Scores of children were hospitalized and 22 died when food that was highly contaminated with pesticide made into the school midday meals in the city of Chapra, Bihar State.
All the children were under 12, and started feeling sick after their meals were consumed on Tuesday.
The new initiative of offering school meals is an Indian attempt at raising some people from extreme poverty and starvation. It is supposed to provide meals for upward of 120 million children.
The source of the poisonous compound is unknown at this time, and some suspect that the contamination may have been deliberate.
The children now in the hospital are being treated with antidotes to suppress the lethal effects of the pesticide.
Demonstrators started to destroy cars and police stations last night, and hurled insults at effigies of the Bihar minister Kumar. They think that the government deliberately poisoned the children.
Three of the children in the hospital are still in critical condition.
Source : The Hindu/ 7.17.13
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