A lifeline for its working class, Maharashtra’s affordable lunch scheme is being starved of funds

Through the day, Santosh Pawar loads and unloads heavy carts at a wholesale vegetable and fruit market in Navi Mumbai.

Every afternoon at 1 pm, he queues outside the Rajyog Fastfood restaurant along with other labourers for lunch.

He pays Rs 10, gets his picture clicked against a banner with ‘Shiv Bhojan’ printed on it, and moves on to the counter to receive his meal – rice, a bowl of dal, two chapatis, and a bowl of cooked vegetables.

Pawar earns between Rs 600 and 700 for a day’s labour, most of which he sends to his family living in rural Maharashtra.

Hot, cooked and affordable meals go a long way for workers like Pawar. “The food is good, the wait time is short. I eat a lot and I end up saving Rs 2,100 every month,” the 35-year-old worker said.

Roshan Lal, a migrant labourer from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh who also works at the wholesale market, agrees. “We save so much money because of this thali,” he said. “At night, for instance, I end up paying Rs 80 for dinner.”

Lal was referring to the Shiv Bhojan Thali, a scheme to provide subsidised lunches to poor people that was launched in January 2020 by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, an alliance...

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