Indore: Jain monk Acharya Vidyasagar Maharaj appreciated the decision of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on providing milk instead of eggs to children in Anganwadis on Tuesday.
Chouhan announced the decision of providing milk to alleviate malnutrition putting an end to the discussion. Last week, woman and child welfare minister Imarti Devi’s announced that eggs will be distributed at anganwadis.
This sparked protests from the Jain community. The community all over the state had challenged the decision and noted that the decision will promote non-vegetarianism in society.
According to official records, the proposal to give eggs to children was first suggested to Chouhan led MP government in 2009 as part of formulating the Atal Bihari Vajpayee child health and nutrition mission to address the issue of malnutrition through some institutional measures.
“Vegetarianism is the basic mantra of living in sync with nature and being non-violent,” Acharya said. He appreciated the decision and quoted the importance of vegetarian diet for our physical and mental well-being.
Jain community representative Kamal Agrawal said, “We have been working to ensure that children are not tempted and forced to become non-vegetarian for a decade.” He added that the decision to keep the meals served at Anganwadis vegetarian brought delight to entire community.
