OF EGGS AND AN ELECTION

In early September, Imarti Devi, Madhya Pradesh’s minister for women and child development, set the cat among the pigeons when she announced that she was in favour of including eggs in the mid-day meal scheme run in government schools and the Integrated Child Development Scheme in (local childcare centres). The intended beneficiaries of this nutrition supplement are children under six and lactating mothers of children up to six months old. Coming from someone mandated to fight malnutrition in a state badly affected by this problem, this would seem a legitimate intervention—but for), Imarti Devi’s announcement is being scrutinised for another reason—the upcoming byelections to 27 assembly seats, including the minister’s own.