Mid-Day meal workers protest Andhra Pradesh government’s ‘Smart Kitchen’ proposal

Andhra Pradesh Mid-Day Meal Workers Union, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), staged a protest demanding that the government withdraw its proposal to privatise the mid-day meal scheme under the “smart kitchen” model, in Vijayawada on Monday (April 27, 2026).

Union leaders, including State general secretary Daya Ramadevi, said that the move to hand over the ‘Dokkaseethamma mid-day meal programme’ to private agencies would deprive school children of freshly cooked food and threaten the livelihoods of thousands of poor women workers engaged in the scheme. They alleged that centralised cooking and supply of food to schools in boxes would result in children receiving cold and low-quality meals.