Lockdown and absence of midday meals has hit child nutrition badly. Even worse-off are the very poor and street children, who are struggling to secure a meal a day.
The nutritional value of what the poor eat is not obtained from what they get with their ration card, but about what extra they can afford to put on the plate.
The Directorate of Education said the delay in cash transfers was due to the preoccupation with COVID. Meanwhile poor families struggle to provide the bare minimum nutrition for their children.