By Jatindra Dash, Saurabh Sharma and Ira Dugal
ODISHA, India- Nearly two years of elevated food inflation in India is leaving less in the lunch boxes of impoverished children, as government funded school meals suffer cutbacks because of rising prices of vegetables, fruits and pulses.
The three-decades old program, intended to draw poor children into school and provide them with basic nutrition, throws into sharp relief the inflationary impact of food on the nation’s most needy and the widening inequality in the world’s fastest growing major economy.
Reuters interviews with 21 school teachers across four states, a dozen families and researchers show schools have been forced to scrimp on key ingredients as the meal budget under the scheme has not increased for the last two years despite soaring food prices.
The program covers an estimated 120 million children across a million government and government-aided schools up to class 8, data available on the scheme’s website showed. Teachers and school administrators manage the quality of food provided.
India’s food inflation has averaged 6.3 percent between June 2020 and June 2024, a central bank study published in August showed, compared to 2.9 percent in the previous four years. It eased slightly in July and August due to statistical base effects but is expected to have risen again last month.
Despite this surge in prices, the minimum budget of 5.45 rupees for each primary school student and 8.17 rupees for upper primary students under the scheme has not been raised since October 2022.
A decision to increase allocations for the current 2024-25 year has been delayed due to elections, said an official at the federal Ministry for Education, which administers the scheme, declining to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
An email to the federal Ministry for Education was not answered.
Price increases have been particularly persistent in vegetables, a category which has seen inflation of over 10 percent in 22 months in the past four years, according to the central bank study. Pulses and oils have experienced double digit inflation for 24 months and eggs for 15 months over this period.
Sixteen of the 21 teachers who spoke to Reuters said inflation has dented the existing budget making it difficult to provide nutritious meals to students
Fruits have not been served for the past six months and green vegetables have been replaced with pumpkin, a teacher from the Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh said, declining to be identified for fear of being targeted by state officials.
The milk given to students is little more than white water, the teacher said, suggesting dilution by water. -Reuters
