From now on, BU students can have subsidised lunch

The programme was inaugurated by Siddaganga Math seer Sivakumar Swami at Central College on Wednesday. Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev said that he understood the experience of attending classes on an empty stomach. “I wanted to spare the students of my university the ill effects of malnutrition. When the students are in the classroom on an empty stomach, they don’t pay attention to the lecture and the absorption of the study material will be near zero”, he said.

“So, ignoring Cassandra like predictions, I am going ahead with this pet project,” he added.
Dev also pointed that for many students this would be the only meal of the day. “India ranks 94th in the global hunger index of 119 countries. According to the report, the proportion of anaemic children has actually increased by six per cent in the past six years, with 11 out of 19 states having more than 80 per cent of children suffering from anaemia,” he added. The Vice Chancellor also appealed to the chief minister to introduce the policy of mid-day nutritious meal programme in all state universities with an annual grant of Rs 50 lakh to every university for PG students.

Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy said that the mid-day meal scheme was an "amazing" scheme.

“The two rupees that is being charged is only a token charge, and it is nothing,” he said. “Both mind and body need to be nourished by a university, and Bangalore University has achieved that,” he added. Chanchalapathi Das, Vice President of ISCKON Bangalore, said that mid-day meal schemes would aid India in becoming a knowledge society. “Nothing should come in the way of a full educational experience,” he added.