Abstract

In 1925 the Madras Municipal Corporation introduced an innovative scheme to provide free midday meals for poor schoolchildren in the city. These meals were designed to both improve the physical health of the schoolchildren and contribute to their educational attainments. This paper examines the advice of nutritional experts at the Coonoor Centre for Nutritional Research and the new scientific emphasis on diet and malnutrition in South India. It then considers the debates among the corporation’s elected councillors regarding the particular nutritional needs of the Indian schoolchild. These negotiations contributed to wider debates about nutrition and colonial science and reflected changing discourses surrounding the relationship between the state, experts and parents. Although the scheme was limited in funds and in scale, I suggest that the political commitment to feeding hungry children was a significant departure in the history of children and the Indian welfare state.

摘要

1925年，马德拉斯市政公司（Madras Municipal Corporation）提出了一项创新计划，为城市中的贫困学童提供免费正餐。这些膳食旨在改善学童的身体健康并促进他们的教育水平。本文研究了库奴尔营养研究中心营养专家的建议以及印度南部对饮食和营养不良的新科学重点。然后，它认为该公司的当选议员中关于印度小学生的特殊营养需求的辩论。这些谈判为有关营养和殖民地科学的广泛辩论做出了贡献，并反映了围绕国家，专家和父母之间的关系而不断变化的论述。尽管该计划的资金和规模有限，