Even as the common man has just about managed to bring back toor dal into his kitchen, for students of government schools, this much-needed nutrition is missing from their mid-day meal menu. While authorities are confident that they are conducting their tests every week and haven't come across such situations, some schools have not seen toor dal for a few months and self-help groups, which are providing mid-day meals on contracts are complaining of inflation leading to the situation.

Pradnya Sawant, who runs a self-help group, which provides mid-day meal to a few schools, said, "The government has given us a specific structure of food to be served as mid-day meal. But, they are not taking inflation into consideration. Now, even as the price of toor dal has increased, we are not given extra allowance to buy it. To manage in the given budget, we have to make such alterations. Government does not give us money for vegetables but we anyway add it for taste."