ISKCON to remove eggs from Bengal mid-day meals

The West Bengal government has announced that eggs will no longer be included in mid-day meals provided to government and aided schools in Kolkata, with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) set to supply cooked food under the programme, according to reports by The Telegraph.

Radharaman Das, ISKCON’s Kolkata spokesperson, said the organisation’s meals would follow a vegetarian menu featuring items such as paneer, rajma, soybeans, pulses, and other sources of plant-based protein. He stated that dietitians had been appointed to design the menus and claimed that the nutritional value provided through eggs would be matched or surpassed through the proteins and vitamins included in their meals, Scroll.in reported.

The initiative will be carried out through ISKCON’s Annamitra Foundation. Das said the organisation was waiting for the government to provide details of the schools involved and would establish kitchens for preparing and distributing the food.

Under the current system in West Bengal, students generally receive eggs once a week, while meals on other days consist of rice, dal, and potato curry. Some schools have also provided chicken or fish occasionally using additional funds collected by teachers. Students who avoid eggs or follow vegetarian diets have traditionally been offered alternatives.

The new arrangement, however, will introduce a fully vegetarian menu. Das said ISKCON already runs similar mid-day meal programmes across more than eight states and 22 cities, serving around 12 lakh students nationwide.

ISKCON-linked Akshaya Patra Foundation, which operates government-supported school meal programmes in states including Karnataka and Odisha, has previously faced criticism from Right to Food activists over menus that exclude eggs, onions, and garlic due to the organisation’s religious dietary practices.

The decision has drawn criticism from Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien. The Rajya Sabha MP accused the BJP government of reducing children’s nutritional options by removing eggs from school meals, alleging that vegetarianism was being imposed on students and saying that the state opposed such a move.

The mid-day meal scheme, officially known as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, was introduced in August 1995 to encourage primary school enrolment while improving children’s nutrition. The programme requires cooked meals containing at least 450 calories, 8–12 grams of protein, and other essential nutrients. The National Food Security Act of 2013 made mid-day meals up to Class 8 a legal entitlement.

State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta had announced in the Budget speech on Monday that ISKCON would provide cooked meals to schools under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. He also announced an increase in the material cost allocation for primary school meals from ₹6.7 to ₹10 per student, while the amount for upper primary students would remain unchanged at ₹10.2 per student.