Under the banner of the Bihar Vidyalaya Rasoiya Sangh [Bihar State School Cooks Union], hundreds of mid-day meal cooks working in government schools staged a protest on January 19 in front of the office of the Mid Day Meal (MDM) Director in Patna on 19 January, demanding removal of NGOs from the MDM scheme, declaration of cooks as government employees, fixation of a minimum honorarium of Rs 10,000 per month and repeal of the four labour codes.
The protest was led by Rasoiya Union General Secretary Saroj Chaubey, AICCTU National Secretary Ranvijay Kumar, former CPI (ML) MLA Gopal Ravidas, CPI (ML) leader Kamlesh Kumar, Union Secretary Sona Devi and others. The cooks marched in a procession from GPO Golambar to the MDM office, where a public meeting was held.
Addressing the gathering, Saroj Chaubey said that the government is pushing NGOisation of the mid day meal scheme, resulting in supply of poor quality food to school children. She demanded that NGOs be immediately removed from the scheme and that cooks be declared government employees with a minimum honorarium of Rs 10,000 per month. She pointed out that honorariums of lakhs of cooks have been pending for the last three months.
She said that cooks are being forced into premature retirement on one pretext or another, without any social security, health insurance or pension. They are denied uniforms, maternity leave and special leave, and are compelled to work under humiliating conditions. She strongly demanded repeal of the four labour codes.
Ranvijay Kumar said that while the government increased the honorarium before elections to secure votes, it has failed to provide regular payments or basic facilities. Cooks have not been paid for the last three months, and festivals like Christmas, New Year and Makar Sankranti passed without any relief for them. Instead, their workload is being increased, forcing them to do sweeping, cleaning toilets and other non assigned work.
Former MLA Gopal Ravidas said that NGO promotion in Bihar has led to rampant corruption in the MDM scheme. The food supplied is often so substandard that children refuse to eat it or throw it away, exposing the hollowness of the scheme.
On 20 January, protests on the same demands were held at district headquarters in Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, East Champaran, Jamui and several other districts.
