BELAGAVI: The addition of eggs in the mid-day meal for school children in Kalyan Karnataka and Vijayapura by the government which has already snowballed into a controversy, is expected to take a serious turn tomorrow when the All India Vegetarians Federation (AIVF), an organization comprising several leaders and swamis from various "vegetarian religions," launches a "Suvarna Vidhan Soudha" Chalo agitation on Monday in Belagavi against the supply of eggs to school children.
"The AIVF appeals to the government that instead of eggs, the school children should be given a uniform multivitamin pure vegetarian food in their mid-day meal."
Several seers and leaders from noted mutts and other institutions belonging to different religions like Lingayat, Jains, Brahmins, etc., urged the government in a joint press conference in Belagavi on Monday to withdraw eggs from the mid-day meal in the larger interests of lakhs of students who hailed from religions and sections, which are purely vegetarian traditionally.
Through Vidhana Soudha Chalo agitation, the AIVF will also demand establishment of "vegetarian anganwadis and schools" in th state exclusively for lakhs of students who hailed from religions which depended solely on vegetarian diet, said Convenor of AIVF Shri Dayanand Swamiji.
The rally will begin at Chennamma Circle and reach Suvarna Vidhan Soudha where a dharna and meeting will be held tomorrow. The agitation will continue until Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai himself meets the agitators from AIVF and agrees to withdraw eggs from the mid-day meal for children, says Dayanand Swamiji.
Although the government has given a choice for children to eat bananas as an alternative to eggs in the school, the tradition of supplying eggs regularly to children on campus would compel children from "vegetarian religions" to start eating eggs. If the children are fed eggs on school campus for years together from anganwadi to 8th standard, it will naturally have an impact on vegetarian kids.
Several religions in the state have had people who are vegetarians for centuries and the culture of eating eggs on campus could have an adverse impact on their religions' rich culture, said Swamiji.
Leaders from different religions also urged the government to supply other nutritional vegetarian items with a more nutritional value than eggs and said, the previous Congress and JDS governments in the past had withdrawn the addition of eggs in the mid-day meal for children after they came under pressure from various quarters.
In the interest of a large section of vegetarians in the state, the government should immediately stop supply of eggs in schools and introduce other purely vegetarian items in the mid-day meal scheme, they said.