By CT reporter
MANGALORE : “The midday meal scheme, an ambitious project initiated by the Centre to the school children is also being saffronised through privatization of the scheme,†alleged SFI State President H R Naveen Kumar.
He was speaking to The Canara Times during a break from the state level study camp being organised by the district unit of SFI in which he had been actively participating for the last three days.
“The BJP government in Karnataka which has already saffronised the education has gone one step further in its attempt to saffronise the midday meal scheme to the school children. The state government which is entrusted with the task of directly implementing this scheme has through its action to privatize the scheme has defeated the very purpose of the scheme as envisioned by the union government†he said.
He alleged that the ISKCON which has been awarded contract to provide midday meal has been providing a meal which is being cooked without using either onion or garlic thereby going against the very vision of the scheme which requires the implementing agency (state government) to provide local specific and nutritious meal to the school children. The ISKCON, he said has converted this scheme into an industry by cooking the meal for a cluster of 50 schools in a single place†he expressed his anguish.
Expressing his deep concerns he said “ISKCON insists the children to recite a mass prayer extolling Shri Krishna before serving the meal. This forms an essential part of the saffronisation of education and midday meal scheme.†When the government was implementing the scheme, women belonging to different castes were being employed to cook the meal in the schools. This had fostered a sense of equality in the schools. It is not only the amity and sense of equality that has been engendered in the schools that have vanished; thousands of employees engaged by the government have also lost their jobs in the process, he further added.
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