I had a prolonged debate on school feeding with a friend recently. I pointed out that India’s school feeding does not have any ‘means testing’ and covers all children. If India with its resource base and a large school population can do it, most other countries afford it. He on the other hand pointed out that USA (read the richest nation in the world) uses means testing to filter children out since it would be infeasible to feed all children (read no other country can then afford it).
Is it feasible since India does it? Or is it not feasible since the richest country in the world ‘cannot afford’ it? What an arbitrary construct feasibility turns out to be enabling us to pursue our different political ends!
You may also be interested in:
- The will to learn Stark naked, next to a pool of urine, in the background of Chennai’s smelliest river, on the pedestrian walk in a noisy smoke-filled road was...
- Yes your honour I wrote this article in 2003 when mid-day meal scheme was resisted by most states despite a direction from the Supreme Court of India directing...
- An anganwadi in Tamil Nadu “God bless mummy, god bless daddy, god bless teacher who will teach us, and make them happy”.Standing in a perfect circle, at 10 am sharp,...
- School feeding as a global obligation It is now a well accepted rights have corresponding obligations. Such obligations are traditionally placed on national governments and other regional actors and never on...
- Shifting from PDS to coupons or cash transfers: Assorted arguments This is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
