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On February 24, the Chhattisgarh state government presented its annual budget for the coming financial year. Among those who scrutinised its details closely were the state’s midday meal workers, thousands of whom had been on strike in shifts for two months, demanding an increase in their wages, from under Rs 70 a day currently to at least Rs 350.

The workers were in for a crushing disappointment – there was no mention of them at all in the budget.

The total lack of even an acknowledgement from the government left them dismayed.

The protest had extracted a tragic cost for some. Workers told Scroll that cold weather during those weeks, and unsanitary conditions at the site had led to many contracting ailments. In late January, two striking workers, Dulari Yadav and Rukmani Sinha, died after falling ill.

“We protested for two months,” Ramrajya Kashyap, the state president of the Chhattisgarh School Madhyanbhojan Rasoiya Sanyukta Sangh, told Scroll. “We spent all our money and begged others for food and money to continue protesting, and not a single official or leader came to see us.” The association represents more than 90,000 mid-day meal workers from across the state.

Kashyap added, “The least they could have done was to tell us that our demands would be ignored.”

The day...

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