For more than three weeks, midday meal cooks from across Chhattisgarh have been camping at a protest ground in New Raipur, demanding a sharp hike in their wages and relief from what they describe as crushing financial hardship.
The cooks, who prepare meals for government schoolchildren under the Midday Meal Scheme, have been on an indefinite strike for 21 days, seeking an increase in daily wages from Rs 66 to Rs 340. Protesters arrive in rotating batches, each group staying for about three days before being replaced by others.
The agitation is being held at Naya Dharana Sthal in Tuta, where rows of tents now dot the open ground. Local vendors have set up stalls around the site, selling food and essentials to sustain the growing number of protesters.
“It has become difficult to survive”
The protest is being organised under the banner of the Chhattisgarh School Madhyanbhojan Rasoiya Sanyukta Sangh. Its secretary, Meghraj Baghel, said decades of service have brought little financial security.
“I have been working as a midday meal cook for the last 30 years. It has become difficult to survive. I have taken loans worth Rs 90,000 to complete my children’s studies. When I started off back in 1995, we used to get Rs 15 per day, and now we are stuck at Rs 66 per day. This is an injustice. Another issue is if the number of children in a school go down, then they terminate our service… This should not happen,” according to Indian Express.
Baghel recalled that the cooks’ struggle for fair wages dates back two decades. “Our first protest began in 2003-2004, and after six years of protest, the daily wages were increased to Rs 33 i.e., Rs 1,000 per month. The wages were again increased in 2019 and 2023, taking it up to Rs 66 per day i.e., Rs 2,000 per month. Our first demand is that we should be paid… Rs 11,400 per month or at least Rs 340 per day,” he said, according to Indian Express.
Working through grief and unpaid months
Several protesters spoke about being forced to work even during personal tragedies. Baghel said he continued working on the day his father passed away. Another cook, Sukrita Chavan from Rajnandgaon, shared a similar experience.
“I worked on the day my daughter died in 2024. We have many problems, but government is unable to listen.”
Chavan said she has not been paid for months. “I have been working since 2003, when we used to get Rs 15 per day. I have not got wages since October. My husband is a labourer. I have two more daughters, and we have taken loans to complete their studies.”
She rejected the notion that the job involves only a few hours of work. “The government thinks we have to work for just two hours, but we start at 10 am by washing and cleaning the rice. After cooking dal, rice, sabzi, papad and achar, we also have to help in serving and then washing the utensils. The work ends by 3 pm. If there is a school function, then we work till 4 pm.”
“We are like bonded labourers”
From Kanker district, Pankaj Pramanik alleged that cooks are routinely exploited. “We are like bonded labourers. During any election, we are made to cook. We do not get paid for that.”
He also pointed to wage cuts after the pandemic. “After Covid, they stopped paying us for the last 15 days of June, saying they get money from the central government only for 10 months and these 15 days get adjusted as we get offs on school holidays.”
Rising prices, he said, have pushed families into extreme frugality. “We avoid buying good clothes. We avoid eating tomatoes. We see, but we do not buy. Everything is becoming costly for us.”
Shakuntala Sen from Dhamtari said her children had to drop out of college due to lack of funds. “My two children, aged 19 and 20, have dropped out of college as I do not have the money to further educate them. My husband is a farmer,” she said.
Another protester, Shipra Tarafdar from Kanker, said midday meal cooks are denied dignity. The workers, she said, are “not treated with respect like anganwadi workers and Mitanians, who are honoured for their work”.
Government response still uncertain
Senior officials from the Revenue and Education departments did not respond to requests for comment. However, a government source indicated that a proposal is under consideration.
“There is a proposal to increase their wages by Rs 1,000 per month, which means total wages will be Rs 3,000 per month. But no decision has been taken on it.”
For the protesting cooks, that figure falls far short of what they say is needed to survive, let alone educate their children or live with dignity.