DRAWBACKS:
Focus on statistics but not quality: According to a report released by CAG, 89% of schools
surveyed in Delhi failed to reach the standards to be followed in the Mid-Day meal scheme. The
government mostly concentrated on statistics on what percentage of schools, madrassas,maqtabs
they can cover and supply food. However, it failed to pay attention to the quality of food served.
Political parties use this program as propaganda and show what they are doing for the kids in
their constituencies. They do not bother to test whether the scheme is adequately implemented or
that the students it is intended for are interested in eating it.
Lack of Hygiene in cooking and serving the meal:
A large proportion of the students who attend government schools hail from below poverty line
families and eat this primarily as their only meal for the day. However, we lack a proper
mechanism to examine the standard of the food served to students. The unconcerned attitude was
observed in Bihar, where 23 children lost their lives after eating their Mid Day meal on July 16,
2013. The forensic reports identify this as a food poisoning case where cooking oil was stored in
a previously used vessel to store pesticide. Many such unreported cases can be seen where
students having this meal reported dysentery and health problem. So parents and kids fearing
safety have declined to eat the food served in these midday meals. The MDMS guidelines dictate
that the meal should be of acceptable quality, besides being nutritious, tasty, digestible, and
ranging daily to make sure variety within the menu. A high standard of hygiene is to be practiced
during the cooking and serving of the meal, together with transparency in accounts, which might
be open for public scrutiny.
Corruption: CAG's performance audit report of Mid Day meal found financial mismanagement
by the HRD ministry and that several state governments are found diversifying 123.39 crore INR
of the funds allocated. The report also highlighted that ISKCON, which supplied Mid Day meals
to 304 schools in two taluks of Bellary, used 1.04 lakh kg less rice than prescribed norms in
preparing Mid-Day meals. Moreover, while this scheme runs with the supply that mothers must
cook the food, many states did not adhere to those norms. According to guidelines issued by the
supreme court, meals should be provided daily on time, and each supply must reach every school
on time. Under this scheme, food supplies are diverted, supplies are halved, and a lot of wastage.
According to the report published by CAG, out of every 4.48 INR received towards midday meal
for each student, hardly 0.8INR is being utilized, whereas 3.38 INR is subjected to corruption.
Discrimination: Mid-Day meal scheme in Orissa, Rajasthan, M.P, and Karnataka is affected by
largescale caste and gender-based discrimination. In some places, the upper caste children refuse
to eat food cooked by SC/ST women. There has been an incident in M.P. where only ten students
out of 89 students ate in school. The remaining students refused to eat as S.T. women cooked the
food. In some places, the Dalit and backward classes students are made to sit down separately
from the others, and other states have reported incidents where food was reportedly thrown at the
Dalit students. The location had consequences for the attendance in the school by the S.C.
children. These children often face harassment while passing through the high caste localities,
which discourages them from attending school, adversely affecting their participation in the
Mid-Day meal scheme. In Karnataka, it is alleged that boys are served more than food allocated,
leading to girls getting less food than allocated. The scheme is meant to run as per the rules, and
it's also intended to use the chance to impart a spirit of equality among and sharing by children of
various social backgrounds.
Underutilisation of funds and Poor quality of grains: According to the CAG report, it has
been found that only 50% of total allocated funds were used. Out of 84.21 crores earmarked for
the scheme's management between 2009-14, only 42.24 crore INR was found to be utilized.
Total 2,012 samples of foodgrains were collected, out of which 1,876 samples failed to meet the
nutritional standards prescribed. Continous offenders are Assam, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Karnataka, Manipur, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, and [Link] identified 37
food grain providers who provided poor-quality foodgrains. Of this, 12 providers are frequent
offenders, but governments didn't take any action. They are fined and allowed to continue the
business.