Kolkata/Bhubaneswar: In the wake of a heated political row over the exclusion of eggs from school midday meals, the West Bengal government is reportedly considering adopting elements of Odisha’s flexible model.
This would allow ISKCON to continue providing vegetarian meals while enabling schools to procure eggs separately with additional state funding.
The controversy erupted after the budget tabled last Monday stated that ISKCON will be engaged to provide “nutritious” midday meals in schools in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area. ISKCON’s strictly vegetarian (sattvik) approach, which excludes eggs, onions, and garlic, led to eggs being dropped from the menu and replaced with plant-based proteins such as soya chunks, paneer, rajma (kidney beans), pulses, and other alternatives.
In Kolkata, there are over 1,800 schools where midday meals are served.
Officials in the school education department are likely to meet on Wednesday to work out the midday meal modalities, the TOI reported.
Political Backlash and Nutritional Concerns
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused the government of imposing religious dietary preferences on schoolchildren and compromising nutrition in a state where eggs are a common, affordable protein source. They argued that many children from economically weaker sections depend on the midday meal for essential nutrients, and removing eggs could affect their health and attendance.
TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra claimed that that children “do not like soya” and rajma is not commonly eaten in the state. “Our children don’t like soya…….Do Bengalis know what rajma is? I didn’t know what rajma was till I went to Delhi…So here you are, substituting egg. So what is the reason? If the reason is not cultural and the reason is not to promote vegetarianism, give me one good reason,” she was quoted as saying in a video shared by news agency ANI.
“40% of our school-going children go to school because that is the one nutritious hot meal of the day…,” she added.
Supporters of the ISKCON model, including some BJP leaders, have defended the move as promoting higher-quality, hygienic vegetarian meals prepared with greater oversight. “The priority of any midday meal programme is simple: provide every child with a nutritious, hygienic and dependable meal. Iskcon has a long and proven track record of serving millions of meals across India with the highest standards of hygiene and efficiency. It also has deep cultural roots in Bengal, making the attempt to portray it as some alien imposition rather absurd. One meal served in school does not alter anyone’s dietary habits, cultural identity or personal preferences,” Amit Malviya, Bengal BJP’s co-minder, said on Sunday.
Odisha as a Potential Blueprint
In Odisha, even when organisations like Akshaya Patra, an NGO linked to ISKCON, managed meal preparation, the government arranged for eggs to be provided separately through direct funding or additional provisioning to schools. This dual-delivery model allowed religious or charitable organisations to handle core cooking while preserving nutritional choices for students.
