A month after 23 children in a small Bihar village were literally served death on their plates, the trauma still lingers. The Chhapra mid-day meal tragedy became a flashpoint of an intense debate on the state of school mid-day meals, a scheme run across the country. Asha Devi, who lost her 10-year-old daughter, Mamata Kumari, says, "I cannot sleep. I feel nervous all the time. My heart beats very fast." Two of her other children, who also had the ill-fated meal on July 16 with Mamata, returned home on August 6 after spending 22 days at the Patna Medical College Hospital.
