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.
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.
At least two children of a government primary school in Bihar's Saran district died on Tuesday after consuming the mid-day meal. Also, Over 80 children have taken ill fell, an official said.
Bihar education minister tells state assembly that school principal Meena Devi's husband, Arjun Rai, purchased insecticide two days before the mid-day meal tragedy. M I Khan reports
Students of a primary school in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district were served mid-day meals mixed with 'bhang' and liquor, apparently to make the food tastier.
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.
Authorities suspended two teachers, apparently in an immediate damage control exercise.
No mid-day meal has been cooked in the school for the last two months, after the Brahmins announced a ban on serving food cooked by a Dailt woman.
"Police are conducting searches and have also spoken to relatives of the absconding principal, Meena Devi, and her grocer husband Arjun Rai but they are yet to be arrested," Saran SP Sujit Kumar said.
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.
As many as 27 children of a government school fell ill and were taken to hospital on Thursday at Hajipur in Bihar's Vaishali district after eating mid-day meal in which a dead lizard was found later.
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.
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.
"To get a first-hand experience of the quality of food served to children, the (GNIDA) CEO tasted the mid-day meal that was served to the students. He also interacted with the students on matters of their school," a GNIDA official said.
For the first time since a casteist row erupted at a secondary school in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, all 66 students of classes 6-8 of the school took mid-day meal prepared by a cook on Monday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
district were on Thursday admitted to hospital as they suffered health problems after consuming mid-day meal food, district officials said.
Around 34 students of a government school in Jahangirpuri area in New Delhi were taken ill on Monday after consuming mid-day meal, prompting Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to order testing of the samples served.
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.
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.
Thieves broke into a primary school in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, and stole an LPG cylinder used for preparing mid-day meals. One suspect has been arrested, and police are searching for his accomplice amid rising concerns about LPG shortages.
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.
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.
The students from the Government Boys' Senior Secondary School in Deoli area were immediately taken to the Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, after they reported feeling nauseous and complained of acute pain in their stomach and head post consuming the meal.
At least 40 students of government-run Udayabata Upper Primary school at a village in Odisha fell ill after allegedly eating a mid-day meal here, officials said.
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.
Around 20 students of a primary school in Bihar's Banka district Tuesday fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal, police said.
The children were taken ill soon after eating the mid-day meal, which consisted of rice and 'kadhi', police said.
The incident occurred at the Government High School in Bhatigwan in Madhya Pradesh's Maihar district.
In a recent decision the Tamil Nadu government increased the number of eggs for the meal scheme to three per week.
Several incidents have recently been reported of students of government schools falling ill after consuming contaminated mid-day meals in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and some other states.
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.
At least 71 school children of a lower primary school in Barbaruah Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district of Assam fell sick after taking mid-day meal provided by the government on Monday.
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.
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