The Department of Women and Child Welfare decided to streamline the provision of nutritious food and introduced ready-to-eat khichdi — and the children hate it besides falling sick.
Representational image of children eating a balanced meal. (Wikimedia Common)
Deepthi sat cross-legged on a mat spread on the floor of an Anganwadi at Mundgod in Uttara Karnataka, staring at a spicy porridge kind of food placed in front of her.
The usual cheerful smile had disappeared as the five-year-old raised her head and looked up at the teacher.
The teacher, who was watching the children including Deepthi, apparently knew it was coming. She was helpless.
“Nanage beda,” the child shook her head vigorously as she pushed the plate away.
“Nanage packet oota beda. Nanage payasa, chikki, sambar anna kodi (I don’t want packaged food. Give me payasa [a sweet dish made of green gram], chikki [jaggery-coated peanuts], and sambar rice),” Deepti demanded.
Around her, other children, too, made the same demand. The teacher knew the ubiquitous request heard across Karnataka, “swalpa adjust maadkoli” (please adjust a bit) won’t work with the group of children — some angry, and others ready to bawl.
The lunch-hour scenario is replicated in several other Anganwadis. A sense of desperation and discontent have seeped into the Anaganwadis, otherwise vibrant with bright paintings adorning the walls. The painted figures, too, seemed to be motionless in bewildered helplessness.
There was a time when the aroma of boiling sambar and cooking rice filled the room that housed the Anganwadi, an aroma that made the children hungry, and eager to eat.
Times have changed. The food that the children once relished was relegated to the past after the Department of Women and Child Welfare decided to streamline the provision of nutritious food and introduced pre-mix rice khichdi (a dish made of rice and lentils) in Anganwadis.
The change denied the children the food that was appealing and more palatable. Instead, they are forced — or even made to skip — to eat something insipid for them. It was not anymore the happy hour that reverberated with laughter and chatter.
The concern, however, is not just about the children refusing unfamiliar food or the absence of their preferred snacks.
Children are averse to eating the khichdi made using the mix distributed to Anganwadis. (Supplied)
Reports from various centers spoke about children facing adverse reactions to the khichdi packets, with complaints of food emitting the smell of stale oil.
The aftereffects cannot be ignored. Anganwadi teachers reported cases of children vomiting and suffering from upset stomachs after consuming the meal, raising serious questions over the claimed nutritional value of the packed food, despite that being approved from the Defence Food Research Laboratory in Mysuru.
Some children even complained that the khichdi was too spicy to consume.
Anganwadi teachers at some centres in the Uttara Kannada district spoke to South First, on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.
They confirmed that the children were refusing the packed meal.
“Children are going home for lunch on the three days on which khichdi is served. They are refusing to eat. Some parents from Mundgod taluk complained of children vomiting and suffering from an upset stomach,” a source in Mundgod said.
The quality of these packaged khichdi is poor. Officials can see it for themselves,” she added.
Earlier, chickpeas, green gram, green gram dal, jaggery, masala powders, sugar, peanuts, rice, salt, semolina flour, and oil were provided to serve fresh meals to children aged between three and six.
They were given peanut chikki, sambar and rice or upma or green gram dal khichdi, cooked at the Anganwadi. Also, three days a week, sweet porridge made of green gram dal was served. Eggs were also provided, depending on market rates and the availability of grants.
Though vegetables were supplied earlier, the authorities later asked the workers to grow them on the Anganwadi premises.
The Department of Women and Child Development (WCD) used to release funds for purchasing ingredients like jaggery and groundnuts for preparing chikki. It also paid for procuring groceries and vegetables.
However, WCD officials claimed that chikki was not being prepared properly and the children were either not eating them or falling sick. There were also complaints of ration being stolen by Anganwadi teachers.
With allegations that the children were provided insufficient nutritious food, the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court asked them to revise the menu.
Under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, Anganwadis across the state decided to change the menu getting the approval of the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL). A food supply agreement was signed between the Mother and Child Health Project (MSPC) and three qualified BIS-licensed women’s groups.
Packed millet laddoo powder distributed to Anganwadis. (Supplied)
The new menu provided children aged six months to three years, normal or malnourished, 125 grams of nutritional powder with or without jaggery.
In Anganwadis, children aged three to six years, whether normal or malnourished, were provided the packed khichdi at 1 pm on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On arriving at the centre, they were welcomed daily with a millet laddoo.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, sambar rice without any trace of vegetables would be provided. In many places, scarcity of water has made growing vegetables almost impossible. Hence, sambar contained pigeon peas and the readymade mix.
The optional nutrition powder porridge, too, formed part of the menu.
Minister for Women and Child Welfare Laxmi Hebbalkar told the media in January that “this is a pilot project implemented for three months across the state. It will be continued, if the response is positive”.
Meanwhile, Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Federation state secretary, M Jayamma, told South First that the new menu did not get the approval of the parents and children.
“Our workers across several districts have complained to me that parents in their centres are not even coming to pick up the nutrition packets that they have to provide to their infants,” she pointed out.
In Anganwadi centres, children who loved eating chikkis, and rice and sambar are complaining and refusing to eat khichdi. There is a mixed response. In some places, they are trying to add extra vegetables to make it tasty but it’s not helping everywhere,” she added.
Interestingly, in several places of Uttara Kannada, Mysuru, HD Kote, Udupi, and North Karnataka regions, the ration itself was stopped for almost two months, sources said.
The department reportedly told them that they were waiting for food packets and the menu was getting changed.
“We had submitted a memorandum seeking why the ration, without any prior notice, was stopped. We were sending children back home for lunch. Even now in several panchayats, the food packets have not arrived and children are going home,” a social worker from Mundgod told South First.
The food kits were being delivered to a few taluks in Uttara Kannada from 30 January. The problems began in the first week itself.
While some centres voluntarily procured fresh vegetables and added it to the khichdi mix, children complained less when served hot.
However, senior officials and teachers in several districts confirmed to South First that children in only a few districts were accepting the changed menu. They were used to bisibelebath, pongal, etc., cooked at home.
“First, not all panchayats have received these kits. The kits are still under distribution. Those who received them complained of weird-smelling oil and the food tasting bad. While some children are complaining of stomach issues, many others are refusing to eat,” a senior official from the Women and Child Welfare Department said.
Interestingly, the children have been missing their favuorite chikki.
“Soon after lunch my kids would want to return home but then when the teachers remind them of the chikki they would stay back and take a nap. Now, they don’t want to go to school. They come home and ask us for food. What is the government doing?” Netravathi, a parent in Hangal, asked.
Ballari, Dharwad, Bidar, Mandya, Shivamogga, Haveri, Chikkamagaluru, Kanakapura, Mysuru, Chitradurga, Tumkuru, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Koppala, Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Chamarajanagara districts have received the kits.
However, District Commissioner of Chamarajanagara Shilpa Nag confirmed to South First that a meeting was held two weeks ago. It decided to seek the opinion of parents and workers before serving food at the Anganwadis.
“We heard about the mixed opinion from the districts where food has already being given so we have instructed our people to train the Anganwadi workers to make the food even better by adding some locally grown veggies, coriander leaves, fresh curry leaves, etc., before serving to the children,” she said.
Meanwhile, eggs have become rare or even disappeared from several Anganwadis. In some places, the tender for January was already made, but suppliers were not providing eggs since their dues had not been cleared.
In some places, the supply of eggs has stopped for the past two to three months. For instance, there has been a disruption in the supply of eggs in Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Bengaluru, Hassan, and Mandya districts.
“It is concerning that eggs are not being supplied for children. Chikkis, laddoos, and premixes cannot replace nutrient-dense animal source foods,” Dr Sylvia Karpagam, public health doctor and an advocate for food and nutrition, told South First.
She said the state has been facing a serious nutritional crisis and shockingly, the issues were not being addressed.
“Eggs have good proteins, vitamins, and fats that help the development of the brain and other organs besides addressing stunting and malnutrition. We cannot reverse the damage after it has occurred. We have to prevent it,” she said.
Dr Karpagam also said the legal rights of the child under the National Food Security Act were being violated.
Meanwhile, paediatricians and food and nutrition advocates criticised the Karnataka government’s decision to give pre-mixed packaged foods to children, on the pretext of providing nutritious meals.
Speaking to South First, Dr Veena Shatrughna, clinical nutritionist and former director of National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad termed it amounted to humiliating the children. “The government is diluting every norm that we fought for to make sure that children were provided food based on UNICEF standards. Will the same packaged food be eaten by our elected MLAs,” she asked.
Dr Gopikrishna G, a paediatrician from Bengaluru recommended providing fresh, nutritious food. “It is unfortunate that in the name of nutrition, we are pushing some packaged food to children who are dependent on these Anganwadis for nutrition. This should be stopped immediately,” he opined.
Though the pre-mixed foods have a shelf life of three months, some preservatives would be added. Arguing that children of Anganwadi age should be provided healthy, nutritious meals, experts demanded to know the preservatives used.
The experts also stressed that the supply of pre-mixed food went against the recommendations of the NK Patil Committee report submitted in 2012.
The panel had specified the food to be provided to prevent malnutrition.
While the pre-mixed packets and the new menu are still being supplied to various panchayats across all districts, Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar told South First that she passed an order to stop supplying these kits after receiving complaints. The minister said that the order asks anganwadis to revert to the old menu and supply groceries as earlier.
”After recieving complaints and mixed response, I have instructed them to stop the supply of pre mix and go back to supplying of groceries, based on tender,” Hebbalkar told South First.
Order copy asking to stop supply of pre mix packets.
However, most of the officials, including the deputy directors at the district level, were unaware of this order and continued to serve the pre-mix khichdi as part of the menu.
Speaking to South First, Nishchal, Deputy Director of ICDS confirmed that the order has been passed to stop supply and use of the premix khichdi. He said, there has been no change in the menu, except that the DFRL is yet to approve the chikkis. However, the millet laddoos are a value addition to the nutrition for children. This is conforming to the norms of DFRL and it haas also gone through checks from NABL approved laboratories for quality check, he said.
“We tried this pre-mix for the first month of January. There was mixed response so we have issued an order to stop manufacturing it,” he said. When asked about the order not reaching the officials at districts and the supply of pre mix started only now in few districts, he said, “the already produced and packed kits may have reached some districts. We have made it optional for the officials of these districts to decide if they want to give the pre mix khichdis or not. Now, the production of these kits has stopped and we are not using them,” he explained.
Even as children like Deepthi kept pushing away the packed khichdi and demanding chikki, pasaya, and sambar anna, the claimed order remained invisible — and unheard of — like the vegetables in sambar served in some Anganwadis.
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