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Chapter Two

Mid Day Meal Scheme in India: Origin and Implementation

In the previous chapter, the issue of right to food and the responsibility of the state are

discussed. An emphasis is given on the Indian State in protecting children’s rights and

the rise of the Civil Society Organisations thereafter. In this chapter Mid-Day Meals

Scheme (MDMS) has been discussed thoroughly with various empirical evidences.

After the famous Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the State in India,

realizing the various issues related to children, yet another famous MDMS has been

initiated for the age group of children under fourteen as major food intervention

programme. Since, nearly half of all Indian children are undernourished, the Scheme

is intended to protect the right to food of the children while emphasizing the other

aspects like right to education, right to growth and development, etc. Simultaneously,

it has been argued that the hunger and malnutrition are major hindrance for children to

develop and therefore the relationship between educational development and

nutritional status of the children are highlighted while introducing the scheme.

The MDMS was introduced primarily to protect the nutritional as well as the

educational rights of the children.1 This is due to the fact that children are not able to

concentrate in their studies with empty stomach and there is a need to focus upon the

MDMS, to overcome child’s short term hunger. Thus, initiating this kind of meal

programme, Government of India aimed at helping the children especially belong to

the poor socio-economic background to attend school and to have at least MDM

through which their education as well as food related issues could be tackled.

Significantly, the scheme was intended for the tribal areas of various states in the

country where, the level of food insecurity and starvation is much higher and children

are sold due to acute poverty of the parents.

Therefore, MDMS is perceived as a major means to impart positive habits

among the children and also in educating them on the importance of health, sanitation,

and socialization. It is also seen as a factor for economic support to poor parents and

1National Guidelines for NP-NSPE, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi, 1995.

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educating them about the value of education instead of sending their children for

meager daily earnings. More importantly, it was aimed to facilitate and increase the

school participation among the underprivileged children which would lead to their

educational as well as economic upliftment.2 Further, the MDMS promises to provide

each child one third of the daily nutrient requirement in the form of cooked meal to

combat his/her food and nutritional deficiencies. The MDMS is the India’s second

largest food security programme. For the children and, it is perhaps the largest food

security programme. in the world. In this context, the main aim of this chapter is to

trace the origin and growth of this important scheme. However, there are many school

meal or feeding programmes introduced in different countries according to their

indispensability. The Great Britain introduced in 1945, whereas, United States

America and Switzerland introduced in the year 1946. Other countries, like Japan and

Australia were initiated in 1947 and 1950 respectively, whereas India introduced in

1995.

Table 2.1: School Meal Programme in Different Countries

Name of the Country Year of Introduction

United kingdom 1945

United States of America 1946

Switzerland 1946

Japan 1947

Australia 1950

China 1964

Indonesia 1967

Thailand 1970

Korea 1973

Singapore 1975

India 1995

Source: Kalpana Parikh & Summiya Yasmeen, 2004.

2 Jean Dreze, and Aparajita Goyal, “Future of Mid-Day Meal Scheme”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XXXVIII, No-44, November 1, 2003, Pp-4673-83.

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2.1 MDMS and its Origin in India In India, however, the history of MDMS goes back to the much before the

initiation that has come from the United Kingdom in 1945. In fact this kind of

programme was introduced, in India, way back in 1925 in the erstwhile Madras

Presidency, presently Tamil Nadu where the meal was provided to poor children.

Interestingly, the food was distributed in the form of snacks to the children who

attended the schools in rural areas so that they will not go with hungry. It has been

stated, in Tamil Nadu, the scheme worked efficiently in rural areas in the age group of

seven to nine-year old. The food was distributed without any gender discrimination

and it was well targeted among the needy households.

In Eastern India, the Keshav Academy of Calcutta introduced compulsory

tiffin (a kind of snacks) item for the boys on payment basis in 1928. Though the

scheme excluded the girl children still it could able to cover a major segment of boys.

Consequently, in the state of Kerala similar kind of programme was started in 1941

providing meals to the school-going children. This was followed by Bombay in 1942,

Bangalore in 1943, Utter Pradesh in 1953, and Orissa in 1962.3 Since 1950, food in

some form or the other was distributed to the children in few states. In the year 1950

many Indian states started MDMS with the assistance from different international

donor agencies like: the UNICEF, FAO, CARE, WHO, etc. The CARE has supported

in particular the MDMS in many states in India from 1950 to early 1980.4 With the

assistance from international co-operation, the Indian government introduced the

MDMS for the age group of 6-11 in 1962-63 where food was provided to the children

for 200 days in an academic year with an input of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of

protein per child per day.5

It was on the Madras state which was distributing cooked meal to the children

in the schools since 1957. In 1956, K. Kamaraj, the then Chief Minister of Madras,

set up a feeding programme to distribute food to the poor children from the rural

3 Kalpana Parikh & Summiya Yasmeen, “Groundswell for mid-day meal scheme”, available online at http://www.indiatogether.org/cgi-bin/tools/pfriend.cgi 4 The Planning Commission, Government of India, 1956. 5 Op Cit, No-1, 2004.

85

areas. In 1982, M. G. Ramachandran, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, set up a

state wide scheme called the Nutritious Meal Programme even before the introduction

of MDM programme at national level in 1995.6 This was a major attempt taken by the

government of India to protect the child from gross hunger. Later on the MDMS was

included in the Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) of the Government of India

under the Congress government.7 Even in the policy framework through Five Year

Plans the children’s rights were included and the MDM received greater priority.

However, the MDMS received full attention only in the year 1995 and it was initiated

widely and in full fledged manner all over the country with maximizing enrolments

and reducing drop outs in the age group 6-11 years of children with paramount

importance on the nutrition aspect of the programme.

Table 2.2: School Meal Programme in Indian States

State Food Supplement Year of Starting

Tamil Nadu Cooked Meal 1957

Kerala Corn Soya Meal 1961

Utter Pradesh Corn Soya meal/wheat 1962

Andhra Pradesh Corn Soya meal 1962

Karnataka Corn Soya meal 1964

Bihar Balahar/corn Soya meal 1965

Orissa Balahar/ Biscuit/ Milk 1962

Source: www.indiatogether.org and Vijayaraghavan (2002)8.

Thus the idea of MDMS has been the serious interest of the Government of

India since early 1980’s. But the scheme got attention in nation wide only in 1995

with the aim of “the universalization of primary education by increasing enrolment,

retention and attendance and simultaneously impacting on nutrition of students in

primary classes”.9 With these objectives, many Indian states started implementing the

scheme in their respective states. But later it is found that until 2001 the MDMS was

6 http://www.developments.org.uk/data/issue28/indian-lunch.htm 7 Fifth Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission, Government of India, 1974. 8 K. Vijayaraghavan, ‘Beginning of School Meals Programmes in Different States’, National Institute

of Nutrition, Hyderabad, 2002. 9 The Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi, 1999.

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implemented neither in letter nor in spirit and was limited to providing dry rations.10

After November 28, 2001, in its historic judgment the Supreme Court of India in the

right to food case directed all states to provide cooked meals to all primary school

children.11 Thus, the MDMS have become a part of the daily routine across the

country providing 120 million school children in their respective schools.

2.2 Major Objectives of MDMS

The MDMS was started with two major objectives: firstly to enhance the

child’s nutrition level secondly to provide the basic education. Thus the MDMS was

introduced basically to improve the overall development of the primary school

children’s education. Therefore, it has varied objectives like:

• To increase the nutritional level of the school going children

• To enhance the educational attainment of the children

• To retain the children in the school for a long period of time

• To develop the process of socialization, etc.

Apart from the education, the nutritional aspects of MDMS have several

dimensions including elimination of classroom hunger, the growth of school

children’s health. It is argued that if the children come everyday to school they can eat

nutritious meal regularly and therefore child starvation could be checked. This makes

it possible not only to realize their intake of calories and proteins but also to provide

nutritional supplements such as Iron and Iodine, which are required in many hilly

regions. In this context, higher attendance in school provides opportunity to

implement MDMS which enable children to have meals and to be physically and

mentally fit. Thus, larger attendance in school is required to implement MDMS

successfully because, if the children come to school, only then they are entitled for the

meal. That’s how higher percentage of attendance is vital for the successful

implementation of MDMS.12

10 Dry rations refer to the practice of giving uncooked wheat or rice on a monthly basis, often based on the attendance of a pupil. Children received three kg of food grain per month if they had 80 per cent attendance in school. 11 Right to food case refers to a public interest litigation officially known as People’s Union for Civil Liberties vs. Union of India and Others, Writ Petition (Civil) No 196 of 2001. The order on MDM applies to government and government-aided schools. www.righttofoodindia.org. 12 Shantha Sinha, (2004), “Mid-day Meal Scheme and Schools – A Need for Universal Coverage”, http://www.righttofoodindia.org.

87

Further, the respective governments at center and state level tried to improve

the condition of children as a part of their developmental goals, through targeted

policies with better institutional interventions. Under MDMS, it was decided to

provide cooked meal within two years of judicial intervention and during intervening

period, state governments were allowed to distribute dry rations to school children,

instead of cooked meals.13 But even after six years of the beginning of the scheme,

many state governments could not even start implementing the scheme which led to

the intervention of the Supreme Court in 2001.14 The Supreme Court not only

intervened but involved itself in monitoring the transition of these programmes that

existed on paper merely as orders, into programmes that exist in schools. Thus the

apex court’s intervention was instrumental in implementing the MDMS and

protecting the child rights from hunger.

The Supreme Court directed all the state governments to implement MDMS

and to provide every child a cooked meal with a minimum content of 300 calorie and

8-12 grams protein every day of school for a minimum of 200 days in every

government and government aided primary schools. The respective states which were

providing dry rations were directed to start providing cooked meals within three

months to extend the provision of cooked meals to the remaining parts of the state.15

Thus the judicial intervention not only hasten the process of implementation but it

also responsible for bringing the required pressure on the central government to

brought many reforms in MDMS in 2004 which includes:

• The cost of cooking at Rs. 1 per child per day,

• Transport subsidy raised from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 per quintal for special

category states, and Rs 75 per quintal for other states,

• Provision of MDM during summer vacation in drought affected areas.

These reforms were enthusiastically undertaken and policy changes were

made so as to strengthen the MDMS and to make it available to each and every school

13 Op cit, No-2, P-4676. 14 The supreme court of India gave all the non implementing states a wake up call in its order of November 28, 2001 in the case of PUCL vs. Union of India and all the state governments to start implementing cooked meal in all government and government aided primary schools. Supreme Court’s Order on Mid-Day Meal Scheme (No. 196 of 2001), www.righttofoodindia.org.in. 15 Supreme Court’s Order on MDMS, dated 28th February and 28th May, 2002.

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going child. The main intention was to feed more children through schools and

making the state accountable and responsible for the children. Emphasis was given

more on hilly regions of the country where the hunger and starvation rate is much

higher. Hence, the perspective towards the MDMS changed with the judicial

intervention and is being perceived as an entitlement of the children leading to various

campaigns against the state government’s inaction towards its implementation. The

parents, teachers, and community members were mobilized to pressurize the

respective governments to implement the scheme as a matter of children entitlement.

To this effect there was a major campaign started on April 9, 2002 in 100

districts of nine states to express people’s dissatisfaction with the respective state’s

inaction towards the MDMS.16 In response to the pressure from the Supreme Court as

well as from the civil society organizations, with repeated campaigns, petitions and

protests forced the government to consider child rights seriously. As a result, the

Government of India revised the guidelines for the MDMS in 2004 and later on in

2006. Therefore, the MDMS is being fully implemented in 20 states and 7 Union

Territories and partially in eight states.17

On the other hand, some states went beyond the national guidelines. For

example the Tamil Nadu and Kerala implemented the scheme from primary classes to

secondary classes and the destitute and aged were included in MDM beneficiaries. In

Gujarat, the scheme covered children from classes I to VII and the Orissa government

started providing MDM up to the VIII class.18 The states like Andhra Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka followed the new guidelines in line with the Supreme

Court order dated April 20, 2004, and started providing cooked meals during summer

vacations in their drought-affected and hilly areas.

In order to provide nutritious food, even the state governments received wide

moral and material support from the international agencies. When many states could

not start the scheme, few states on the other hand were providing daily nutritious

16 In Bangalore, children came out on streets with empty plates; in different places copies of the Court’s order were distributed with a vision to make the government responsible in providing MDM. 17 Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Utter Pradesh and West Bengal. 18 http://www.righttofoodindia.org/comrs/comrs_reports.html.

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meals to its children with varied vegetables. For example, Tamil Nadu until 1961 the

meals were largely consisted of rice and sambar, which is one of the national dishes of

Tamil Nadu.19 Below (Table:3.3) is given the detailed menu of Tamil Nadu

government’s MDMS during late fifties even when at the national level MDM was

not initiated in full fledge. To this extent, in 1961, many states received assistance

from CARE in the form of food assistance for the programme and these were

accepted and integrated into the MDMS menus. The food assistance included milk

powder, vegetable oil, corn meal and bulgur wheat.20 After the CARE commodities

were introduced, the menu of the MDM were given alternatively. If one day was

served with the menu of CARE material the next day would be a local menu with rice.

Thus the CARE commodities in fact enabled the scheme to extend up to 16 lakhs

children in 30,000 schools.

Table 2.3: Menu for the Meals in Tamil Nadu in the Late 1950s

Monday Cooked rice, 12 ounces and Sambar, eight ounces.

Tuesday Curds rice 16 ounces and Kootu two ounces.

Wednesday Tamarind rice 15 ounces and Sambar eight ounces.

Thursday Kaambam rice 12 ounces and Sambar eight ounces.

Friday Cooked rice, 12 ounces and Sambar, eight ounces.

Source: Department of Rural Development, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Initially, at the school level the programme was taken up by the school

teachers in terms of procurement as well as distribution of food materials. However,

their involvement resulted in a significant loss of teaching time. But in 1967 the

system was modified and private body involvement were encouragement for which

central kitchens were created and food was delivered to the respective schools after its

preparation. In 1980s, further efforts were made to streamline the system and expand

coverage as much as possible. Attempts were taken to bring reforms in the scheme

making it one of the most efficiently organized school lunch programmes in the

world.21 However, long before the introduction MDMS at the national level, some of

the Indian states like Tamil Nadu became proactive regarding the protection of child

19 http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/r/2V/F4/2VF40A01.htm 20 Origin and Growth of School Lunch Programme in Tamil Nadu http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/r/2V/F4/2VF40A01.htm 21 Op cit, No-2.

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right to food. Providing MDM to children is one of the major initiatives that Tamil

Nadu has undertaken on its road to be a welfare state.22

2.3 Implementing Agencies of MDMS There are well defined implementing agencies at the national, state, district

and village levels with properly defined procedures to implement the programme. The

revised NP-NSPE scheme, 2006 mentioned a four tier institutional mechanism for

programme management, through the constitution of Steering-cum- Monitoring

Committee at the national, state, district and block levels which is discussed later.

Power has been distributed among the different branches of the government to

overcome the confusion and overlapping. It is due to the priority needed for the

protection of the children.

However, to fulfill the main objectives and desired goals of MDMS, various

agencies of the government both at the Centre as well as at the states are involved. In

general, the concerned implementing agencies, i.e. governments at the state level and

local bodies, play significant role as the duty bearers for the MDMS. There are many

agencies like Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Department of Food and Civil

Supplies, Department of Education, Department of Women and Child Welfare,

Department of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Social Welfare at the state

level and Ministry of Food and Public Distribution and Department of Human

Resource Development at the national level, etc. are involved for the smooth

implementation of the MDMS.

In Indian federal system, when the central government formulates

development policies at the central level, it is the state governments or the local

bodies implement as being the units of local administration. The state governments

are expected to adopt certain development policies that are aimed at ensuring equality

of opportunity for all regarding access to the basic necessities, education, health

22 The Indian State failed to protect its children from various underdevelopments like hunger, starvation, illiteracy, etc. which led to the judicial intervention. In its order, the Supreme Court of India directed all the State governments to introduce cooked mid day meals in primary schools within six months. Instead of protecting the child rights through legislation, which is the major responsibility of the government, could not happen, led to the intervention of the State’s organ of judiciary that is the Supreme Court of India.

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services, food, housing, employment, fair distribution of income and so on. On the

other hand, they are also expected to create conditions, for realizing the fulfillment of

right to food by undertaking appropriate economic and social policies to correct the

social injustices. In this context, the public sector and private sectors organizations co-

ordinate, not only among themselves but also with other national and international

institutions as well as with the civil society to implement the scheme.

As far as the MDMS is concerned, the state governments are entrusted with

the responsibility of implementing it. If the central government provides dry ration

and financial assistance, the state governments distribute the food grain and they

monitor the MDMS programme. The state governments maintain the detail record of

MDMS in their respective states. Further, the state government co-ordinates between

the centre and the local governments for the implementation of the scheme. The state

government’s maintaining of data on the MDMS include: the name of the

RPDS/EAS/LFL23 blocks, local bodies/authorities and notified urban slums which

covered by the scheme and category wise number of primary schools in those areas.

They maintain the enrollment data, the number of school days month-wise in the

academic year and the quantity of food grain they require per month and

simultaneously lift and distribute food grains.

Availability of facilities for preparation and distribution of cooked food is the

main responsibility of the state governments. It also maintains the attendance figure of

the students of classes I to V both school wise as well as district wise. It maintains

monthly statement certifying the quantity of food grains lifted from FCI godowns, for

payment to FCI and the quantity transported to schools/villages for reimbursement of

transportation cost to DRDAs (District Rural Development Agencies)/Nagarpalikas.

Simultaneously, the respective state governments also accountable for the details of

expenditure like remuneration for cooks/ helpers, expenditure for construction of

kitchen shed, etc.

23 Revamped Public Distribution System, Employment Assurance Scheme, Low Female Literacy.

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2.4 Institutional Mechanism for Managing the MDMS The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-

NSPE) or MDMS has been managed by a four-tire institutional mechanism at the

national, state, and district levels. Thus these management structures were followed

for the NP-NSPE (2006) at the national, state, district and local levels. They are as

follows:

Table 2.4: Institutional Mechanism for MDMS

Level of Responsibility

Agencies responsible

National Level National Level Steering Cum Monitoring Committee (NSMC), and Programme Approval Board (PAB)

State Level State Level Steering cum Monitoring Committee and Nodal Agency

District Level District Collector/District Nodal Agency

Village Level Gram Panchayat/Municipality

School Level VEC, SMDC, PTA, MTA

Source: NP-NSPE, 2006.

2.4.1 The NP-NSPE at the National Level

At the national level, a National Level Steering Cum Monitoring Committee

(NSMC)24 to look after the implementation of the programme. Its responsibilities are

to guide various implementing agencies, monitor programme implementation and

assess the impact of the scheme. Along with the NSMC, there is also a Programme

Approval Board (PAB) under the chairpersonship of Secretary, Department of School

Education and Literacy, to consider and sanction the Annual Work Plan (AWP) and

the budget submitted by the state governments and Union Territories. And there is

National Mission for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) constituted to review the MDMS

from time to time. It bears the cost of infrastructural development for the scheme.

National Level Steering Cum Monitoring Committee is constituted to guide the

various implementation agencies and monitor the programme implementation, assess

its impact and take corrective measures for the success of the scheme. It also takes

actions on reports of independent monitoring agencies on MDMS. It co-ordinates and

24 NSMC is set up by the Department of School Education and Literacy, the Government of India.

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converges among the various departments and schemes while mobilizing the support

of the community and promoting public-private partnership for the programme. Under

the revised guidelines of NP-NSPE-2006, the NSMC is also asked to perform two

new major functions including providing policy advice to Central and state

governments and to identify voluntary agencies and other institutions to undertake

training, capacity building, monitoring, and evaluation and research connected with

the programme at the national level.25

2.4.2 The NP-NSPE at the State / UTs Level

Like at the National level, there is also a Steering and Monitoring Committee

at the states and Union Territories level to monitor the implementation of MDMS.

The state level committee’s functions are similar to the function of the National Level

committee. Each state government designates one of its departments as the Nodal

Department which is overall responsible for the implementation of the MDMS.

Beyond this, every state government has its own norms of expenditure, taking into

account the central assistance available under NP-NSPE. Based on which the state

allocates funds for the implementation of the programme.

Simultaneously, state governments are directed to make adequate provision for

the programme in their annual budget if there is any delay in Central Government’s

assistance. This arrangement is for prohibiting the interruption of cooked MDM to the

children and secondly children should not go hungry because of government’s delay

in getting funds. Because of this all the state governments ensure a minimum of one

month buffer stock of food grains and the cost of cooking for each school to tackle the

crisis.26 However, though the implementation of the scheme is rested upon the state

government, its primary responsibility is to see the smooth functioning of the MDMS

and its distribution. In this regard, state governments are entrusted for the functioning

of the implementing agencies at the state level to the local level. This indicates failure

of the local implementation agency to adequately procure and stock up cooking

ingredients and secondly, absence of cook for any reason, etc. These provisions are

made to avoid common obstacles which may come in the way of regular supply of

cooked MDM. 25 National Guidelines of NP-NSPE, Government of India, 2006, P-12. 26 Ibid, P-14.

94

As there is a Nodal Department in every state to implement the scheme, it

mediates between the Central and the state governments and conveys the district wise

allocations of food grains and the finance. The nodal departments convey the district

wise allocation for food grains, cooking costs, construction of cooking cum kitchen

devices to the district nodal departments.27 It co-ordinates among the districts nodal

agencies and maintains records for attendance, drop out and retention of children in

primary schools and decides menus for the MDMS at the state level.

2.4.3 The NP-NSPE at the District Level

The responsibility of implementation and supervision of the programme in the

district is assigned to the gram panchayat in rural areas and municipality in the urban

areas. There is also a District Nodal Agency in each district. The state nodal agency

conveys district-wise allocation for the next financial year to all District Nodal

Agencies. The state nodal agency ensures that the district nodal agencies have sub-

allocated the monthly district allocation to the sub-district level, which in turn would

further allocate to each school. At the district and block level, the District Collector,

District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO), Block Development Officer (BDO) or

members of gram panchayat and municipalities are involved for the implementation

of the scheme.

The district nodal agency ensures that each school is informed of its monthly

allocation of food grains and financial sanctions for construction of kitchen-cum-

store, cooking costs, cooking devices, etc. It identifies the transportation agency to

transport food grains from the nearest FCI godowns to schools. It takes responsibility

for developing indicative menus using locally available and culturally accepted food

items. Even though the district collector is over all responsible for the district, but

many states have a District Social Welfare Office (DSWO) who is solely responsible

for programme implementation.

27 In states where the function of Primary Education has devolved to Panchayat Raj Institutions, the State Nodal Department will convey the district wise allocation to the District Panchayats.

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2.4.4 The NP-NSPE at the Village Level

At the village level, the implementation of MDMS lies with the gram

panchayat in rural areas and Urban Local Bodies/Municipality in urban areas. The

central guidelines allow state governments to manage schools through a designated

nodal department, such as School Education, Rural Development, Women and Child

Development and Social Welfare. In MDMS revised guidelines the central

government gave stress more on participation of voluntary organisations,

decentralization, and involvement of NGOs in the provision of MDMS. Involvement

and decentralization of the private bodies have specified in the sphere of supplying

cooked MDM and providing resource support to the programme, like training and

capacity building, monitoring and evaluation and research in the field of MDM.

At the village level, a number of committees are created for the

implementation of the scheme. Committees like Village Education Committee (VEC),

Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Mother Teacher Association (MTA) plays

important role than any other committees. But among these committees, VEC has a

major say as it is almost a political body comprise of the members of gram panchayat

and municipalities and these members have major say regarding the scheme.

2.4.5 The NP-NSPE at the School Level

Village Education Committee (VEC), School Management and Development

Committee (SMDC), Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Mother Teacher

Association (MTA) are assigned responsibility for the day to day management of the

MDMS at the school level. These committees are responsible to the gram

panchayat/municipality. In urban areas, a common approach has been accepted, i.e. to

prepare a meal in centralized kitchen and transport them to different schools. For

example, NAANDI Foundation in Andhra Pradesh and Akshra Dasoha of Karnataka

are managing MDM independently. The NAANDI Foundation has created the

world’s largest central kitchen at Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), through which the

cooked meal is supplied to 880 schools in Hyderabad and Secunderabad providing

nearly 1, 30,000 children. The scheme is also extended to Visakhapatnam, providing

42,000 children. The NAANDI had extended its branches in other parts of the country

including Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, etc. It is providing MDM in Madhya Pradesh at

Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore, and in Rajasthan at Udaipur and Bhilwara while serving a

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total of 2, 68,000 children. The Foundation is providing about all total 4, 40,000

children. Like wise in Karnataka and Orissa, Akshayapatra scheme has extended their

support for the management of MDMS.28

Significantly, the point here is to note that regarding the implementation of the

MDMS at the school level, teachers are given all most all responsibilities starting

from procurement of food grain to cooking and distribution of the food. However,

some states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have separate staff for MDMS. The National

Guidelines for MDMS, 2006 specified the role and the function of the various

agencies and the involvement of voluntary organizations as well as Self Help Groups,

women groups in MDMS implementations. The major activities for which voluntary

organizations involved are29:

• Supply of cooked MDM, and

• Provision of resource support to the programme, like training, capacity

building, monitoring and evaluation and research.

The responsibility for cooking or supply of cooked MDM except voluntary

organizations, according to 2006 national guidelines rested upon the

• Local women’s/ mother’s Self Help Group,

• Local Youth Club

• Personnel directly by the VEC/SMDC/PTA/Gram Panchayat/Municipality.

2.5 MDMS under the Right to Information Act30

In order to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in MDMS, all

schools centres where the programme is being implemented are to display information

suo-moto. This provision is due to avoid growing corruption in MDMS. This includes

information on:

• Quality of food grains received, date of receipt.

• Quantity of food grains utilized.

• Other ingredients purchased, utilized

• Number of children given MDM

28 Source: http://www.naandi.org/Education/MidDayMeals.asp 29 National Guidelines of NP-NSPE, Government of India, 2006. 30 http://right2information.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/mid-day-meal-scheme-under-rti-scanner/

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• Daily Menu

• Roster of community members involved in the programme.

Under RTI, schools have to display information regarding the quantity, quality

and utilization of food served under MDMS. They also have to furnish the number of

children given meals, daily menu, and the roster of community members involved in

the programme. This is one of the steps the MHRD has initiated to monitor the

implementation of the MDMS. State governments have been advised to fix monthly

targets for inspection of MDM. As per the directives, on an average, 25 per cent of

primary schools should be visited every quarter and the remaining at least once every

year.31

According to the MHRD directives, the inspections need to be simple and to

capture vital parameters required for the effective implementation of programmes at

the ground level. Field visits should be made frequently but unannounced and it

should be used for critical observation and interviewing broad range of individuals

involved in the programme. Inspection reports are to be documented and they should

be analysed in depth and linked with previous reports on the same centres. The

findings of the report should be documented and reported in steering-cum-monitoring

committee meetings at all levels and suitable remedial/corrective measures should be

initiated without any delay. Most importantly the social science institutions are

entrusted with the task of monitoring the MDMS. In addition to the above, it is

expected from the states to develop a mechanism for public grievance redressal,

which could be widely publicized and made easily accessible.

2.6 The Coverage of the MDMS (1995 - 2005) As per the data provided by the Government of India, Department of Statistics

regarding the coverage of the MDMS, in the year 1995-96, it covered 378 districts

subsequently which increased up to 583 districts during 2004-2005. This signifies that

the physical coverage of the scheme and the number of children included has

increased significantly. During 1995-96 the number of children covered under the

scheme was 3.34 crores; however the number became triple and increased to 10.76

31 http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20061023134549&Title=Top+Stories&rLink

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crore in 2004-2005. From the above data the physical coverage increased since 1995-

1996 to 2004-2005 which is a positive sign for the success of the scheme. The table

(3.5) suggests that the number of children covered has gone up and it implies that the

school drop outs are checked out significantly.

Table 2.5: Coverage of the Scheme (1995-2005)

1995-1996

1996-1997

1997-1998

1998-1999

1999-2000

2000-2001

2001-2002

2002-2003

2003-2004

2004-2005

Number of Districts 378 474 506 544 544 575 582 586 596 583

Number of Blocks 2495 4417 5565 5764 5764 5912 6844 6809 6765 6798

Number of children covered (in crore)

3.34 5.57 9.10 9.79 9.90 10.54 10.35 10.36 10.57 10.76

Number of schools covered (in lakhs)

3.22 4.74 6.41 6.88 7.17 7.42 7.69 8.04 8.80 8.67

Source: www.indiastat.com

2.7 Financial Arrangement of MDMS Regarding the budgetary investment in MDMS, it is seen from the table (3.6)

that there is significant increase in budget allocation from 441.21 crore during 1995-

96 to 1375 crores in 2003-2004. This indicates that with the initiation of various

policies and changes, the central government increased budget allocation to bring

qualitative changes in the scheme. On the other hand, the real challenge of the

programme lay in working out modalities for reaching out to every child who is

already attending the school. This is to ensure that all other children who do not go to

schools must attend it. So that along with increase in budgetary investment, the

physical coverage of the programme could increase.

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Table 2.6: Year-Wise Outlay/Expenditure of MDMS (Rs. in Crore) Year Budget Expenditure Revenue Expenditure Expenditure

1995-96 - 611.79 441.21

1996-97 1400.00 800.00 800.00

1997-98 960.00 1070.38 1070.38

1998-99 1092.15 1400.15 1600.15

1999-00 1031.10 1500.00 1500.00

2000-01 1090.00 1300.00 1300.00

2001-02 930.00 1031.24 1030.27

2002-03 1175.00

1057.50(Gen.), 117.50

(NE)

1101.50 1099.03

2003-04 1175.00 1375.00 1375.00

2004-05 1675.00

301.00

(as on 15.6.04)

Source: www.indiastat.com

Though the MDMS is a centrally sponsored scheme, Central Government and

the state government have a 25:75 shares. Central government provides wheat and

rice at the rate of 100 grams per student per day. Besides, the Central government also

provides subsidy for transportation of food grains upto a maximum of Rs. 75 per

quintal from the nearest FCI depot to the primary schools. But the cost of cooking and

provision of essential infrastructures are the responsibility of the state government. It

includes vegetables, pulses, oil, kitchen-cum store, water supply for cooking, cooking

devices, and containers for storage of food grains and other ingredients and utensils

for cooking and serving .32 Most of literature on MDMS stated that the cost of

infrastructure is a contentious issue in MDMS implementation and for which the state

government shows lack of will in providing cooked food so that it could save the

additional cooking expenses and thereby distributed dry rations.

Initially, the wage costs of various staff of the MDMS were met from the

Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY). However, in 1999, the JRY was revamped and these

32 NP-NSPE, 1995.

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additional costs were borne by the state governments and the scheme faced financial

problem due to budgetary constraints in the respective states and Union Territories.

But later on the Central Government started providing additional assistance following

the Supreme Court’s order in 2001. In December 2003, the Planning Commission

asked the state governments to use a minimum 15 per cent of additional central

assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) to meet the cooking

costs of MDMS.

The revised guidelines for NP-NSPE (2004) made it compulsory to provide

cooked MDM with 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children upto

primary classes (I-V classes) in government, government aided and Employment

Guaranteed Scheme centers.33 In addition, with free supply of food grains, the Central

Government started providing Rs. 1 per child per day towards cooking cost. The

Central government’s contribution was raised to Rs1.50 per child per day, with the

understanding that the state government makes a matching contribution of at least 50

paise per child per day making the total cost Rs.2 per child per day. Transport subsidy

was also raised from Rs. 50 to Rs.75 by the Central government.

2.8 Physical Infrastructure for MDMS To provide physical infrastructure, according to MDM guidelines of 2006, lies

with the state governments. The cost of physical infrastructures like kitchen cum

storage, water supply for drinking and washing, cooking devices, utensils for cooking

and serving are decided to be borne by the state governments through convergence

with other development programmes. These includes like Sampoorna Gramin Rogjar

Yojana (SGRY), Basics Services for Urban Poor (BSUP), Urban Wage Employment

Programme (UWEP) for the construction of kitchen cum stores. Accelerated Rural

Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) and Swajaldhara schemes are to meet water

supply requirements, etc. Finally, the costs of utensils are to be bought from the

annual Sarva Siksha Abhiyan school grants of Rs. 2000.

33 Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) is an effort to provide community cantered and right-based primary education to all the children in a quick and time bound manner. Under EGS, the government gives a guarantee to provide a primary schooling facility to the children in a habitation, where there is no such facility within a kilometre, within a period of 90 days of receiving a demand for such facility by the local community. It operates on a decentralised basis through collaboration of state government, local body/panchayat and community.

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2.9 Implementation of the MDMS by State and UTs

Though most of the Indian states are unable to provide food to the school

going children, on the other hand few states have gone ahead in fulfilling it through

the schemes. These states have realized the positive aspect of the scheme and

therefore implemented. Further, these states have realized the fact that the MDMS is

having a diverse personal, positive and social role and found that the MDMS in

schools is important on certain counts and they are as follows:

• If school children are healthy, well fed and not hungry they can learn better.

• Feeding programme in the school may increase the enrollment and reduce

drop outs.

• Today’s children are the future citizens and hence they need well nutritious

food. Hence, in this way school feeding programme could be a better

investment.

Here, the focus has given on to understand the functioning of MDMS in the

country. MDM, although included in national law since 1995, gained attention as a

major food related programme following the 2001 Supreme Court’s right to food

decision. The study included the Court’s decision and its aftermath. In addition,

emphasis has also given on the state government’s perception regarding the scheme

and what are the strategies these governments adopted to implement the scheme.

While Tamil Nadu continued to provide cooked meals, Karnataka which

previously covered primary school children with hot meals dropped the idea after

1995, and started distributing dry rations.34 The Karnataka government’s justification

for this was based on teacher’s involvement in meals preparation which became a

major hindrance for classroom process. With continuous pressure from the parents

and local people, an effort to reinstitute MDM began after October 2001.35 Presently,

the government of Karnataka initiated special schemes to over come child mortality

and child undernourishment. In this state, private bodies like Infosys and ISKON were

involved in extending their Akshaya Patra (free MDMS) and to provide healthy and

34 “Meal Schemes for School Children”, The Times of India, February 1, 2001. 35 “Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 7 Districts From Oct 8”, The Times of India, October 2, 2001.

102

hygienic food for the children. Apart from this, the government has initiated different

measures including free lunch, maintenance of the health standard of the children,

immunization, health inspection in the school premises, providing iodine tablets,

vitamin tablets.

After the introduction of its own policy, Akshara Dasoha, Karnataka state

enacted this scheme which has universally effected improvement of primary health as

well as primary education. The government’s Akshara Dasoha scheme has become a

success because the local level population comprising of parents and panchayat are

involved in overall monitoring of the scheme. Each school in the state is well

developed in its infrastructure including cooking shed and a paid staff of three: a

cook, a helper, and an organizer who look after logistics and accounts. All of them are

women and appointed according to their competence. The government gives more

emphasis on nutritious meals with added vegetables and sometimes special food

during festivals.36

The government of Gujarat in addition to MDMS is also supplementing

different types of vitamins at a cost of Rs. 16 per child per year. The main aim behind

the government’s action is to improve the nutritional standard of the children through

continuous effort to change food habits and to create general awareness among the

people regarding the children’s right to food. With the broader objectives of

improving nutritional standard among the vulnerable sections, state decided to bring

substantial qualitative changes in the scheme.

On the other hand, the government of West Bengal has shown less interest

from the beginning regarding the implementation of the scheme which brought

attention of the Supreme Court as well as of the beneficiaries. And simultaneously,

NGOs like the Right to Food and Work Network, West Bengal Educational Network

and the Calcutta NGO Forum of Street and Working Children organized number of

demonstration against the state government regarding its unwillingness or inability to

provide MDM to its primary school students. The West Bengal government, in

response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, that the state should not compromise with 36 The nutritive value of MDMS has taken place in all the three National Guidelines of 1995, 2004 and 2006.

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children’s right to food, had petitioned that it was unable to implement the central

government funded MDMS due to severe financial problems. The appeal of the state

government was rejected by the Supreme Court and cautioned that central aid to the

states would be diverted for the meals project if cooked meals were not duly provided

in schools.37

Meanwhile, states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand violated the order

of the Supreme Court and could not implement the scheme highlighting their poverty,

vulnerability to food shortages and the ill functioning of public institutions. Various

studies38 found out that the non-implementation of MDMS in above states is due to

the vested interest of the policy makers. The government failure and ineffectiveness in

the implementation of the scheme is due to the general economic stagnation,

underdevelopment most importantly the problem of illiteracy and lack of awareness

among the people.39 Thus, the lack of awareness among the people led to lack of

knowledge regarding adequate food and balanced diet, leading to nutritional and

health problems of the children. And it also led to their incapability to demand from

the government as matter of their entitlements.

Therefore, the government’s intervention in the matter related to right food is

significantly very low. Moreover, MDMS is being perceived as a means of enhancing

enrollment rather than as a means to feed the hungry children. Going further towards

the North-Eastern region, there is evidences of gross violation of the Supreme Court’s

order regarding the implementation of the cooked MDMS. The states argued that

MDM is not part of the eating habit of the people and children do not like to eat in the

middle of the day.40

37 Prasenjit Maiti, “Food Right over Hunger”, Center for Development Studies, Calcutta, March, 2003. 38 Studies like Jos Mooij examines what Public Distribution System does, and describes that many people do benefit from the present set up but maximum of them are dissatisfied with the large scale misappropriation of food grains coming from the center. Instead of going near to the real beneficiaries, food grains are misappropriated by Public Distribution System dealer, civil servants and others who are involved in monitoring the system. Source: Jos Mooij, “Dilemmas of Food Policy: About Institutional Contradictions and Vested Interest”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XXXIV, No-52, December 25, 1999. 39 Ibid. 40 www.asia- pacific/Human Rights Network.htm

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Regarding the state of Maharashtra, the situation of the child is quite worst and

the mortality rate is a regular phenomenon even though it is the most industrially

developed state in India. But the state while impressed by positive cost-benefit reports

of MDMS from the southern states, have initiated and implemented the scheme

mostly in tribal and deprived regions. Though it did not show much interest for the

scheme in the beginning, but with the continuous intervention of the Mumbai High

Court as well as the civil society, it started implementing. The High Court intervened

along with the Supreme Court’s order to start MDMS as early as possible to protect

children from hunger deaths, child labour, illiteracy, etc. Of the state’s 64,000 primary

schools, only 31,483 schools are provided with cooked meals since the end of July

2004. The government of Maharashtra stated that a continuous effort has been made it

to extend the MDMS to all government and government assisted primary schools in

state.41

Implementation of MDMS in Andhra Pradesh is different from the other

states. Andhra Pradesh is considered as a food grain surplus state and food secure at

the macro level. Even though, the food grain production in the state is far ahead, there

is prevalent food insecurity at the household level and around one fourth of the state’s

population suffers from chronic food insecurity and around 40 per cent of the children

suffer from malnutrition.42 However, the government has been able to implement the

MDMS, with the co-operation of the local NGOs working and fighting for the better

cause of children.43 Presently Andhra Pradesh is also performing better while

implementing MDMS. Most significantly NAANDI Foundation’s co-operation with

the state government has made the scheme a better.

In Kerala, which is a food deficit state comparative to Andhra Pradesh, has

implemented the MDMS successfully. The state assisted food security system in

Kerala shows that it has contributed to the improvement of a wide- range of human

41 A study by Kalpanna Parikh highlighted that even though Maharashtra is a highly industrialized State, the growth of population, lack of political will, prevalent illiteracy among the parents and community and corruption led to the non- implementation of the Central Government scheme. Kalpana Parikh, Starvation Deaths in Maharashtra, India Together, January 2004. 42 S Mahendra Dev, K.P.Kannan and Nira Ramachandran, Towards a Food Secure India: Issues and Policies, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi and CESS, Hyderabad, 2003. 43 NAANDI Foundation and M V Foundation are working on food security and educational security of children in the state respectively.

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development indicators that are closely related to access to food, rate of mortality and

the alleviation of poverty. There are three major components of food security system

in Kerala: PDS, Supplementary Nutrition Programme for pre-schools and school

going children, and old age and other disability pensions for the poor. The successful

implementation of MDMS in Kerala is possible due to various causes.

The problem of availability of food compelled Kerala to concentrate more on

the proper distribution of food; secondly, the institutionalization of Public

Distribution System and making it as an integral part of public policy. Thirdly, an

increasing emphasis on specialization in agriculture and more on commercial crops to

grow more food to avoid food deficit in the State. Last but not the least; Kerala is the

most literate state in India. Larger consciousness among the population and their

participation in government decision making process, proper decentralization of the

political, administrative and financial power from top to bottom made the government

responsible and accountable in implementing MDMS.44 The level of literacy has

brought awareness among the masses regarding their rights which made people more

demanding from the state.

A recent study on MDMS in other two states like, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan

by Jean Dreze and Aparajita Goyal on food security issues in Rajasthan highlighted

on the state’s political will regarding the success of the scheme even though the later

falls into the category of BIMARU45. This study clearly indicates the nexus between

improved student enrollment and retention and the free MDMS.46 Rajasthan fares best

in terms of food logistics and monitoring of MDMS. All schools in Rajasthan reported

timely delivery of food grain. Teachers also described the quality of grains as fair or

above average and they are satisfied with the food grain as well as the supply process.

44 www.pmindia.nic.in/nac/communication/meal 45 BIMARU States refers to the infamous group of states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Utter Pradesh. It is because of their level of backwardness, poverty and corruption and so on. 46 This is the outcome of a survey report on MDMS in three states of the Indian Union- Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka - conducted by the Centre for Equity Studies of the Delhi School of Economics. The study of 81 schools in which free MDM were introduced in July 2001, indicates class I enrollment rose by 15 percent within the year. Particularly impressive jumps were made in female enrollment in Chhattisgarh (17 percent) and Rajasthan (29 percent).

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Rajasthan was the first state to implement the order of the Supreme Court. The

most important factor Dreze47 found out that there is an adequate political will to

implement MDMS. But as the state belongs to the infamous BIMARU, it lag behind

while implementing any development schemes because of financial restraints. A

powerful monitoring committee supervised the programme from the beginning, and

the progress of MDMS was also closely watched by the right to food campaign. The

timely delivery of good- quality grain, even in remote schools, seems to be a

reflection of strong commitment to MDMS. But, the main problem in Rajasthan about

the implementation of MDMS despite its satisfactory efforts is the finance and its

overall underdevelopment.

Rajasthan government spends only 50 paisa per child per day on recurrent

costs, compared with Rs.1 per child per day in Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, etc. As a

result, the basic facilities are lacking and it is one of the main reasons why most of the

schools continue to serve one item every day. As a result, even though government is

able to provide noon meals to its children, it has failed to enhance children’s nutrition

by not providing a more substantial diet. Rajasthan is the first state which initiated the

right based approach to food security programmes including MDMS.

Regarding Chhattisgarh, number of studies reported that the provision of

MDMS has been half hearted, both financially as well as politically. The state has

neither enthusiasm to implement the scheme nor to protect the rights of the children.

Dreze studied that the government has not a clear guideline for the management of the

programme at the village level. Partial implementation of the scheme has failed to

attract the children to schools. He highlighted that most of the teachers that MDM

disrupt classroom processes, as there is no separate kitchen, inadequate utensils and so

on. Dreze also found out that MDM has increased the enrollment, most importantly of

the girls. Many parents reported that due to MDM, it is much easier for them to

persuade their children to go to school in the morning.

On the other hand, the scheme has become an instrument of social change in

the state of Orissa. The government of Orissa has implemented MDM completely

47 Op Cit, No-2.

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throughout the state even with its socio-economic deprivation. The state government

has taken different steps to follow up the Supreme Court order which has been

discussed thoroughly in the chapter-IV. Through the scheme, the government gives

preference to women in employment as cooks and helpers and the selection is based

on their economically disadvantageness. Food security of the children in the state of

Orissa has not been implemented successfully throughout the state, as it is expected

even though more than half of the population of the state lives below the poverty line.

And there is no serious effort on the part of the state/ government to realize the

effective access to food and to protect children from hunger, starvation, malnutrition,

etc.48 On the other hand it involves huge costs and leakages, resulting in inefficiency,

corruption and away from better targeting.49Lack of awareness among the

beneficiaries, corruption and lack of political will among the decision makers as well

as bureaucrats, led to the improper implementation/ malfunctioning of the MDMS.

In line with this positive track record, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu,

Gujarat has made comparatively good progress in building a sound infrastructure for

the MDMS. As a part of this infrastructure other supporting staffs like the cooks, the

assistants, helpers as well as organizers have had the conducive facilities. And the

substantial proportions of schools have a pucca kitchen, sufficient utensils and proper

drinking water facilities. Even in the case of children, they escaped the unnecessary

involvement in MDM process and used their precious time for the studies and this

kind of environment is lacked in other states.50 The most important thing that has

come up in the given three states is that, it is not the government which wants to

implement the scheme, rather it is the demand from the children, parents, village

community and teachers to provide MDMS in school and positive support from the

local leaders, VEC, PTA, MTA, etc. Therefore, the above positive track record of

these states indicates that the success of the MDMS in these states is due to the

48 Tim Dyson and A. Hanchate, “India’s Demography and Food Prospects: State Level Analysis”, Economic and Political Weekly, 11th November, 2000. 49 Deba Ranjan Sarangi, “Orissa: Surviving Against Odds; A Case of Kashipur”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XXXVII, No-52, August 3, 2002, P-3239. 50 Time and again it has been reported both via-print and electronic media that, due to lack of funds for buying fuels for cooking, generally the school children are sent out in search of fire wood or bring from home.

108

people’s awareness as well as the pressure which led to an accountable government in

implementing the scheme.

However, the states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, the case is just

opposite as the infrastructure for the scheme is highly inadequate. Most cooks have to

manage on their own in the most challenging circumstances, without minimum

facilities such as a helper, separate kitchen and adequate utensils, sufficient provision

for fuel, water supply, etc. Interestingly, the parents care for children’s education than

the health or nutrition. This was entirely due to lack of awareness regarding the food

rights of their children. But the case of MDMS is slightly different in Rajasthan which

is good at supply of food grain as well as in monitoring. In this state all schools timely

get their grains and interruptions in the delivery of MDM are extremely rare. The case

in Rajasthan is different because even though the state has political will but lag behind

due to its financial crisis. It could be possible due to the presence of different

associations who fight for people’s rights and Rajasthan government has introduced

cooked MDM in ‘second’ track’ schools.51

The shortage of financial resources is not only a problem for the state of

Rajasthan but also for other states like Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,

where the problem of implementation is a biggest problem. The problem of

implementation of MDMS is thus involved in two things. In some cases due to lack of

political will and low level of bargaining by the civil society, money could not be

utilized properly. In some other states even though there is political will, due to lack

of fund, people’s participation, lack of decentralization of power has become a major

hindrance.

2.9.1 The NP-NSPE in North Eastern states

On the other had the North Eastern India gives a negative picture regarding the

implementation of MDMS as many states of the region till now are lagging behind.

Major states like Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram have not shown much interest for the

51 Second Track Schools include Shikshakarmi schools and Rajiv Gandhi Pathasalas and at the same time as in formal primary schools soon after the Supreme Court order. A high level monitoring committee closely supervised the programme from the beginning. But the main problem the state has been facing is that there is financial shortage to implement the scheme.

109

implementation of the programme as a result it is been reported by many news paper

that fund come from the central government but could not be utilised.52 In Assam, the

scheme was launched 15th August 1995 and cooked MDMS has started in the state

with effect from January 2005 with continuous intervention of SC. The scheme was

launched basically to increase enrolment and regularity of attendance, reduce

dropouts and sustaining retention and to improve children’s’ level of learning and

self-esteem impacting on nutrition of students.53 The programme originally covered

children of government and Provincialised primary schools in Assam and has been

extended to cover government aided schools, EGS and AIE centers. The state

government provides 10 per cent of total fund as state share for implementation of the

scheme along with the central government assistance.

The government of Assam failed to utilize the Central funds available for

implementation of the scheme. At the end of March, 2008 there was an accumulated

balance of Rs 99.73 crore with the state government, Rs 79.44 crore with the State

Nodal Officer (SNO) and Rs 12.27 crore with the District Nodal Officers (DNO). The

state’s education department did not even offer proper and reliable enrolment figures

of beneficiary children, resulting in submission of conflicting figures from different

sources.

On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh introduced MDMS in 1995 with the

instruction from the Central government to increase attendance ad to reduce drop out

rate. But the scheme could not have much impact upon the education as even after

introduction of MDMS, inadequate admission of girls, drop outs, irregular attendance

wastage of food items, and poor nutrition of children in the region continued.54

2.9.2 The NP-NSPE at the Union Territory Level

The Union Territory has received special attention from the central

government even in the implementation of the MDMS. The scheme has covered the

school children at the primary level under the age group of 6 to 11 years of age. Citing

52 www.economist.com, and www.newkerala.com 53 http://deeassam.gov.in/mdm.htm 54 Anita Pathania and Kulwant Pathania, Primary Education and Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Results, Challenges and Recommendations, Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi, 2006, P-XX.

110

the example of Pondicherry, it is found that the government provides pre-processed

food (viz. Bread) at 75 gms per head a day. Along with it the children are provided

with cooked food consisting of bulgar wheat and green salad. Food is distributed to

the children in school.55

The MDMS has been in existence in the Union Territory of Pondicherry since

French regime. At the initial stage, meals were served upto V standard in all the

government primary and middle schools covering the feeding strength of 62,000

students. Consequent the scheme was extended from standard VI to VIII from

November 14, 1990 and the total feeding strength has been raised to 1, 03,007.56

Meals are prepared and served through DWCRA Units/Mahila Mandals and meals

consist of rice, sambar and poriyal that are prepared and served for a period of five

school working day on regular basic in a week in all the regions but in Mahe regions,

meals are served on Saturday also to all the schools. Meals are provided to the

children from class I to VIII. The government fixed the maximum rate per meal per

student at Rs. 1.80 from January, 1992 for school canteens in Pondicherry, Karaikal

and Mahe regions. The DWCRA units in Yanam region supplies the meal, per student

at Rs. 1.75 with effect from 10.8.94 which is also approved by the government. The

break up of expenditure per meal is as follows:

Table 2.7: The Break up of Expenditure per Meal in Pondicherry

Items Meals Supplied by School Canteen Meals Supplied by DWCRA

Rice 0.90 paise 1.05 paise Vegetables 0.25 paise 0.25 paise Groceries 0.10 paise 0.10 paise Chilly Power 0.05 paise 0.05 paise Groundnut Oil

0.10 paise 0.05 paise

Fire hood 0.15 paise 0.10 paise Dhall 0.10 paise 0.10 paise Transport and Miscellaneous items

0.15 paise 0.05 paise

Total Rs. 1. 80 Rs. 1.75

Source: http://www.education.nic.in/

55 http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/r/2V/7B/2V7B0C03.htm 56 Ibid.

111

Regarding purchase of utensils, it is stated that based on the consolidated

proposals received from various inspecting officers this Directorate used to make

purchase by calling for tenders and also by observing the usual purchase procedure.

Purchase of utensils is being made whenever required with the powers vested with the

Chief Educational Officer and Deputy Director (Women's Education) for the schools

coming under their jurisdiction, on quotation basis. Periodical inspections are being

carried out by the Inspecting Officers like Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Chief

Educational Officers and Deputy Director (Women's Education). Apart from this,

Deputy Director (Adult Education), Joint Director (Secondary Education), Joint

Director (Elementary Education) and Director of Education used to go for inspection

of schools and canteens etc. wherever needed.57 The administration is also supplying

milk and biscuits under the Rajiv Gandhi Free Breakfast scheme in schools covering

children up to standard XII.58

The Government of Delhi provides qualitative as well as nutritious food under

its School Nutrition Programme which includes vegetable biriyani, rajma (kidney

beans), chhole (peas), paratha and puri (special bread) to bring changes in the lunch.

The scheme covers nearly 4 lakh children and it is proposed to provide MDM to

nearly 21 lakh children from the year 2007. The scheme covers all children attending

Delhi Municipal Corporation, NDMC and government schools upto Class V. the

government provides eight varied food to its children under School Nutrition

Programme. That includes, fruity bread, Milk Bread (Sweet), Bun without using any

colour, R.T.E. Food (Salted), High Protein Biscuits, Glucose Biscuits – ISI, Roasted

& Salted Ground Nuts (without skin), and Roasted Black Gram (without chhilka), etc.

Most of the items are, except bakery item, supplied at various central points and from

where schools collect the items. The schools meet the cost of transport etc. from their

own student’s funds. Bakery items are supplied directly by the Suppliers at schools.

However, all the implementing agencies feel that there has to be provision for

transportation of items from the central points to schools and to meet salary

57 Ibid 58 http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/27/stories/2005082705970300.htm

112

component of staff employed for MDMS; at present the staff of other branches and

divisions are given additional work of the scheme.59

2.10 The Controversy between the Center vs. the States Even though the MDMS is a central sponsored scheme, the states are bearing

the major cost of its implementation that resulted in stiff resistance from the states.60

The MDMS happens to be one of the most states resisted central schemes in India.

The state governments’ budget bears testimony to the fact that plan expenditure at the

onset of every Five Year Plans adds new schemes in large number. While the

intention of the states is to rapidly and simultaneously develop all sectors of

productive capacity, the presence of number of central government schemes in a

limited plan budget led to an overlapping of duties and responsibilities, unnecessary

confusion and importantly financial burdens. Many new schemes become non-

starters due to inadequate funding which further led to non implementation problem.

As a result, states choose to resort to borrowing with higher interest rate in order to

meet the resources crunch to put the money for development works. Following the

principle prevention is better than cure; most of the states try their best not to

implement the central sponsored schemes than lagging behind.

Another reason for the non implementation of the central schemes, it is

concluded from different empirical studies throughout the country, is because of

regional variations in the country. This indicates that all the states are not equal in

terms of geography, financial matters, level of development and kind of policy

formulations and level of its people’s literacy, awareness and participation.61 The

strained relation between the Central Government and the state governments is also

significant as because most of the food related policies are shaped at the central level,

by central policy makers. The policy makers at centre, are less concerned with the

local conditions and less aware of the practical and political difficulties at the local

level which emanates from such policies.62

59 Ibid. 60 The Tribune, Chandigarh, an English daily, 29th September, 2002. 61 Op Cit, No-47. 62 OP Cit, No-1.

113

It is also highlighted that the central and state politicians sometime try to

protect the interest of their constituency, but when it comes to general policy matters,

they are faced with the necessity to bring down budget deficits, to ensure economic

growth and so on. The implementation of such policies at the state and local level by

the local leaders and officials are faced with a very complex and peculiar problem.

They find it much more difficult to implement policies as they are directly answerable

to the people or to the beneficiaries. This signifies that, conflicts, confusion and

overlapping responsibilities lead to malfunctioning or non-implementation of the

scheme. This wide gap between policy formulation and execution allows for the

possibility of new policies which threaten vested interests at the local level.63

2.11 Government’s Assistance and Allocation of Food Grains The local bodies like Panchayats and Nagarpalikas where the MDMS actual

implementation takes place is assisted by the Central government by providing wheat

and rice at the rate of 100 grams per student per day. Further, the Central government

also provides subsidy for transport of food grains from nearest FCI Depot to the

primary schools at the rate of Rs 50 per Quintal and Rs 75 for hilly regions. Thus in

overall the Central government provides wheat and rice at the free of cost to the

respective schools from the nearest FCI godowns of that area.

In addition, the special provision of a Hill Transport Subsidy (HTS) is provided

to those states which are hilly, economically backward, and lack rain facilities.64 In

hilly states, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) which is a central agency is

responsible to deliver food grains at the nearest designated Principal Distribution

Centers (PDCs). As per instruction of HTS, if the FCI was unable to deliver food

grains at the PDCs under some difficult conditions, it will issue food grains from the

nearest designated base depots. In such cases, the actual cost of transportation of food

grains from the base depots to the PDCs is reimbursed by FCI to the states/UTs as

Hill Transport Subsidy.65 However, the reasons behind all these are only to provide

food grains in time so that food grains will reach in time to the respective school so

63 Ibid. 64 Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura. 65 Report on National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2004.

114

that the children will not be deprived off a day’s meal. The following are the broad

principles of allocation of food grains:

• District is the unit of allocation,

• Allocation of food grains is made on a quarterly basis through FCI,

• Allocation of food grains is totally based on the enrollment data collected by

the Department of Education,

• Further allocations are based on three factors: figures received from the FCI,

district wise utilization certificate and enrollment data received from the state

Education Department,

• The food grain allotted by FCI godowns is valid for which allotment is made

and can not be carried forwards to the subsequent quarters,

• Based on the allocation made for each district by the government of India, the

district collector further allocates the entitlement of each school.66

Regarding the distribution of food grains or food allotment, the Central

government follows total decentralization method. It is due to better availability as

well as better functioning of the scheme, the Central government distributes food

grains to the districts through the state governments. It indicates that for the

implementation of the MDMS, the respective governments and their agencies at

different stage are involved.

2.12 Cost of Cooking for MDMS Cost of cooking, which is a major provision of MDM, includes mainly the

following:

• Cost of other ingredients e.g. pulses, vegetables, cooking oil and condiments

• Cost of fuels, and

• Wages and remunerations payable to personnel, or amount payable to agency

(e.g. SHG, VEC, etc), responsible for cooking.

As a result, a number of states continued to face financial difficulties in

meeting cooking cost and providing cooked meals to their children and accordingly

66 Op Cit, No-1.

115

distributed only food grains @ 3 kg per student per month. To overcome this

situation, Planning Commission asked state governments in December, 2003 to

earmark a minimum 15 per cent of Additional Central Assistance (ACA) under the

Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) from the financial year 2004-05.67 But

the cost of cooking, as reported by many states, is more problematic.

Simultaneously, states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Orissa

reported for the delay in supply of cooking cost. As they do not get cooking cost

regularly, either they have to sell food grains or have to distribute dry rations while

violating Supreme Court’s Order. On the other hand, most of the teachers have

expressed that irregularities in cost of cooking, and low salary of the cooks and

helpers, the scheme is facing a major set back.

2.13 Movement of Food Grains for MDMS Movement of food grains for MDMS in local level is the responsibility of the

district collector. The distribution to the local bodies/ schools based on the entitlement

of individual schools is also taken care on behalf of the collector. Linkages are

developed between FCI and the schools in each district to ensure smooth flowing of

food grains. The transportation charges are reimbursed to the Nagarpalikas in towns

and to the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) from rural areas by the

Government of India. Transportation cost for moving the food grains from the FCI

godowns to the schools/villages at the rate of Rs 25/- per quintal as applicable under

the RPDS. The food grains and transportation charges under this scheme would be

made available to the districts directly based on district wise enrollment details and

attendance furnished by the state government.

2.13.1 Supply of food grains from FCI

It is the responsibility of the FCI to ensure continuous availability of adequate

food grains in its depots (and in principle Distribution centers in the case of North

East Region). It allows lifting of food grains for any month/quarter up to one month in

advance so that supply chain of food grains remains uninterrupted. For the MDM

programme, FCI issues food grains of best available quality.

67 Report of the Planning Commission, Government of India, 19th December, 2003.

116

Table 2.8: Monitoring Agency for MDMS

Sl No Type of Parameters Who May Monitor Frequency of

Monitoring

I. Programme Parameters

1 Regularity and

wholesomeness of MDM

served to children

i) members of

VEC/PTA/SMDC

ii) Teachers

Daily

2 No discrimination against

children of weaker sections

-Do-

-Do-

3 Cleanliness in cooking ,

serving and consumption of

MDM

-Do-

-Do-

4 Timely procurement of

ingredients, fuel, etc of good

quality

VEC/PTA/SMDC

Weekly

5 Implementation of varied

Menu

Gram Panchayat/

Municipality/

Representatives of

Block- level SMC

Fortnightly/

Monthly

Source: National Guidelines for NP-NSPE, Government of India, 2006.

Regarding the monitoring of the scheme at the grass root level, it is varied

from the state to state. But according to the national guidelines, the over all

supervision of the scheme is vested upon the gram panchayat or on the municipality.

But the major supervision is mostly done by the Education Department, District

Social Welfare Office, Village Education Committee, and Parent Teacher

Association. In case of Orissa when it is the Village Education Committee supervises

the scheme at the school level, the Parent Teacher Association plays dominant role in

Tamil Nadu. Current position of state/UT-wise implementation of the programme (as

on 31.3.2004) is as follows68:

68 National Guidelines for National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2006.

117

• 14 states (Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala,

Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil

Nadu, and Tripura & Uttaranchal) and all seven UTs are providing cooked

meal to all primary school children.

• Nine states, (Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya

Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal) are implementing cooked meal

programme partially.

• Four states, (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh) are

distributing food grains. Jammu & Kashmir had not implemented the

programme.

2.14 Impact of MDMS on Child Education

During 1995-96, 378 districts, 225,000 schools and 33.5 million children have

been covered with an expenditure of Rs. 4,412 million. In 1996-97, the scheme was

extended to cover 55.4 million children with an expenditure of Rs. 8,110 million. The

scheme has become fully operational in 1997-98 covering nearly 110 million children

in primary classes. A positive impact on school enrolment and retention has been

reported. Given below is the gross enrollment ratio of primary school children in India

since 1950.

Table 2.9: Gross Enrollment Ratio in India

Primary Education (I-Vth) Year Boys Girls Total

1950-51 60.6 24.8 42.6

1960-61 82.6 41.4 62.4

1970-71 95.5 60.5 78.6

1980-81 95.5 64.1 80.5

1990-91 114.0 85.5 100.1

1991-92 112.8 86.9 100.2

1992-93 95.0 73.5 84.6

1993-94 90.00 73.1 81.9

1994-95 96.6 78.2 87.7

1995-96 97.1 79.4 88.6

118

1996-97 98.7 81.9 90.6

1997-98 97.7 81.2 89.7

1998-99 100.9 82.9 92.1

1999-2000 104.1 85.2 94.9

2000-2001 104.9 85.9 95.7

Source: Educational Statistics, 2001.

From the table (2.9) it is seen that enrollment has gone up after the

introduction of MDMS in national level. During 1950’s it is seen that girl’s

enrollment was quite low comparing to boys. By the end of 2000-2001, the

enrollment of girls increased significantly upto 85.9 where as enrollment for boys was

104.9. The total enrollment for the primary school children rose from 42.6 per cent in

1950-1951 to 95.7 in 2001. This indicates that the scheme could able to fulfill its one

of the objective, i.e., increase in enrollment. The official statistics also revealed that

near total universalisation of school enrollment at the primary level in almost all the

states of India.

2.14.1 Improvement of Girl’s Access to Education

There has been a significant improvement in girl’s access to education as well

as their enrollment over the years as brought out in the two NFHS surveys. And the

report found that girl’s enrollment has increased due to the implementation of the

MDMS. Most recently, in states like Rajasthan, North Karnataka and Chhattisgarh,

improvement in girl’s enrollment has been account of the cooked meals being

provided in schools.69

Table 2.10: Improvement in School Attendance (6-14 Years Age Girls)

States 6-14 Age Girls

Attending Schools

1992-93 (NFHS-I)

6-14 Age Girls

Attending Schools

1998-99 (NFHS-II)

Variations

Andhra Pradesh 54.8% 70.5% 15.7

69 Amarjeet Sinha, Primary Schooling in India, Vikas Publication House, New Delhi, 1998 and ‘Basic Education for All, the Elusive Quest for Social Justice in a Dynamic Democracy : the case of India, 2003.

119

Assam 66.0% 75.0% 9.0

Bihar 38.3% 54.1% 15.8

Gujarat 68.4% 72.8% 4.4

Haryana 74.7% 85.5% 10.8

Karnataka 64.4% 77.6% 13.2

Kerala 94.8% 97.4% 2.6

Madhya Pradesh 54.8% 70.8% 16.0

Maharashtra 76.6% 86.9% 10.3

Orissa 62.0% 75.1% 13.1

Punjab 77.8% 90.0% 12.2

Rajasthan 40.6% 63.2% 22.6

Tamil Nadu 78.7% 88.5% 9.8

Uttar Pradesh 48.2% 69.4% 21.2

West Bengal 62.9% 76.7% 13.8

Source: Sinha, 2003.

There has been a decline, in number of out of school children over the years,

which has been brought out in the first and second National Family Health Survey

(NFHS). The NHFS-I (1992-1993) showed 67.5 per cent of the 6-14 age children as

attending school, while the NFHS-II (1998-99) revealed 79 per cent of the same

category as attending schools. However, rates of successful completion of primary

schooling still far away behind the desired level.

Table 2.11: The Dropping Enrollment Scenario (In million)

Class Boys Girls Total

Class-I 17.1 13.4 30.5

Class-II 13.4 10.4 23.8

Class-III 12.2 9.6 21.8

Class-IV 11.0 8.6 19.6

Class-V 10.2 7.8 18.0

Class-VI 9.4 6.6 16.0

Class-VII 8.3 5.9 14.2

Class-VIII 7.6 5.0 12.6

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Class-IX 6.2 4.0 10.2

Class-X 5.4 3.4 8.8

Class-XI 2.4 1.6 4.0

Class-XII 2.1 1.4 3.5

Source: Educational Statistics, 2001.

The table (2.11) indicates that the level of drop outs is higher in primary

classes upto class Vth. And drop out rate of the boys are seem to be higher than the

girls. The dropping enrollment scenario is a pointer to the low learning, as most

children are not completing the grades for which they are enrolled. The children can

not able to complete the primary stage of learning due to various problems. As refered

by many research majority of the parents prefer to send their children to job market to

sustain their family.

Table 2.12: Drop Out Rates at Primary Stage (I-Vth Classes)

Category 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 1992-93 1999-00 2000-01

Boys 61.7 64.5 56.2 40.1 43.8 38.7 39.7

Girls 70.9 70.9 62.5 46.0 46.7 42.3 41.9

Total 64.9 67.0 58.7 42.6 45.0 40.3 40.7

Source: Educational Statistics, 2001.

It is acknowledged that even though there is significant development in

enrollment ratio among the primary classes but the dropout rates is also significant. A

large proportion of primary school children, mostly girls, are either denied access or

are failing to complete even five years of basic education. Census 2001 shows that

while Gross Enrollment Ratios were 95.17 per cent for children, the Gross Drop Outs

Rates were 40.7 per cent as mentioned in the above table.

Table 2.13: School Attendance by States

% of the household population age 6-14 years attending school by sex, residence, age,

and state, India, 1998-99

Male Female Total

State Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total

121

India/Age

6-10 yrs 91.7 83.2 85.2 89.1 75.1 78.3 90.4 79.3 81.9

11-14yrs 85.1 78.5 80.2 82.8 61.6 67.0 84.0 70.4 73.9

North India

Delhi 86.0 89.2 86.2 87.6 83.2 87.2 86.7 86.2 86.7

Haryana 87.1 85.4 85.9 86.1 74.7 77.8 86.7 80.5 82.2

HP 96.4 95.4 95.5 96.3 92.8 93.0 96.3 94.1 94.3

J&K 83.0 85.8 85.3 85.2 67.6 70.4 84.0 76.6 77.8

Punjab 93.0 84.1 86.7 92.7 78.1 82.7 92.8 81.5 84.9

Rajasthan 83.9 80.4 81.3 73.5 49.9 55.6 79.0 66.0 69.1

Central India

MP 84.0 73.1 75.9 77.9 58.0 62.8 81.2 65.7 69.6

UP 77.7 77.3 77.3 77.0 57.3 61.4 77.3 68.0 69.9

East India

Bihar 79.1 66.8 68.2 72.1 47.5 50.5 75.5 57.4 59.6

Orissa 78.2 77.1 77.2 75.4 65.8 66.8 76.9 71.5 72.1

West Bengal 78.5 72.5 73.7 76.1 65.9 68.0 77.3 69.3 70.9

North East

Aru. Pradesh 96.7 82.3 84.2 87.3 74.3 75.9 92.2 78.3 80.1

Assam 86.8 73.3 74.2 81.1 69.0 69.9 83.8 71.2 72.1

Manipur 91.8 87.8 89.1 89.3 82.0 84.4 90.5 84.7 86.6

Meghalaya 91.4 75.3 78.5 91.3 76.8 79.9 91.3 76.0 79.2

Mizoram 92.6 78.6 85.5 89.8 79.8 85.3 91.0 79.2 85.4

Nagaland 87.3 84.5 85.1 84.8 78.0 79.4 86.0 81.1 82.2

Sikkim 88.0 82.7 83.2 73.4 83.6 82.6 80.6 83.2 82.9

West India

Goa 91.2 88.5 89.6 87.2 86.5 86.8 89.2 87.5 88.1

Gujarat 82.8 69.6 74.8 73.4 56.7 63.1 78.3 63.2 69.1

Maharashtra 86.3 82.6 84.1 84.6 75.7 79.1 85.5 79.3 81.8

South India

AP 80.1 71.3 73.5 78.5 56.0 61.5 79.4 63.9 67.7

Karnataka 81.9 71.4 74.9 79.7 62.4 68.0 80.8 66.9 71.4

Kerala 95.6 89.7 91.0 94.5 89.8 90.8 95.0 89.8 90.9

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Tamil Nadu 84.4 81.6 82.6 84.7 73.3 76.9 84.5 77.4 79.7

Source: NFHS-II, 1998-99.

However form the above, it is found that MDM have definitely contributed

for the growth of children. Though the scheme has many difficulties, but is directly or

indirectly leaded to the nutrition as well as the education of school going children.

The MDMS has played a major role in boosting school attendance, eliminating

classroom hunger. So, if MDM are to achieve their full potential first the basic

objectives of the scheme have to be highlighted and government must formulate

different policies to fulfill these goals. More emphasis are to be given on nutritional

content of the scheme and more specifically there is need to give nutritional education

to children, such as washing their hands before and after eating. Taking a larger view,

there is much need of linking MDM with related nutritional inputs like micronutrient

supplementations, health services and nutrition education. That means MDM are to be

supplemented with the distribution of other medical ingredients like Iron, Iodine, and

de-worming tablets with regular health check ups, free treatment of illness, etc.

The scheme has more than fulfilled its main objectives of combating

malnutrition among children, increasing literacy, serving as an incentive for

enhancing enrollment and retention of students in primary and middle schools. As a

consequence enrollment in primary schools has risen by 35 percent from 4.8 million

in 1984-85 to 6.5 million in 2002-03. Simultaneously the dropout rate in middle

school has reduced from 24 percent in 1984-85 to 13.85 percent in 2002-03.

Thus, the MDMS is a major tool which has effectively enabled hundreds of

millions of poor children in India to attend school. In addition to enabling education,

it has positive direct and indirect benefits relating to a number of other development

goals namely for gender equity, poverty and hunger reduction, etc. The above chapter

could able to give a detailed picture of the MDMS in India. But next two chapters

tried to bring out the actual functioning of the scheme in Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

These two chapters are more field oriented so that practical observation regarding the

implementation of the MDMS could be possible. Though the chapter-III deals with

MDMS in Tamil Nadu, an extensive study has been carried out to understand the real

picture of the scheme at the ground level. Tamil Nadu being the successful state

123

regarding the matter of MDMS, it was necessary to study the implementation of the

scheme and also to find out what are the causes led the scheme successful. During the

collection of data, emphasis was given upon the perception of people of Tamil Nadu

regarding MDMS as a means to fulfill children’s right to food.