school children being fed salt and rotis as their mid-day meal.
In the wake of the mid-day meal tragedy in Bihar, the Centre on Thursday decided to constitute a monitoring committee to look into the quality of food supplied even as it said that it had issued alerts to 12 Bihar districts after shortcomings were found in implementation of the scheme.
By official estimates, the country has a surplus of 300,000 tonnes of milk powder, which has led to dairies and other bulk buyers cutting liquid milk purchase thus affecting its price.
Facing widespread criticism over the death of 23 children after eating mid-day meals in Chhapra, the Bihar government on Thursday denied receiving any alert from the Centre over shortcomings in its implementation and insisted that the food was 'poisonous'.
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The buck for the Gandamal tragedy should not stop with the school-in-charge Meena Kumari. She is just the face of a deeper malaise in Bihar, says Apoorvanand.
A week after the midday meal tragedy in a Chhapra school, which killed 23 children, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, speaking for the first time after the horrific event, claimed there was a conspiracy behind the tragedy.
'Nearly two-thirds of Maharashtra has been drought-prone on and off, and climate change is making it worse.'
Tamil Nadu's decades-old noon meal scheme is a resounding success because it puts health and nutrition in the forefront of its effort, reports A Ganesh Nadar after visiting three schools in Tirunelveli district
The Rajasthan high court, Jodhpur, has taken suo motu cognisance of issues concerning Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Gen Beta, expressing concern over junk food, excessive screen time, paper leaks, inadequate infrastructure in rural schools and the possible erosion of basic learning skills in the age of artificial intelligence.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of disrupting a TMC protest march concerning the Baruipur rape and murder case, alleging that the police acted as an 'arm' of the saffron party by failing to enforce a Calcutta High Court order permitting the rally.
