the Mid- Day Meal Scheme

(A Govt. of India Initiative)

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food"!

Mid Day Meal in schools has had a long history in India. In 1925, a Mid Day Meal Programme was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation. By the mid 1980s three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UT of Pondicherry had universalized a cooked Mid Day Meal Programme with their own resources for children studying at the primary stage by 1990-91 the number of States implementing the mid day meal programme with their own resources on a universal or a large scale had increased to twelve states.

1. With a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover not only children in classes I -V of Government, Government aided and local body schools, but also children studying in EGS and AIE centres. Central Assistance under the scheme consisted of free supply of food grains @ 100 grams per child per school day, and subsidy for transportation of food grains up to a maximum of Rs 50 per quintal.
2. In September 2004 the scheme was revised to provide cooked mid day meal with 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I – V in Government and aided schools and EGS/ AIE centres. In addition to free supply of food grains, the revised scheme provided Central Assistance for (a) Cooking cost @ Re 1 per child per school day, (b) Transport subsidy was raised from the earlier maximum of Rs 50 per quintal to Rs. 100 per quintal for special category states, and Rs 75 per quintal for other states, (c) Management, monitoring and evaluation costs @ 2% of the cost of foodgrains, transport subsidy and cooking assistance, (d) Provision of mid day meal during summer vacation in drought affected areas.
3. In July 2006 the scheme was further revised to provide assistance for cooking cost at the rate of (a) Rs 1.80 per child/school day for States in the North Eastern Region, provided the NER States contribute Rs 0.20 per child/school day, and (b) Rs 1.50 per child/ school day for other States and UTs, provided that these States and UTs contribute Rs 0.50 per child/school day.
4. In October 2007, the scheme has been further revised to cover children in upper primary (classes VI to VIII) initially in 3479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBBs). Around 1.7 crore upper primary children were included by this expansion of the scheme. From 2008-09 i.e w.e.f 1st April, 2008, the programme covers all children studying in Government, Local Body and Government-aided primary and upper primary schools and the EGS/AIE centres including Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under SSA of all areas across the country. The calorific value of a mid-day meal at upper primary stage has been fixed at a minimum of 700 calories and 20 grams of protein by providing 150 grams of food grains (rice/wheat) per child/school day.
5. From the year 2009 onwards the following changes have been made to improve the implementation of the scheme:-
   • Food norms have been revised to ensure balanced and nutritious diet to children of upper primary group by increasing the quantity of pulses from 25 to 30 grams, vegetables from 65 to 75 grams and by decreasing the quantity of oil and fat from 10 grams to 7.5 grams.
   • Cooking cost (excluding the labour and administrative charges) has been revised from Rs.1.68 to to Rs. 2.50 for primary and from Rs. 2.20 to Rs. 3.75 for upper primary children from 1.12.2009 to facilitate serving meal to eligible children in prescribed quantity and of good quality .The cooking cost for primary is Rs. 2.69 per child per day and Rs. 4.03 for upper primary children from 1.4.2010.The cooking cost will be revised prior approval of competent authority by 7.5% every financial year from 1.4.2011.
   • The honorarium for cooks and helpers was paid from the labour and other administrative charges of Rs.0.40 per child per day provided under the cooking cost. In many cases the honorarium was so little that it became very difficult to engage manpower for cooking the meal. A Separate component for Payment of honorarium @ Rs.1000 per month per cook- cum-helper was introduced from 1.12.2009. Honorarium at the above prescribed rate is being paid to cook-cum-helper. However, in some of the states the honorarium to cook-cum-helpers are being paid more than Rs.1000/- through their state fund. Following norms for engagement of cook-cum-helper have been made:
     1. One cook- cum-helper for schools up to 25 students.
     2. Two cooks-cum-helpers for schools with 26 to 100 students.
     3. One additional cook-cum-helper for every addition of upto 100 students.
   • More than 25.25 lakhs cook-cum-helper are engaged by the State/UTs during 2016-17 for preparation and serving of Mid Day Meal to Children in Elementary Classes:
   • A common unit cost of construction of kitchen shed @ Rs.60,000 for the whole country was impractical and also inadequate .Now the cost of construction of kitchen-cum-store will be determined on the basis of plinth area norm and State Schedule of Rates. The Department of School Education and Literacy vide letter No.1-1/2009-Desk(MDM) dated 31.12.2009 had prescribed 20 sq.mt. plinth area for schools having upto 100 children. For every additional upto 100 children additional 4 sq.mt plinth area will be added. States/UTs have the flexibility to modify the Slab of 100 children depending upon the local condition.
   • Due to difficult geographical terrain of the Special category States the transportation cost @ Rs.1.25 per quintal was not adequate to meet the actual cost of transportation of foodgrains from the FCI godowns to schools in these States. On the request of the North Eastern States the transportation assistance in the 11 Special Category States (Northern Eastern States, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand) have been made at par with the Public Distribution System (PDS) rates prevalent in these States with effect from 1.12.2009.
   • The existing system of payment of cost of foodgrains to FCI from the Government of India is prone to delays and risk. Decentralization of payment of cost of foodgrains to the FCI at the district level from 1.4.2010 allowed officers at State and National levels to focus on detailed monitoring of the Scheme.

Akshaya Patra MID- DAY MEAL

BY PRIYANKA SINGH DIRECTOR MUMBAI

Mid-day meal (MDM) is a wholesome freshly-cooked lunch served to children in government and government-aided schools in India. On 28 November 2001, the Supreme Court of India passed a mandate stating, "We direct the State Governments/Union Territories to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary School with a prepared mid-day meal."

Mid-Day Meal Scheme aims to:

• avoid classroom hunger
• increase school enrolment
• increase school attendance
• improve socialisation among castes
• address malnutrition
• empower women through employment

Implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme:

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which was successfully implementing its own school lunch programme in Karnataka since 2000, was called in to give testimonies for verifying the efficacy of the scheme; following which the mandate to implement Mid-Day Meal Scheme was passed.

In order to successfully carry out this mandate, each State Government started its own Mid-Day Meal Programme with Akshara Dasoha being initiated by the Government of Karnataka.

One of the major challenges faced by the Government was the successful implementation of the scheme. As per the NP-NSPE, 2006 Guidelines (Mid-Day Meal Scheme Guidelines), wherever possible, the Government would mobilise community support and promote public-private partnership for the programme. Not-for-profits, such as Akshaya Patra, are therefore encouraged to set up operations and act as the implementing arm of the Government.

The Karnataka Human Development Report, 2005 states, ‘The recognition of the role of voluntary agencies in partnering with Government initiatives by the Centre may have had some influence in the initiatives taken by the Government of Karnataka to bring several NGOs into major Government sponsored programmes.’ As the report states, the Government of Karnataka was the first to take the step of involving NGOs in development programmes. Additionally, the report states that this ‘involvement of the NGOs in multilateral/bilateral programmes, raises the level of co-operation to another level. The NGOs become not only implementers; they also find a place in designing and managing programmes together with Government at all levels.’

This pioneering move by the Government of Karnataka to make NGOs the implementing arm of the Government has been one of the major reasons for its success in reaching the programme's goals. The achievements of these private-public partnerships have even influenced the Central Government. By setting up and encouraging private-public partnerships, the Government is successfully leveraging the skills and resources of the private sector for the greater good. India's Mid-Day Meal Scheme is one of the largest school lunch programmes in the world benefiting 9.78-crore children in 11.40-lakh schools (as per 2016-17 data).

Mid-Day Meal Menu

At Akshaya Patra, the menu is designed and implemented after taking into consideration various factors, including regional palate, taste, and flavours. Menu diversity is achieved by using a wide variety of seasonal vegetables and locally available ingredients. We have adopted a cyclic approach with preference to local palate. For example, we serve Sukhdi in Gujarat, Dalma in Odisha, and Bisibelebath in Karnataka.

Our menu planning incorporates a range of flavours with a variety of spices, condiments, vegetables, and staple groups. To sustain the interest of our beneficiaries, an additional menu item is provided.

For more details please refer Akshya Patra foundation

I urge people to come forward and make their donation for this noble cause.

Priyanka Singh stands for Akshya Patra foundation- Taj Pharma Mumbai