BENGALURU: Nimhans alumni have sought withdrawal of the position paper on ‘Health and Wellbeing’ for the National Curriculum Framework and NEP 2020, calling it “outrageous, outdated, unscientific and frivolous”. Addressing the media, they said it was a matter of concern that the expert group on child health and nutrition did not have a paediatrician as a member. The paper has made several claims, like benefits of yoga for mental health of children, plant-based foods being more human-friendly, reduced malnutrition, eggs and meat being responsible for lifestyle disorders etc, without providing any conclusive evidence.
Sufficient evidence was provided, contradicting eggs and meat being the cause of lifestyle disorders. The study by Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayati Raj University had shown that children who had eggs in their mid-day meal had significant gain in weight and BMI. The paper had also made claims about equality of all children, no ‘pankti bedha’ and dharma in its bid to deny eggs.
The State and Central governments have already decided to provide eggs in seven districts and approved it for other districts as well, for 46 days of the year. Therefore, the recommendation goes against the decision of the government. They requested the Nimhans director to dissociate from the report and also sought the immediate resignation of Dr K John Vijay Sagar as chairperson of the expert group.