Why do lives of the poor come cheap?
It is a national tragedy — and shame — that 27 schoolchildren in a Bihar village should die after having their mid-day meal supplied by the government.
The shame in Saran district is made worse when we consider that all that the state’s politicians — in the ruling party and the Opposition — can think of is to extract mileage out of the situation, and be calmly impervious to a systems failure which has claimed the lives of ten-year olds who come from very poor homes.
It should grate on chief minister Nitish Kumar’s ears to hear his education minister P.K. Shahi say, without a shred of evidence (as an inquiry has not yet taken place), that poison was calculatedly mixed with the children’s food so that a major loss of life should occur that would bring the JD(U) government a bad name. Even a good, hard-working minister should have offered to resign in the circumstances. But the political genes of our present-day politicians are not designed that way.
Especially since Mr Shahi has brought such embarrassment to the state government, and put his boorish callousness on display, he really ought to go. The CM might raise his stature if he gave the marching orders without thinking of caste equations even if political preparations for the next Lok Sabha elections have begun. Opposition leaders from the RJD and the BJP have basically gloated over the JD(U)’s discomfiture. It is an emotional moment for the families of the dead children but there have been no signs of politicians condoling with them. This horrible incident confirms once again that the lives of the poor come cheap.
Over 10 crore poor children in the country benefit from the national project of mid-day meals which, following the sterling example of Tamil Nadu, came to be supplied in order to keep children at school and give them nutritious food so that the next generation should be raised in conditions of health. The paraphernalia of preparing food also had a positive impact on local sales and employment.
The education and the social welfare department of state governments come into play in the success of such an enterprise. It should be their responsibility to ensure that clean and nutritious food is supplied, and no compromise is tolerated. Regrettably this aspect is frequently disregarded. Deaths arising from poor quality or adulterated mid-day meals have occurred in other states too, although the Bihar incident is striking on account of the numbers involved. Clearly, something is seriously wrong. Mr Kumar should show the way by ensuring a speedy and clean inquiry, giving exemplary punishment to the guilty, and placing his best civil servants in the service of the poor.
Post new comment