Mid day meal

Budget 2008-09
The Mid-day Meal Scheme has been extended to upper primary classes in 3,479 educationally backward blocks. The scheme will now be extended to upper primary classes in Government and Government-aided schools in all blocks in the country. This will benefit an additional 2.5 crore children, taking the total number of children covered under the Scheme to 13.9 crore.

Mid day meal
The National Programme of Mid-Day Meals in Schools, the largest school feeding programme in the world, covers nearly 9.70 crore children studying at the primary stage of education in classes I-V in 9.50 lakh Government (including local body) and Government aided schools, and the Centres run under Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE). The programme was extended, with effect from 1.10.2007, to children in the upper primary stage of education (classes VI-VIII) in 3,479 Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs). Approximately 1.7 crore additional children in classes VI-VIII in EBBs are expected to be included. The programme would cover all areas across the country from 2008-09.

The details of nutritional norms prescribed under the Scheme are as follows: -

Components          Primary                Upper Primary
Calories                 450                      700
Protein                  12 gms.               20 gms.
Micro-nutrients       Adequate quantities of micro-nutrients like Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin-A.

Besides free foodgrains @ 100 grams per child per school day for primary stage and 150 grams per child per school day for upper primary stage, Central Government also provides to States/UTs assistance towards cooking cost as under:

Primary stage (classes I – V)
States in North-Eastern Region : @Rs. 1.80 per child per school day, provided the State Govt. contributes a minimum of 20 paise
For Other States & UTs : @Rs. 1.50 per child per school day provided the State Govt./UT Admn. Contributes a minimum of 50 paise

Upper Primary stage (classes VI – VIII)
States in North-Eastern Region : @Rs. 2.30 per child per school day, provided the State Govt. contributes a minimum of 20 paise
For Other States & UTs : @Rs. 2.00 per child per school day provided the State Govt./UT Admn. Contributes a minimum of 50 paise

Central Government also provides assistance to States/UTs for the following: -

(i) Transportation of foodgrains from FCI depots to schools @ Rs. 125/- per quintal for eleven Special Category States and Rs. 100/- per quintal for other States/UTs.

(ii) Management, Monitoring & Evaluation (MME) of the scheme @ 1.8% of the cost of foodgrains & cooking cost.

(iii) Construction of kitchen sheds @ Rs. 60,000 per unit and for procurement of kitchen devices @ Rs. 5,000 per school.

(iv) Central assistance is also given for providing cooked mid-day meal during summer vacations to children in areas declared by State Governments as drought-affected areas.

In the Union Budget 2007-08, Rs.7324 Crores was provided for the Scheme, representing 37% increase over the budget for 2006-07.


Salient features of the revised scheme, in addition to extension of the Scheme to upper primary stage, are:-

(i) Central Assistance towards cooking cost based on Inflation Adjusted Index (Consumer Price Index) every two years will be available beginning 2008-09 for mid-day meal both for primary and upper primary stages.

(ii) Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities has been incorporated as a component of Management, Monitoring and Evaluation costs.

The MDM programme has helped in promoting school participation, preventing class room hunger, instilling educational values and fostering social and gender equality.

The scheme, in its first year of implementation, has led to the following positive outcomes:-
· Elimination of class room hunger.
· Increase in enrollment, more significantly of girls.
· Surge in daily attendance, particular of girls and children from poorer sections.
· Improvement in retention, learning ability and achievement.
· Curbing of teacher absenteeism.
· narrowing of social distance.
· A rallying point for parents’ involvement in governance of schools.

In a new path-breaking initiatives, it has been decided to empower mothers of children covered under the scheme to supervise the preparation and serving of the meal. Mothers are being encouraged to come forward and take turn to supervise the feeding of the children, thus ensuring regularly and quality of the meal. This initiative is aimed at giving mothers a voice and a role and greater ownership of the programme. States have been requested to launch a concerted campaign for mass mobilization of mothers.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=34431

It is an incontrovertible fact that school meal programmes exert a positive influence on enrolment and attendance in schools. A hungry child is less likely to attend school regularly. Hunger drains them of their will and ability to learn. Chronic hunger can lead to malnutrition. Chronic hunger also delays or stops the physical and mental growth of children. Poor or
insufficient nutrition over time means that children are too small for their age, and susceptible to diseases like measles or dysentery, which can kill malnourished children. Malnutrition adversely affects Universalization of Elementary Education. Even if a malnourished child does attend school, she finds it difficult to concentrate on and participate in the teachinglearning
activities in school. Unable to cope, she would drop out.

There is also evidence to suggest that apart from enhancing school attendance and child nutrition, mid day meals have an important social value and foster equality. As children learn to sit together and share a common meal, one can expect some erosion of caste prejudices and class inequality. Moreover, cultural traditions and social structures often mean that girls are much more affected by hunger than boys. Thus the mid day meal programme can also reduce the gender gap in education, since it enhances female school attendance

With a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover not only children in classes I-V of government, government aided and local body schools, but also children studying in centres run under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and innovative
Education (AIE) Scheme. Central Assistance under the scheme consisted of the following:

( a ) free supply of food grains @ 100 grams per child per school day, and
( b ) subsidy for transportation of food grains up to a maximum of Rs 50 per quintal.

In addition to foodgrains, a mid day meal involves two other major inputs, viz.,
“cost of cooking” and “provision of essential infrastructure”, which are explained below:
(a) Cost of cooking includes cost of ingredients, e.g. pulses, vegetables, cooking oil and condiments. It also includes cost of fuel and wages/ remuneration payable to personnel, or amount payable to an agency (SHG, VEC, SMC) responsible for cooking.
(b) Provision of essential infrastructure includes kitchen-cum-store, adequate water supply for cooking, drinking and washing, cooking devices (stove, chulha, etc), containers for storage of
foodgrains and other ingredients and utensils for cooking and serving.

In NP-NSPE, 1995 the cost of cooking was to be borne by the State Governments/ UT administrations. Unable to provide adequate funding for meeting the cooking costs, many State Governments/ UT Administrations resorted to distribution of food grains, rather than providing cooked mid day meals. To ameliorate some of the difficulties experienced by the
States and UTs, Planning Commission requested State Governments in December 2003 to earmark a minimum of 15% of Additional Central Assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) towards cooking cost under the mid day meal scheme. Nonetheless, the programme continued to suffer on account of budgetary constraints in the
States and UT Administrations.

Central Government’s commitment to a universal cooked meal programme found reflection in the budget speech of the Union Finance Minister in July 2004, which stated: “The poor want basic education for their children: we shall provide it… We shall also make sure that the child
is not hungry while she or he is at school…” The budget speech further promised: “…the whole of the amount collected as cess will be earmarked for education, which will naturally include providing a nutritious cooked mid day meal. If primary education and the nutritious cooked meal scheme can work hand in hand, I believe there will be a new dawn for the
poor children of India”.

In keeping with the promise made in the budget speech of 2004, the NPNSPE, introduced in 1995, was revised in September 2004 to provide cooked mid day meal with 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I – V in Government and aided schools and EGS/ AIE centres. In addition to free supply of food grains, the revised scheme provided Central Assistance for the following items

(i) Cooking cost @ Re 1 per child per school day
(ii) Transport subsidy was raised from the earlier maximum of Rs 50 per quintal to Rs. 100 per quintal for special category states, and Rs 75 per quintal for other states
(iii) Management, monitoring and evaluation costs @ 2% of the cost of foodgrains, transport subsidy and cooking assistance
(iv) Provision of mid day meal during summer vacation in drought affected areas.

Infrastructural requirements continued to be met through convergence with other development programmes, including inter alia Sampurna Grameena Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUO), Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP) for the
construction of kitchen-cum-stores. Water supply requirements were met through convergence with Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP), Swajaladhara and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The revised NP-NSPE, 2004 scheme also provided for a 4-tier institutional mechanism for programme management, through the constitution of Steering-cum-Monitoring Committees at the National, State, District and Block levels.

Today, the NP-NSPE is the world’s largest school feeding programme reaching out to about 12 crore children in over 9.50 lakh schools/EGS centres across the country. Several independent evaluation studies were conducted in 2005 including (a) a study by Pratichi Trust in Birbhum district, (b) University of Rajasthan/ Unicef in Rajasthan, (c) Samaj Pragati Sahyog in Madhya Pradesh. (d) Seva Mandir in Udaipur district, etc These reports testify to the increase in enrollment, particularly of girls and to the narrowing of social distance. The reports also point out that the programme provides an important rallying point for the involvement of
parents in school governance. At the same time some operational difficulties have been experienced by State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.

Major Nutritional Deficiencies among Children of Elementary School-going Age Group
Major nutritional deficiencies affecting young children in India are –
(1) Protein-Energy malnutrition,
(2) Iron Deficiency Anaemia,
(3) Vitamin A Deficiency, and
(4) Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD).

Mid day meal : Government Interventions

Significant achievements in Mid-Day Meal Programme in Rajasthan in last 3 years
Three years back only 'Ghooghri' (a kind of boiled wheat porridge) was being served in schools in the Mid-Day Meal Programme. The State Government started providing hot cooked meals under the programme.

The mid-day meal programme is being implemented in 74,600 Government, Government Aided, Education Guarantee Centres in rural & urban areas of Rajasthan. It covers approxiamtely than 69.6 lac students studying in classes 1 to 5.

The Government of Rajasthan took a pioneering decision in the year 2006-07 by enhancing State contribution of cooking conversion charge from 50 paisa to 1 Rupee per child per day. Provisions in state share were continuously increased from Rs. 75 crore in the year 2004-05 to Rs. 100 crore in the year 2005-06 and Rs. 180 crore in 2006-07.

GOI announced to enhance the programme upto class VIII in Educationally Backward Blocks but GOR decided to include all students upto class VIII.

In the Mid-Day Meal, different recipes are being served for different days of the week on a rotational basis. These include dal-roti. Vegetable-roti, dal-bati, khichdi, sweet rice etc. Seasonal fruit is also being provided additionally once a week. Food being served contains minimum 450 calories and 12 gram protein this variety in the food being served has been widely appreciated and also sustains the interest of the students.

A policy for attracting Public Private Partnership in the programme was launched by the government in January, 2006, Commendable achievements have been made in attracting Public Private Partnership in the programme. Corporate supported NGO/Trusts, which are capable of adding their own resources, are being encouraged. Akshya Patra Foundation, Naandi Foundation, Adamya Chetna Trust, Havells India Ltd., Hindustan Zinc Ltd., DSCL Kota (Shree Ram Group) are some Trusts/Corporates who have already partnered the government.

To facilitate the donors, A Mid-Day-Meal Trust has been formed and registered which would supplement the government efforts in improving available infrastructure and by value addition in the meals being supplied.

Presently 4.43 lac children in more than 2062 schools are being supplied hot cooked meals prepared under hygienic conditions in 12 mechanised centralized kitchens, set up by charitable trusts and NGOs. Proposals for feeding an additional 3.65 lakh children by means of 14 more centralised kitchens are in the pipeline. It is likely that by the end of Sept 2007, nearly 8.08 lac children would be supplied hot meals cooked from these mechanized kitchens under extremely hygienic conditions. This is the highest such achievement amongst all states in the country.

Stringent checking and inspection norms have been designed for all district, sub divisional and village level government functionaries, so that adequate vigilance is there in the preparation and supply of the meals. During the year 2006-07, more then 1.40 lac visits were done by various officers.

Community participation has also been ensured by formation of local level village committee and by involvement of mothers of schools going children for supervision on a rotational basis.

Effective MIS system has been developed for better monitoring of the programme at the school, block, district and state level. Specialized software developed and 237 computers with operators have been provided to each.

Great efforts have been made in the development of mid-day meal related infrastructure in schools. In the last 2 years, more than 34,000 kitchen-cum-stores have been constructed in schools. The cost of this infrastructure developed is approximately Rs. 216 crore. In addition to this, construction work of 14000 kitchen-cum-stores is in progress
Special arrangements were made for supply of the mid-day meal in nearly 30,000 schools and to 27 lac children in drought affected areas during summer vacations.

Annapurna Mahila Sahakari Samities are successfully supplying hot cooked meals to nearly 3.45 lac children in more than 3200 schools spread over all the districts.

Intensive medical check-up of all students eligible for mid-day-meal is being done every year. During the year 2005-06. A sum of Rs. 15.92 crore during 2005-06 and Rs. 9.62 crores during 2006-07 was provided for supply of micro nutritents, vitamin 'A', iron folic acid and deworming tablets to the children through the Medical & Health Department.

A separate Directorate, Mid-Day-Meal Programme has been established to effectively monitor the implementation and functioning of the programme in Rajasthan.

Many independent evaluation agencies such as UNICEF, DIET's, CUTS and Rajasthan Budget Analysis Centres have appreciated and implementation of the programme in Rajasthan.

The Government of India has appreciated the achievements of the Government of Rajasthan for achieving enhanced programme quality using the PPP model.

A sustainable means of livelihood has been provided to more than one lakh thirty thousand persons by effective implementation of the programme.

Mid day meal : NGO Interventions

Association of Voluntary Organizations in the Programme
The major groups of activities for which Voluntary Organizations may be associated with the programme are –
o Supply of cooked mid day meal, and
o Provision of resource support to the programme, e.g.
Training and capacity building,
Monitoring and evaluation, and
Research.

Akshay Patra
Bangalore
The program, which started on a small scale in June 2000 in Bangalore, feeding 1,500 children in five schools, has progressively scaled up to serve around 2,01,000 children in 486 schools in and around the city as of September 2007, covering government, corporation and government-aided schools. The aim now is to cover 250,000 hungry children in the district and make Bangalore and its rural districts, hunger-free.
For which an additional kitchen infrastructure is being set up in Vasanthapura on Kanakapura Road, South of Bangalore , which is expected to reach 100,000 children in 650 schools in the vicinity. Encouraged by the overwhelming response received from the school authorities, the students and the Education Department of the Government of Karnataka, the program got expanded year after year. Emboldened by its success in Bangalore, the project spread its reach to other cities, first within Karnataka and then across the Vindhyas to the north of India.

Other cities of Karnataka
In partnership with Mrs. Sudha Murthy, the chairperson of Infosys Foundation, the mid-day meals program was initiated in Hubli-Dharwad in July 2004. As of September 2007 we are feeding 1,80,861 students in 644 schools of Hubli-Dharwad and Haveri districts. To cater to the increasing demands from neighbouring districts, the kitchen infrastructure is being expanded. Besides, the project has now expanded to include Mysore, Bellary and Mangalore in Karnataka. As of September 2007, we are feeding 7,200 students in Mysore, 14,260 students in Mangalore and 62,230 students in Bellary-Ananthapur.

Vrindavan, Mathura District, UP
The next port of call for the Akshaya Patra Foundation was Vrindavan, in Mathura district, UP. In this holy city of Vrindavan , the birthplace of Lord Krishna, the dream to serve wholesome meals to underprivileged children, was fulfilled thanks to the solid support rendered by Delhi-based Mittals of the Bharti Foundation. B Sunil Mittal, Chairman & CEO, and Rakesh Mittal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Televentures, have unequivocally backed the program. An exclusive kitchen facility has been created and is housed in an architectural geodesic marvel.

The project commenced its feeding activity in August 2003. The menu here is predominantly wheat based in tune with the local food preferences. The daily menu is typically rotis, Lentils or Curry and Vegetable Rice/Sweet Porridge. A roti machine that can churn out 10,000 rotis per hour has been installed in the kitchen along with an atta kneading machine, to ensure hygiene and cost efficiency.

As of September 2007 the Foundation is serving 73,458 children in 410 government schools in and around Vrindavan.

Jaipur, Rajasthan
In a state which has a literacy of only 61%, the free mid-day meals program is indeed a powerful incentive to attract children to schools, thus encouraging primary education. Thanks largely to the proactive roles played by one of the trustees of Akshaya Patra, Abhay Jain and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje Scindia, the Akshaya Patra free mid day meals project commenced with a pilot run in November 2004 in 25 schools feeding 5200 children.

No sooner than the concept was showcased to the Chief Minister and other senior officials of the Government of Rajasthan, the initial kitchen facility was up and running on a trial basis in less than two months time. The pilot run was meant to understand the local situation before scaling up the program. As of September 2007, the program serves 1,50,000 school children in 705 schools in Jaipur everyday.

The Hi-tech Centralized Model
What distinguishes Akshaya Patra from other mid-day meal programs preceding it, is the flexibility and creativity with which the program has been conceived and executed. Where the environment is conducive, the program has incorporated a centralized approach, backed by technology-driven processes. In other situations, it has adopted a de-centralized mode of operations, to cater to the needs of the local community. Whatever be the approach, the Foundation ensures that it can serve the needs of the target audience in the most dignified, cost-efficient manner.

The Centralized model is technology-intensive. The automated kitchen facility is a classic example of how mechanization has improved efficiency and ensured quality.
Appropriate technological considerations have governed all phases of the design and process: the choice of the cooking medium (steam), generation of steam, construction of large cauldrons, mechanized high speed cutting of vegetables, handling of cooked food, etc., to minimize human intervention and maintain high standards of cleanliness and hygiene along with custom designed vehicles, logistics to move and safely deliver cooked food on time.

The Infrastructure
In all the cities where the centralized model is being used, the Foundation has created the following infrastructure with funds raised from corporate and individual donations:
Automated kitchen facilities with Stainless steel cauldrons, steam boilers, exhaust system, conveyor system, high-speed cutting machines, etc.
Covered stainless steel containers that retain heat for carrying food to the schools.
Custom-built vehicles to transport food to the schools.
In each region the capacity of the kitchen varies depending on the number of children to be fed.


Naandi Foundation The Midday Meal Program in Hyderabad

In Hyderabad, most of the children attending government schools come from poorest of the poor families. With incomes below the poverty line, for most of these children having one square meal a day is sometimes not possible. For a majority of them the midday meal is the only meal they have in a day.

Naandi on behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh runs what is probably the world’s largest Midday meal kitchen in Hyderabad to feed the children of the 1023 government schools including NCLP (National Child Labour Project schools), NRBC (Non Resident Bridge Course) and RBC (Residential Bridge Course) in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The kitchen is a customised building set up in a 2-acre plot of land. It is a built up area – 18,000 sq ft with special sections.

The kitchen gets into action at 3 am in the morning. This is an improvement from the initial time of 1am as cooking procedures have been further streamlined. The trucks carrying freshly cooked food leave by 8.30 am to ensure that all schools get their cans of the meal not later than 12 noon.

The choice of meal was decided upon after consultation with nutritionists from the National Institute of Nutrition and AP Foods.

The usual meal served is a curry supplemented with a lot of vegetables, and rice. This meal provides more than 700 calories(more than the basic requirement of 415 calories stipulated by the National Institute of Nutrition). The accent is on to reduce the use of spices so that children enjoy their meal. Unlike the serving quantities stipulated by the Supreme Court, Children get unlimited supply of rice and curry from the kitchen.

Keeping the calorie factor constant we are now varying the menu and serving pulao (flavoured fried rice) and moong dal (type of lentil), kichdi, and variety of vegetable laden curries to add to the taste and provide the children a range of dishes to look forward to.
Read More

Hunger in Visakhapatnam claims more lives than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Poverty and lack of resources have made it impossible for children to get the needed calories to lead a normal life. Given this situation, Naandi has been invited by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to commence the midday meal programme
Read More

Naandi also runs Mid day meal programmes in
Jabalpur
Indore
Bhopal
Udaipur
Bhilwara
Gangrar

Bangalore - ramaprakash@akshayapatra.org
Mumbai - sudhish@akshayapatra.org Cell: 09987062986
Ahemedabad - sudhish@akshayapatra.org Cell: 09987062986
Delhi - pawan@akshayapatra.org Cell: 09971002542.

List of 138 NGOs and Education Trust in Jamnagar District which are delivering MDM

Mid day meal : Corporate Interventions

DSP Merrill Lynch : Akshaya Patra Foundation
A Strategic program to address two of the most pressing problems of India: Hunger & Education. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, has been providing free meals everyday to poverty stricken school children in and around Bangalore city (India's Silicon City) in southern India. In just two years since it was founded, the program has scaled to provide over 43,000 (as on August 2002) hygienic and nutritious meals every day through an extremely cost-effective program. Akshaya Patra has demonstrated and is now showcased as an operating model that can strategically address two of the most pressing problems for poor children in India: hunger and education.