Mid-day Meal Scheme

In News

• Recently, as per a study commissioned by the Karnataka government there is clear evidence of significant improvement in the growth of children who are given eggs as part of mid-day meals. 

About the recent study 

• Currently, eggs are served under the mid-day meal or PM Poshan scheme in seven Karnataka districts, while the proposal to bring other districts under its ambit remains pending. 
  • It covered over 4,500 students in two districts.
• Gain: Girls in Class 8 gaining up to 71% more weight than their peers who were not served eggs.
• The Body Mass Index (BMI) of children, both boys and girls, improved due to the introduction of eggs, and to some extent bananas, states the study.

History of the scheme

• 1995
  • The current version of the programme, renamed PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM Poshan in 2021, traces its roots to 1995.
• Centrally sponsored scheme
  • It was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on August 15 that year across 2,408 blocks for students up to Class 5. 
    • In 2007, the UPA government expanded it to Class 8.
• Madras Municipal Corporation 
  • The first initiative to provide meals to children had been taken by the erstwhile Madras Municipal Corporation around 1920.
• Post-Independence India
  • In post-Independence India, Tamil Nadu was again the pioneer.
  • Kerala is the second state in the country to have a school lunch programme. 

Scale of the scheme

• National Food Security Act, 2013 
  • The scheme covers 11.80 crore children across Classes 1 to 8 (age group 6 to 14) in11.20 lakh government and government-aided schools and those run by local bodies such as the municipal corporations in Delhi under the provisions of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).
• Budgetary allocation
  • In the Budget for 2022-23, the Centre has earmarked Rs 10,233 crore for the scheme, while the states are expected to spend Rs 6,277 crore.
• Legal entitlement of all school-going children
  • It is not just a scheme, but a legal entitlement of all school-going children in primary and upper primary classes, through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling in People’s Union of Civil Liberties vs Union of India and Others (2001). 
• Aim
  • Avoid classroom hunger, increase school enrolment, school attendance & socialisation, address malnutrition & empower women by employment. 
• Coverage
  • Covers all government & aided schools, madarsa & maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 

Impact of the scheme

• Stunting reduced:
  • Lower stunting among children with mothers who had access to free school lunches. 
    • Stunting is low height for age, is caused by long-term insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections.
    • Stunting generally occurs before age two, and effects are largely irreversible.
  • The prevalence of stunting was significantly lower in areas where the mid scheme was implemented in 2005.
• Inter generational benefits: 
  • Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not.
  • More than one in three Indian children are stunted, or too short for their age, which reflects chronic undernutrition. 
  • The fight against stunting has often focussed on boosting nutrition for young children, but nutritionists have long argued that maternal health and well-being is the key to reduce stunting in their offspring. 

Issues associated with the scheme 

• Lifestyle disorders: A committee regarding National Education Policy 2020 said that serving eggs and meat in midday meals can cause lifestyle disorders.
• Serving eggs can be exclusionary to many students who are vegetarians.
• Variations in supplementary nutrition: For instance, eggs, and bananas to vegetarians, are currently provided only by 13 states and three UTs. 
• Cost issues: Some states such as Arunachal Pradesh find it costly.
• Dietary choices: dietary choices are an intensely contested area in India due to caste rigidities, religious conservatism and regional differences.
• Focus is on reach and not on quantity or quality of food.
• Health: There are many such unreported cases where students who eat this meal have reported dysentery and ill health. So parents and children fearing safety have declined to have food served in these midday meals. 
• Corrupt practices taking place: CAG’s performance audit report of Mid Day meal not only found financial mismanagement by the Education Ministry but it has also discovered states having indulged in diversion of funds to the tune of Rs 123.29 crore meant for the scheme.
• Casteism is still being practiced and setting the wrong example. In some places the upper caste children refuse to eat food cooked by SC/ST women, in some places the Dalit and backward classes students are made to sit separately from the others, other states have reported incidents where food was reportedly thrown at the Dalit students.
• Implementation is faulty: Proper guidelines are not followed everywhere, be it food menu or caloric intake.

Way Forward

• Alternative: Many states have tackled such objections by making fruits available as an alternative to eggs.
• Interventions to improve maternal height and education must be implemented years before those girls and young women become mothers.
• Work through women’s education, fertility, and use of health services to achieve better HAZ scores.

Source: IE