Excuses are aplenty, find way to give kids eggs: Madras high court

CHENNAI: Ridiculing the Tamil Nadu government for its stand that eggs cannot be distributed to children enrolled under mid-day meal scheme since it would affect social distancing norms, the Madras high court wondered if the state would shutdown Tasmac liquor outlets too for the same reason.
Quoting former chief minister K Kamaraj, a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha asked the state not to give reasons for not distributing eggs but to try and find a viable solution to provide them.The authorities can utilise the services of school teachers, anganwadi staff and village health nurses to assess the number of families and their children who require raw eggs, it said.
The bench made the observation while hearing a plea moved by advocate R Sudha, seeking direction to the state to ensure supply of nutritious food during lockdown to children who are enrolled under the mid-day meal scheme. The petitioner also wanted the state to ensure government school students had access to menstrual napkins during lockdown.
When the plea came up for hearing, additional special government pleader Muthukumar submitted that about 71.59 lakh sanitary napkins have been distributed to 23.86 lakh girls and post-natal mothers through primary health centre (PHC) nurses between April and July. As to the supply of eggs, there are some practical difficulties like social distancing norms, he added.
Refusing to accept the same, the bench said, “We are a welfare state, it might incur financial burden, but children have to be provided with necessary nutrition, they are the future of the country.”
Since the pleader requested the court to grant a day’s time to get instructions from the authorities concerned, the court adjourned the plea to August 4 for passing detailed orders.