‘Indira Canteens must consider decentralised kitchens, more nutritious menu’

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Please tell us a little bit about your research on government-run community kitchens in India including Indira Canteens

The survey of Indira Canteens in Karnataka in December 2023 was part of a larger survey of similar schemes in Tamil Nadu (Amma’s Unavagams) and Rajasthan (Indira rasois, now renamed Annapoorna rasoi).

We wanted to document the functioning of canteens. In these three states, there are hundreds of canteens, unlike other states where there are only tens of such canteens (e.g., Dal-Bhaat kendras in Jharkhand, Annapoorna in Chhattisgarh and Aahar in Odisha) or none at all. 

Our survey covered 174 canteens where we talked to workers and more than 700 guests. The survey teams often ate at the canteens as well.

What is the role of such community kitchens in poverty alleviation, food security and closing the gender gap?

Generally, the canteens/community kitchens are a response to market failures in ensuring food security. When there was widespread hardship due to high food inflation, one of the state responses was to make available heavily subsidized meals through canteens.

Canteens are almost always in urban areas (though Rajasthan had started expanding to rural areas as well). It is one of the few food security interventions focused on urban areas where vulnerability to food insecurity remains high (think of the lockdown during the pandemic), and workers (especially migrants) may have weaker social support networks to help tide over difficult times.

One of the hidden benefits of canteens is that they can provide relief to women who bear a disproportionate burden when it comes to feeding their families. This includes having to pack lunches for students and adult family members. The availability of food that is like home-cooked food allows people to switch from carrying food to eating at these canteens. In Tamil Nadu, these canteens are run exclusively by women, thereby creating employment opportunities for them.

Does your study document the different demographic groups using these canteens in Karnataka? If yes, please elaborate.

At each sample canteen in each survey state, we spoke to five guests. The near-absence of women was striking. Women comprised barely one-tenth of our sample, even though we were keenly looking out for female guests to interview.

Barring the near-absence of women, the demographic diversity of guests at canteens was the most heartening discovery of the survey. Canteens appear to have created all-inclusive democratic spaces, comparable to public parks, that are otherwise quite rare.

We met a range of people at the canteens: destitute persons (homeless, living by the roadside), local and migrant construction workers, security guards, gig workers who are constantly on the move, accountants, traffic police, doctors, lab technicians, college students, retired pensioners, attendants accompanying patients who had travelled to the city for hospital treatment, even men and women with troubled personal lives.

The reasons for patronizing the canteens, therefore, were very varied. Some were predictable: not having time, no cooking facilities, saving food expenses. Others were surprising: e.g., seeking company (especially among the elderly), taste pallet (one Assamese working professional said the food reminded him of the food he ate at home). The number of ways that canteens are helpful to a wide variety of people is striking.  

What were some of the challenges you saw in these canteens and what would be your suggestions to improve?

The most important areas of improvement in Karnataka are related to providing a better menu for greater nutrition. It was baffling to see that though the state has recognized the importance of providing eggs to children in anganwadis and school meals, it has not done so in Indira Canteens. In fact, of the three survey states (Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu), the menu was most disappointing in Karnataka.

This may have something to do with the centralized kitchen model adopted in Karnataka. We have seen this in the case of the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme in Karnataka, where one of the groups that had a contract to supply MDMs resisted the introduction of eggs in the menu. Centralized kitchens have other problems too – e.g. the food gets cold, even drinking water is supplied centrally in most canteens, scrutiny of hygiene is harder and so on.

Karnataka is the only state in our survey to use centralized kitchens. In Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu food is cooked on site at almost all canteens (only a handful were supplied by a nearby one).  

Besides this, in all survey states, we felt that the canteens were underutilized, partly because of lack of visibility. Having clear signage outside the canteen, adding all locations to google maps, greater political ownership (e.g. through major politicians eating there once in a while) will help immensely in fuller utilization of the canteens. In Karnataka, respondents asked for parcel facility to be made available.

What are some of the plus features of Indira Canteens that could be replicated in other parts of the country?

Replicating a scheme like Indira canteens, on scale, is the most important lesson from Karnataka. Somewhat more tentatively, I feel the physical space created for Indira Canteens, with a template for the building, is worth considering elsewhere. They make it easier for people to recognize and spot them.  

Were there any surprise elements during your fieldwork in Karnataka?

“Marshals”, dressed in army combat uniforms including boots, greeted us at all the Bangalore canteens (mercifully, not in the other sample cities). They often tried to stop us from talking to the guests at the canteens and the workers. They were ostensibly employed to ensure that guests get the prescribed quantity of food, but we mostly saw them watching something on their mobile phones. 

The marshals said they get ₹25,000 per month from BBMP (in addition to their army pension - a similar amount). That’s roughly ₹5 crores per year on marshals in Bangalore. Their salary is more than twice as much as that of other workers, who staff the billing desk, serve food, wash dishes, keep the premises clean - they earn ₹10,000 or less. The wastefulness was mindboggling.

Mercifully, there were none in Bellary and Mysore, the other two survey cities in Karnataka. The canteens were running just fine without them in these two cities. 

Indira canteens have been victim to changes in the political climate and ruling parties. What could be a solution to this problem?

It was very disheartening to observe that the canteens suffer when the governments change. Even in Tamil Nadu, the workers at Amma’s canteens were reluctant to speak freely about their demands – they feel vulnerable because the AIADMK is no longer in power.

Naming it after leaders has some advantages (e.g., in Tamil Nadu many workers and guests remembered Amma fondly while talking to us); perhaps they could be named after leaders who cannot be claimed by any one political party - Ambedkar, Periyar, Gandhi come to mind. Another option is to have a party-neutral name from the beginning. For instance, in Kerala a similar scheme is called “Janakeeya hotels”, Delhi’s (mostly defunct now) canteens are called “Janata Aahar”.

Yet another - more ambitious - possibility is to amend the National Food Security Act 2013 to include canteens along with the existing schemes (PDS, ICDS, MDM and maternity entitlements), funded partly by the Union government.