By M H Ahssan / INN Bureau
Were the young victims in Chapra, Bihar, really poisoned as the state government claims? The state education minister PK Shahi was slammed for his comments in a media conference, when he insisted that the children had been deliberately poisoned and hinted at a political conspiracy. However the forensic examination of the food that was given to the children suggests that his theory may not be that far fetched after all.
The poison levels in the food were five times more than what was found even in insecticides and pesticides. “The peak area of the poisonous substance in the oil was more than five times in comparison to the commercial preparations,” the report said, quoting a press release giving details of the forensic report. It added that there was no explanation given for the unusually high levels of poison.
The Forensic Science Laboratory report found Monocrotophos, an organophosphorus compound in the samples of oil from the container, food remains on the platter and mixture of rice with vegetables on Aluminium tasla (utensil), Additional Director General of Police (HQ) Ravinder Kumar told reporters making the report public.
Monocrotophos is used as a pesticide for agricultural purposes. It is very toxic to human beings and other animals, the ADG said quoting the FSL report.
If, as the forensic report shows, the level of poison was so high, there is clearly more to the incident than previously thought. The theory as of now is that the oil used to cook the food had been stored in a container that used to contain pesticides. But it is unclear if this explains the unusual levels of poisoning.
In his media statement Shahi put the blame on the principal of the school and her husband, hinting that they had something to do with the incident. The minister pointed to the fact that all the male members of the principal’s family were absconding following the incident, which showed their possible involvement. The principal of the school is still absconding.
If deliberate poisoning can indeed be proven, it will undoubtedly give the Nitish Kumar government a much needed lease of credibility. The tragic incident has dealt a massive blow to the Chief Minister’s ‘good governance’ claims and given his political opponents some lethal ammunition against him.
However even if the case of poisoning is proven to be true, this should not in any way detract from the shocking manner in which the state government has run the midday meal programme thus far. A report in The Times of India stated that as much as Rs 463 cr that had been allocated to the state government for the running of the midday meal scheme in Bihar had been returned to the centre as it had not been utilised.
This is not to say that the other states have been any better. In the wake of the Bihar incident, reports of equally shocking reports from across the country started flooding national media. On Wednesday, 31 students of a government school in Dhule, Maharashtra were admitted to a hospital after they ate food served as part of the midday meal scheme in their school. The students, from Class 5 to 10, had reportedly developed gastroenteritis after eating the food.
That’s not all. As many as 102 girls of a government school in Neyvelli in Tamil Nadu were admitted to a hospital after their midday meal left them sick. Local officials say that the children, between 9 to 16 years, are not in danger but that the hot lunch served to them was most likely to have been contaminated.
Recently, insects and worms have also been found in a midday meal kitchen in a school in Punjab’s Amritsar by inspection authorities. Two audit reports by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have said the food in the scheme was often laced with stones and worms.
Another survey by the Indian Institute of Management noted children in Gujarat were made to wash up after their meals by “rubbing the playground soil on the plates and then giving a quick rinse”.
The truth is that the scheme, which is often the only way millions of children are assured at least one square meal a day is being plagued by bad management and poor implementation, and the Bihar incident has shown us the tragic cost of such callousness.
Even if this case is proved to be one of deliberate and direct poisoning, the spotlight should not shift from the Bihar government or the rest of India until the glaring loopholes in the scheme are fixed.
