Mid day meal scheme

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

According to official records, it has been found that around 65% of India’s cook cum helpers engaged under mid day meal scheme are less than rupees 2,000 per month

About 

• The scheme has now been renamed to PM-Poshan, the scheme originally started in TamilNadu in 1960s as national programme of nutritional support to Pre education and was later expanded in 1980s
• The scheme was appreciated by the World Bank and hence adopted at the national level
• The central government launched mid day meal scheme as a centrally sponsored scheme in 1995 by then Ministry of human resources and development

Objectives of the scheme

• Enhancement in nutritional status of children
• Encourage enrollment and regular attendance
• Promote harmony among children

Positive outcomes

• According to the Indian statistical institute survey, it was found that there was an increase in primary school enrollment especially in grade 1 and 2.
• According to the survey the mid day meal scheme was effective and encouraging in early-stage enrollment
• The scheme has improved nutritional levels, various States have started food fortification that is addition of micronutrients thereby preventing malnutrition and hidden hunger
• It has also help in reducing the burden of family, it is the most important meal for a poor family
• It has also acted as an incentive for more attendance among children in the school
• The Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has highlighted that most important aspect of mid day meal is the promotion of social harmony since education is the most important tool for social economic mobility

Issues and challenges

• Capability trap
• Various economist consider mid day meal as an example of capability trap
• The capability trap is a condition when developing countries or organisations cannot perform the task given to them and doing the same thing or routine work is not improving but usually making the things worse
• According to accountability initiative, an NGO found that due to implementation of scheme in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar even routine tasks are not implemented properly
• Lack of adequate infrastructure and poor management
• Teachers have a major role to play for effective implementation, the dilemma for the Teachers is whether to take class or focus on mid day meal
• There has also been irregularity in serving meals and supply of food grains
• Social discrimination and prejudice
• There have been cases where students of particular caste have denied eating food cooked by the lower caste
• Quality of food
• The focus has been more on the reach and not on the quality.
• There have been concerns of unhygienic and poisonous food, for instance in Bihar there was an unfortunate incidents of death of 27 children because of oil being kept in the same bottle which was used to store pesticides
• According to the mid day meal rules, meal should be of good quality, nutritious, tasty and adjustable and it should vary from day to day ensuring variety in the menu
• Corruption
• There have been various instances of funds being used for other purposes
• The CAG report of 2015 has revealed financial mismanagement and discovered that States have indulged in the diversion of funds

Conclusion

• Various States have like Jharkhand, Uttarakhand have included the local women self help groups and mothers of students in preparation of the food to ensure the quality of the meals
• According to committee for evaluation of the scheme in 2010 suggested that monitoring committee should be made more effective and food grants must be delivered directly to school
• The models adopted by various States like collaboration with NGOs to help in distribution of males have been effective as in such situation the meals are cooked that one centralised place and hence it is easier to keep a check on the quality of food
• There is a need for schools to be trained on management of cooking and distribution of meal as it is vital that the food served has to be checked by the school management
• With inclusion of scheme under the ambit of PM Poshan, there is a need to focus on improvement of nutritional status, encourage education and learning, increase enrollment in schools and promote overall growth of children

The Indian Express Link

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/most-mid-day-meal-cooks-pay-7680906/

http://mdm.nic.in/mdm_website/ 

Question- What are the challenges remaining in effective implementation of PM Poshan Scheme-Mid day meal scheme?