Who will feed UP's mid-day meal cooks? They have not been paid since March

Over 90% of them are women who are too poor to afford even a single meal

“We never forget to put food in students' plates but the government never remembers to do the same for us,” says Kiran Devi as she picks up a bowl of potato-soya curry to feed the students sitting under a banyan tree in Barara’s Primary School-1, Agra. Kiran Devi, 55, is a cook-cum-helper (CCH) under the mid-day meal scheme (now, Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman).

“It was March when I last received any honorarium,” she says. “We are called <bhojan matas> (mothers who provide food) but we have no money to feed ourselves.” The promise of Rs 1,000 as honorarium was why she had enrolled as a CCH to feed 161 students when her husband died over a decade ago and her son and daughter-in-law refused to give her food. “What else could I have done? I knew nothing else but cooking,” says Kiran Devi, who has been working at this school for eight years now. With her, there are two other CCHs: Geeta Devi (50) and Kesar (45; <she uses only her first name>).  

Though none of them has received the honorarium, they cannot afford to leave. “At the school, we at least get one meal,” says Kesar. “If we leave, we will go hungry.” 

All three women are widows, like most other CCHs. Some 94 per cent of CCHs enrollees in Uttar Pradesh (UP) are women, mainly from poor homes.

Barara isn’t the only village where the CCHs have not received an honorarium for months. None of the 372,094 CCHs engaged by the UP government has got it. “We are usually paid once every 2-3 months; this time we’ve got nothing for five months,” says Saroj Devi, a CCH from Meerut. 

When contacted, Harvansh Singh, deputy director, Mid-Day Meal Authority, Uttar Pradesh, admitted that they had disbursed the honorariums only till March. “We are waiting for funds from the central government. As soon as we get them, we will disburse the money,” Singh said.  

Overworked and underpaid

Besides the meager – and often delayed – honorarium, the CCHs have long working hours, aggravated by staff shortages. 

Barara village has three primary schools. At Primary School-2, which has more than 100 students, Shakuntala is one of the only two cooks. This, even though schools with over 100 students are supposed to have three CCHs. Those with 26 to 100 must have two CCHs, and schools with up to 25 students are supposed to have one.

Given the shortage, Shakuntala is the one who opens the school at 7 am; she’s the one who chops and cooks some 10 kg of vegetables every day; prepares over 300 rotis; serves the food to the students; and then washes the dishes before leaving at 2 pm – all for a mere Rs 50 a day.

Mamta Kumari, headmistress of this school, says, “I have written several letters to the Basic Shiksha Adhikari’s office about hiring another cook, but in vain.” She adds, “These women continue to work here because they have no other choice.” 

Harvansh Singh concedes that enrollments have been interrupted, but adds, “We will soon issue a notice to resume them.”  

The number of CCHs enrolled in UP is 99 per cent of the 377,519 posts approved for 2021- 22 in Uttar Pradesh. This is, however, 8 per cent less than the 405,353 CCHs in 2019.

Sandeep Singh, minister of state (independent), primary education, UP, did not respond to calls from Business Standard. 

To a question in Lok Sabha in August on the honorarium paid to them, Union MoS for Education Annpurna Devi had said, “CCHs are honorary workers who have come forward for rendering social services. And the Rs 1,000 per month honorarium for 10 months in a year will be continued.”  

CCHs are not paid for the summer months when schools are closed.

The honorarium of Rs 1,000 a month is shared between the Centre and the state in a 60-40 ratio. It has not changed since 2009. However, in 2019, the UP government added another Rs 500, taking it up to Rs 1,500 a month. Right before the Assembly elections in March, another Rs 500 a month was promised – but no money has been disbursed since.

Though the state government promises to provide the honorarium in the days to come, it will still fall way short of what some others give. Puducherry, for instance, pays the CCHs Rs 19,000 a month, followed by Tamil Nadu and Kerala, at 10,083 and 9,000, respectively, according to answers in the Rajya Sabha in 2019.