Bihar school meal poisoning incident
Food adulteration and yellow phosphorus poisoning | |
Deaths | 23 |
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On 16 July 2013, at least 23 students died, and dozens more fell ill at a primary school in the village of Gandaman in the Saran district of the Indian state of Bihar after eating a Midday Meal contaminated with pesticide.[1][2][3] Angered by the deaths and illnesses, villagers took to the streets in many parts of the district in violent protest.[4] Subsequently, the Bihar government took a series of steps to prevent any recurrence of such incidents.[5]
Background
Across India, the Midday Meal Scheme provides roughly 120 million children with free lunch, making it the world's most extensive school lunch program.[6] In spite of corruption involved in implementing the scheme, it aims to fight widespread poverty and improve children's school attendance and health as a large number of India's children suffer from malnutrition.[7][8]
Bihar in northern India is among the nation's poorest states.
The primary school Dharmashati-Mata Mandir, in the village of Gandaman, was established in 2010. At the time of the incident, 89 children were registered with the school.
Incident
On 16 July 2013, children aged between four and twelve years at the Dharmashati Mata primary school complained that their lunch, served as a part of the Midday Meal Scheme, tasted odd.[4] The headmistress rebuked children who questioned the food.[7] Earlier, headmistress Meena Kumari had been informed by the school's cook that the new cooking oil was discoloured and smelled odd.[10] Kumari replied that the oil was purchased at a local grocery store and safe to use.[9][10] The cook, who was also hospitalized by the poisoning, later told reporters that it looked like there was "an accumulation of residual waste at the bottom [of the oil jar]".[9] The meal cooked at the school that day consisted of soya beans, rice and potato curry.[9]
Thirty minutes after eating the meal, the children complained of stomach pain and soon after were taken ill with
Cause
Initial indications were that the food was contaminated by an organophosphate, a class of chemicals commonly found in insecticides.[7] A local government administrator commented "It appears to be a case of poisoning but we will have to wait for forensic reports ... Had it been a case of natural food poisoning, so many children would not have died."[9] Dr Amar Kant Jha, superintendent of PMCH in Patna, said that the survivors were emitting toxic vapours, which led his team to suspect almost immediately that they had been poisoned with an organophosphate.[14]
Late on 17 July, officials stated that they believed the cooking oil had been placed in a container formerly used to store insecticides.[4] According to state officials, the school's headmistress had bought the cooking oil used in the food from a grocery store owned by her husband.[1] On 20 July police said that a forensic report confirmed the cooking oil contained "very toxic" levels of monocrotophos, an agricultural pesticide.[3][15]
Reactions
Nineteen of the children's bodies were buried on or near school grounds in protest. Across Bihar, numerous students refused to eat their meals in the days following the incident.[1] On 17 July, hundreds of Mashrakh residents took to the streets in protest.[10] Demonstrators lit fires and burned effigies of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.[9] The flames damaged four police vehicles.[10] Others threw stones at the police station and chanted slogans denouncing the government.[9] Some villagers demanded that the Midday Meal program be scrapped.[2] Angry protesters carrying sticks and poles blocked roads and rail lines.[10] Desks and chairs from the school were taken and smashed, while the kitchen area was destroyed.[2] In nearby Chhapra, multiple arson attacks were reported, including reports that a crowd set fire to a bus, but no injuries were reported from either city.[1][2][4][10]
Bihar State Education Minister Shahi commented that many people involved in the program were looking for easy money and that "it is just not possible to taste meals in all the 73,000 schools before children eat the food."[4] He also alleged that the contaminated oil had been purchased from a member of a rival political party.[2] Opposition party members accused the ruling Janata Dal (United) party of acting too slowly[9] and called for a general strike.[7]
The Bihar government promised a thorough investigation and offered
Aftermath
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e "India lunch deaths children buried in Bihar school". BBC News. London. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Poison theory floats as Bihar midday meal kills 27 kids". The Times of India. Mumbai. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ a b c "India school lunch deaths: high pesticide levels found". BBC News. London. 20 July 2013. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Harris, Gardiner; Kumar, Hari (17 July 2013). "Contaminated Lunches Kill 22 Children in India". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Bihar Government to introduce Toll Free Number for Mid Day Meal". Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
- ^ Biswas, Soutik (17 July 2013). "Why India's school meal deaths are a terrible tragedy". BBC News. London. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Devichand, Aloke; Hume, Tim (17 July 2013). "School meals tainted with poison kill 22 children in Indian village". CNN. Atlanta. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ Sen, Sunrita; Fiedler, Doreen (19 July 2013). "Corruption, poor quality taint India school meal scheme". Business Recorder. Karachi. Archived from the original on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Banerji, Annie; Bhardwaj, Mayank; Kotoky, Anurag (17 July 2013). "Contaminated school meal kills 25 Indian children". Reuters. New York City. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Violent protests in India over school meal deaths". BBC News. London. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ "Nine children die after mid-day meal in Bihar school". The Hindu. Chennai. 16 July 2013. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ a b c "Death toll rises to 22". The Hindu. Chennai. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ "At least 23 more Indian children treated after getting sick at school lunch". CNN. Atlanta. 20 July 2013. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ McCarthy, Julie (24 July 2013). "Police hunt for principal after Indian school lunch deaths". NPR. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "India school lunch deaths: pesticide found". The Guardian. London. 20 July 2013. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ Burke, Jason; Chaurasia, Manoj (24 July 2013). "Indian headteacher arrested after fatal school food poisoning: Meena Devi is arrested while travelling to court to hand herself in a week after tragedy left 23 children dead". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ Magnier, Mark (24 July 2013). "India school poisonings: Principal arrested on murder charge". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ^ "India school meal deaths: headteacher and husband charged with murder". The Guardian. London. 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ Singh, Rohit (29 August 2016). "Bihar: School principal sentenced to 17 years in prison for mid-day meal tragedy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.