Group of 8 Food secretaries to create national policy for community kitchens

What is the News?

The Government of India has decided to constitute a group of secretaries from states, along with senior officers of the Centre, to deliberate on a framework of Community Kitchens Scheme.

Background

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the setting up of community kitchens and subsidized canteens in all states with the aim of avoiding starvation deaths.

On this petition, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to come up with a community kitchen scheme that is agreeable to all states and UTs.

What was the Central Government’s response?

The Government of India has formed a group to deliberate on a framework of the Community Kitchens Scheme.

The group will be headed by the food secretary of Madhya Pradesh and will comprise food secretaries of eight states namely Kerala, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, and West Bengal, apart from Madhya Pradesh.

What is a Community Kitchen?

A community kitchen is a group of people meeting on a regular basis to plan, cook and share healthy and affordable meals. Community kitchen groups are for everyone and can be run anywhere there is a kitchen.

​​In India, many states like Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Delhi, and Jharkhand have already been running community kitchens that serve meals at subsidized rates in hygienic conditions. 

Source: This post is based on the article “Group of 8 Food secretaries to create national policy for community kitchens” published in The Hindu on 25th Nov 2021.