Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The question has agitated everyone from the ancient Greeks to modern-day thinkers. Clearly, despite its innocuous appearance and small size, the egg is not what it is cracked up to be. In India, egg eating generates such uproar and headlines that the chicken has little chance to catch up.
Consider the frequency with which eggs excite the nation. In 1987, runners at a marathon race in Pune were handed free boiled eggs by activists out to promote the egg-eating habit in India. That seemingly harmless initiative led to India’s vegetarian and the eggitarians (eaters of eggs) roasting each other verbally. “Do not eat eggs,” warned the Indian Vegetarian Congress.
In 2005, India was at a cracking point over eggs once again. This time, it was in the wake of an advertising campaign by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), the largest association of poultry farmers in the world. Media reports from that period say the NECC was trying to improve sales in Rajasthan by arguing that Mahatma Gandhi endorsed eggs as fit for vegetarians. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, then in power at the Centre, was furious and argued that the vegetarian Father of the Nation could not be used as a brand ambassador for eggs.
This week, the egg was back in the news following Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s decision to shoot down a proposal to include either egg curry or boiled eggs in anganwadi meals on a pilot basis in the tribal areas of Alirajpur, Mandla and Hoshangabad districts where malnutrition is a serious concern.
Mr Chouhan is a strict vegetarian. Tribal populations in Madhya Pradesh or in other states, among the most marginalised and vulnerable, are typically not. Newspaper reports suggest that the matter is a “sentimental issue” with the chief minister, and that the Jain community, strictly vegetarian and powerful, has played a role in squashing the plan. That Madhya Pradesh has a Bharatiya Janata Party government and that many other BJP governments have similar positions on egg-eating have ensured that the story draws massive attention. Hell has broken loose with vocal vegetarians and non-vegetarians pouring vitriol over each other in the social media and on prime-time television.
Arguably, the monotony has been broken. From India debates beef, we have moved on to India debates eggs. It is also true that some BJP spokespersons appearing on panel discussions on television have provided great entertainment in the last couple of days with quirky observations. Samples: most great men are vegetarians; in the animal kingdom, those who pack power like the horse or the elephant are vegetarians. Madhya Pradesh’s animal husbandry minister Kusum Mehdele has added to the merriment by publicly raving about the virtues of eating frog legs and fish while her chief minister is the latest darling of vegetarian evangelists.
There has also been a robust attempt by assorted vegetarian activists to establish that eggs in mid-day meals to school children and those coming to anganwadis is an intrinsically problematic idea and that there is nothing that eggs offer that can’t be substituted by milk, pulses, vegetables, etc. Some also argue that tribal children, consuming eggs could be at risk of salmonella or develop cholesterol-related health issues in later life.
The debate follows a familiar pattern; the arguments are not new. It is also not quite correct to say that only BJP-ruled states have an adversarial relationship with the egg. Not all states include eggs in the menu of all government-funded nutrition schemes for children due to a variety of reasons including culture and cost.
Sadly, the polarising debate over egg-eating has pushed a far, bigger food issue in the background. India has the highest number of undernourished people in the world at nearly 195 million, according to the Global Hunger Report 2015, recently released by the Food and Agricultural Organisation. “Higher economic growth has not been fully translated into higher food consumption, let alone better diets overall, suggesting that the poor and hungry may have failed to benefit much from overall growth,” the report said, referring to India.
Since we are given to comparing ourselves with China at every opportunity, it is worthwhile to look at the situation in that country. In 1990, China had 289 million undernourished people. In two decades, that figure has come down to 134 million.
The issue is not whether BJP-ruled states alone are to blame for denying eggs to poor children dependent on government-sponsored welfare schemes. The issue is whether we need to demonise the egg at a time when the broader under-nourishment scenario demands to be a top political priority.
Health specialists say the debate should be only about nutrition. “One egg provides about six grams of good quality animal protein for roughly Rs 5. Which other source can provide such amounts of protein so easily and so cheaply? Most tribal children in India get hardly any milk, pulses or fat in their diets. It is difficult to procure milk in many tribal pockets. Most tribal families do not have any religious beliefs against eating eggs, and most under-three children in such settings love eating eggs,” says Dr Pavitra Mohan, a public health specialist and paediatrician.
Dr Mohan, who was formerly with Unicef, also debunks the notion that including eggs in meals in government schemes exposes children to risks of contamination and salmonella. He says boiling an egg eliminates the risk of salmonella infection. And as for contamination, you don’t need an egg in the menu. Everyone remembers the stories about dead rats and lizards served up as part of the supposedly vegetarian mid-day meals to children. Anything can get infected, if not stored and cooked well.
The bottomline — though the kerfuffle over eggs makes a great story, the greater story about India’s under-nourished children should not be forgotten. Give children a choice. Several southern and eastern Indian states give eggs to children in anganwadis and schools as part of the ICDS and mid-day meal schemes. Tamil Nadu has set an inspiring example by offering five eggs per week to schoolchildren. For those who don’t eat eggs, there is usually a banana.
Some argue that no one is preventing anyone from buying eggs for their children from the market. But are those who have the money to buy nutritious food of their choice the main beneficiaries of government welfare schemes?
The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee
@gmail.com
