School lunches become political battleground in India after eggs pulled from menu

A political dispute has erupted in India after the Hindu nationalist ruling party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took control of West Bengal state in May and removed eggs from school lunch menus, replacing them with vegetarian meals.

According to AFP, the West Bengal state government last month selected the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Hindu religious organization, as its new school meal provider, committing to serve students vegetarian food at state-run schools. As a result, eggs that had been served to students once a week were replaced with plant-based alternatives.

ISKCON, which now runs the school meal program in West Bengal, serves only vegetarian food. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the West Bengal state assembly election in May for the first time in history, is the ruling party of the federal government under Modi and promotes vegetarianism in line with its Hindu nationalist ideology.

About 30 percent of India's total population is believed to be vegetarian, influenced in part by Hindu traditions that regard cows as sacred and avoid animal carcasses. However, some Hindus do eat meat and fish, and eggs — classified as a non-vegetarian food in India — are also widely sold across the country.

Mamata Banerjee, former chief minister of West Bengal and a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the regional party that governed the state from 2011 until losing this year's election, criticized the state government for removing eggs from school meals, calling it "a move against the culture" of a region home to more than 100 million people. Dola Sen, a state assembly member from the same party, said the BJP state government "is forcing vegetarianism on students."

Some public school teachers also expressed concern that attendance could drop with eggs gone from the lunch menu. Teacher Raja Dey said "the midday meal is the biggest strength of state elementary schools," adding that "on days when eggs were served, students came to school in large numbers."

While nationwide data for India is unavailable, the southern state of Karnataka expanded egg servings to six days a week last year and saw attendance rise from 93.5 percent to 98.97 percent.

Nutrition experts warned that removing eggs from the menu could leave low-income students — the primary beneficiaries of the school meal program — suffering from protein deficiencies. Physician Sylvia Karpagam said eggs are "the best in terms of protein quality" and warned that children could face "an imminent crisis in terms of nutrition and health."

An ISKCON official rebuffed the concerns, saying "whatever nutrients children get from eggs can be met by the high-quality proteins and vitamins included in our meal menu."

West Bengal Education Minister Deepak Barman also stressed that "many people in India live healthy lives on a vegetarian diet."