Mumbai: Addressing the Lok Sabha, Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked the government to resume midday meals immediately as students have now started attending physical classes after the closure of schools for two years.
Referring to the Zero Hour, he also asked the government to provide hot, cooked meals to children below the age of three, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Gandhi said children, the country’s future has suffered the most during the pandemic as schools were among the first institutions to close and the last to reopen.
When schools closed, the mid-day meal scheme was also discontinued. People were given dry rations due to the National Food Security Act and Supreme Court directives. But, the dry ration is not a substitute for cooked and nutritious food for children.
Gandhi said it was true that children and their families faced difficult times during the unprecedented pandemic.
But now, as children return to school, they need better nutrition. He said that the mid-day meal would also help in bringing back children who were dropped midway during the pandemic.
Gandhi said that according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-21, the percentage of malnourished and underweight children under five years of age has increased as compared to 2015-16.
This is worrisome and the government should make every effort to prevent this, she asserted. This is Gandhi’s second Zero Hour mention within a week.
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