Ka’taka govt puts call for Sattvic diet for schools on the back burner

Rachana Ramesh

Bengaluru: The Minister of School Education and Literacy, B C Nagesh, has clarified that there are no immediate proposals to introduce the Sattvic diet in schools.

At a meeting held on Monday with religious leaders belonging to various faiths, academicians and heads of institutions the issue of introduction of moral science and value education in schools came up for discussion. Many religious leaders brought up the topic of the Sattvic diet during the meeting.

“Currently, there is no proposal on changing the diet or introducing Sattvic food to school children. The meeting was not held to discuss food and Sattvic diet,” the State minister Nagesh said. He added that the religious leaders only expressed their opinion on Sattvic diet.

“They (religious leaders) said that the government is providing eggs in mid-day meals despite their objection. They also said that there were studies that show Sattvic food improves both physical and mental health,” the minister further explained.

Dr Sylvia Karpagam, a community medicine expert said, “Religious leaders should not interfere in people's cultures and eating practices, and promote casteism, communalism on the pretext of moral or value education. Organisations like Adamya Chetana and Iskcon are being given taxpayers funds and allowed to dictate to the state government on what should or should not be given.”

Onion and garlic which are labelled as 'tamasik' are scientifically proven to increase bioavailability of zinc and iron both of which are deficient in children in Karnataka, Dr Sylvia explained. She further noted that food which comes from animal sources, deemed “tamasa,” provides high quality proteins, minerals and vitamins.

“Importantly, they are the traditional food of a majority of Indians, specifically Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, Muslims and Christians. Calling these foods ‘tamasa’ comes from a caste location rather than science. As a state that respects diversity as well as rational thinking, we have to reject this fake propaganda which is given some form of religious sanctity,” she elaborated.

The Sattvic diet also received backlash when it was introduced as a part of a National Education Policy (NEP) position paper and placed in the public domain in 2022.

The paper on health and wellbeing recommended the inclusion of ‘Sattvic diet’ in mid-day meals. It had also recommended chanting of Vedic mantras, and teaching the Bhagavad Gita, among other things including yoga and pranayama.