Chapter Two Mid Day Meal Scheme in India: Origin and Implementation

Transcription

1 82 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 1 National Guidelines for NP-NSPE, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi, 1995.

2 83 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 Other countries, like Japan and Australia were initiated in 1947 and 1950 respectively, whereas India introduced in 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, Jean Dreze, and Aparajita Goyal, Future of Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XXXVIII, No-44, November 1, 2003, Pp

3 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 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 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 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 With the assistance from international co-operation, the Indian government introduced the MDMS for the age group of 6-11 in 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 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 4 The Planning Commission, Government of India, Op Cit, No-1, 2004.

4 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 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: 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 Fifth Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission, Government of India, K. Vijayaraghavan, Beginning of School Meals Programmes in Different States, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, The Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi, 1999.

5 86 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 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 The order on MDM applies to government and government-aided schools Shantha Sinha, (2004), Mid-day Meal Scheme and Schools A Need for Universal Coverage,

6 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 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 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), 15 Supreme Court s Order on MDMS, dated 28 th February and 28 th May, 2002.

7 88 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 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

8 89 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 Origin and Growth of School Lunch Programme in Tamil Nadu 21 Op cit, No-2.

9 90 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 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.

10 91 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 coordinate, 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/LFL 23 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.

11 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 Agencies responsible Responsibility 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, 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.

12 93 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 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 Ibid, P-14.

13 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 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 suballocated 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-cumstore, 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.

14 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 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

15 96 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 are 29 : 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 Act 30 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: 29 National Guidelines of NP-NSPE, Government of India,

16 97 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 ( ) As per the data provided by the Government of India, Department of Statistics regarding the coverage of the MDMS, in the year , it covered 378 districts subsequently which increased up to 583 districts during This signifies that the physical coverage of the scheme and the number of children included has increased significantly. During the number of children covered under the scheme was 3.34 crores; however the number became triple and increased to

17 98 Table 2.5: Coverage of the Scheme ( ) crore in From the above data the physical coverage increased since to 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 Number of Districts Number of Blocks Number of children cov ered (in crore) Number of schools covered (in lakhs) Source: 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 crore during to 1375 crores in 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.

18 99 Table 2.6: Year-Wise Outlay/Expenditure of MDMS (Rs. in Crore) Year Budget Expenditure Revenue Expenditure Expenditure (Gen.), (NE) (as on ) Source: 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.

19 100 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 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 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.

20 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 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, Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 7 Districts From Oct 8, The Times of India, October 2, 2001.

21 102 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.

22 103 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 studies 38 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 Prasenjit Maiti, Food Right over Hunger, Center for Development Studies, Calcutta, March, 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, Ibid pacific/human Rights Network.htm

23 104 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 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 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, NAANDI Foundation and M V Foundation are working on food security and educational security of children in the state respectively.