The Madhya Pradesh Assembly recently raised serious concerns over the consumption of junk food, linking it to heart attack-related deaths among children in Indore. During the final day of the Budget session, the government stressed the urgent need for strict enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines to break what it termed as the fast food-disease cycle.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs voiced alarm over the growing menace of junk food, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to reduce obesity. The issue was discussed alongside concerns over the lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure across the state. Jabalpur North MLA Abhilash Pandey questioned whether any recent efforts were undertaken to check fast food adulteration and noted the growing use of harmful ingredients such as monosodium glutamate (Ajinomoto), artificial flavorings, and preservatives in such products. Deputy Chief Minister and State Health Minister Rajendra Shukla acknowledged the severity of the problem and emphasized that FSSAI guidelines must be enforced more rigorously. He added that the government had already recovered Rs 9 crore from food adulterators and was preparing a broader health protection roadmap.
Indore MLA and Assembly Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya also weighed in, stating that a recent meeting with doctors revealed that junk food was one of the contributors to the rising incidence of heart attacks among children. He further expressed concern over how certain ingredients are intentionally added to fast food to make it addictive, especially for young consumers.
Healthcare inadequacies were another focal point of the session. BJP MLA Riti Pathak raised the issue of severe staff shortages in the Sidhi district hospital, which currently has only 12 expert doctors instead of the sanctioned 37, with six medical officer posts lying vacant. She highlighted the contrast with neighboring Rewa—home district of Deputy CM Shukla—where healthcare facilities are considerably better. Congress MLA Ajay Singh and his party colleague Pratap Grewal echoed these concerns, demanding answers on the government’s response to the 2024 CAG report that highlighted the dismal healthcare scenario in the state.
In response, Deputy CM Shukla assured the House that the recruitment process to fill medical vacancies was underway and would be completed by October. He reiterated the state’s commitment to improving healthcare delivery across regions. The Budget session, which began on March 10, concluded with the passing of key bills including the Nagar aur Gram Nivesh Sanshodhan Vidheyak and the MP Cooperative Committees Amendment Bill. In a rare occurrence, the session ran its full course with nine sittings totaling over 56 hours, excluding six holidays. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, in his concluding remarks, highlighted the state’s achievements and welfare schemes. Notably, the session saw the passage of a Rs 4.21 lakh crore Budget—a 15% increase over the previous fiscal year—with no new taxes and allocations for the development of religious sites.
However, financial concerns were not left out. Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta pointed out that Madhya Pradesh’s debt burden now exceeds the budget outlay, with borrowings projected to touch Rs 4.27 lakh crore by the end of March. Separately, Kamleshwar Dodiyar, the lone MLA from the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), announced that he would continue his fast-unto-death protest at the assembly premises. Dodiyar is demanding the suspension of a government doctor accused of abusing him and other tribal members—a case he claims has seen no action in four months.
The session laid bare the dual challenges facing Madhya Pradesh—an urgent health crisis exacerbated by lifestyle choices like junk food consumption, and a pressing need for stronger healthcare infrastructure and governance.
