Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary

Research Studies and Development May - Jun 2022

IMPACT AND CHALLENGES OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME IN INDIA

Dr. Ramesh J Patil

Assistance Professor, Department of Commerce, Nagpur.
Abstract
Two of the most pressing problems among India's underprivileged are food and education. People
with little financial means have fewer nutritional alternatives and are less likely to attend formal
schooling. Children from low-income families, who represent India's future, lack access to these
two fundamental requirements. As a result, the Indian government created the MDMS (midday
meal plan) to encourage education and supply children with needed nutrients. The "National
Program of Nutritional Support to Primary Education" is the initiative's official name. The purpose
of this study is to look into the numerous concerns and obstacles that the MDM system poses in
the classroom. In order to acquire a detailed picture of India's midday meal programme, the
researcher did a thorough search based on keywords in several academic journal databases and
distinct papers released recently. MDMS' long-term objective, according to the study, is to address
India's hidden malnutrition problem through targeted treatments. Despite the program's success,
child hunger continues to be a major problem in the country. The government should remove the
loopholes in the mid-day meal programme so that future generations' lives are not sacrificed to
appease the avarice of a few.
Keywords: Food, Education, Midday Meal Scheme, Primary Schools, Government.

► Correspondence Author: Dr. Ramesh J Patil

Introduction
Two of the most pressing problems among India's underprivileged are food and education. People
with little financial resources have fewer nutritional alternatives and are less likely to enrol in
school. Children from low-income families, who represent India's future, lack access to these two
fundamental requirements. As a response, the Indian government created the MDM Scheme to
encourage education while also providing children with needed nourishment. The initiative's
official name is the “National Program of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NPNSPE)”.
The “National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (commonly known as the
Mid-Day Meal Scheme)” was launched in 15th Aug. 1995 by government of India, to offer a
midday meal to primary school student. In 2002, the Supreme Court mandated that prepared
Midday Meals be served in all government schools (rather than dry rations). Midday meal scheme
is one of the world largest MDMS in school, with 11 crore kids in 12 lakh Indian schools
participating. The MDMS is implemented jointly by state and central government. The expense of
the Midday Meal Scheme is split between the start and central governments, with the 25% of
expenses will bear by state government and 75% cost will be bear by central government.
The key objectives of launching the Children's Midday Meal Program are as follows: –
• To increase the number of children attending school.
• To ensure that children are retained in classes and that their participation in courses is maintained;
• To improve children's nutritional status, and so on.
• To battle malnutrition and hunger, as well as to improve caste socialisation

Objectives of the study

The study's goal is to look into the following points.

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Research Studies and Development May - Jun 2022

1. Determine the impact of the school lunch programme on children.

2. To learn about the many issues that the MDMS in India faces.
3. To present a detailed picture of India's MDMS.

Research methodology
To acquire a thorough picture of India's midday meal programme, the researcher did an exhaustive
search based on keywords in several academic journal databases and distinct publications released
recently. The researcher offered a comprehensive image of the MDMS in India after performing
an extensive examination of diverse literature from chosen articles and publications.

An Overview on Midday Meal Scheme In India

The school meal programme in India has a long history. In 1925, the Madras Municipal
Corporation began a Midday Meal Program for poor children. In 1980, the states of Gujarat,
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Pondicherry used their resources to implement a
prepared Midday Meal Program for primary school kids. With their assistance, twelve states were
able to implement the midday meal programme on a large or universal scale by 1990-91.
The "National Nutritional Support Program for Primary Education (NP-NSPE)" was established
on August 15, 1995 as a centrally funded plan with 2408 blocks. The NP-NSPE had been deployed
in all national syndications by 1997-98. The Education Protection System (EPS) and Alternative
and Innovative Education (AIE) programmes were expanded in 2002 to include students in
government grades I to V, state-aided schools, and schools and children from local government
and institutions. The scheme provided each kid with 100 grammes of free food every day at school,
as well as a subsidy of up to Rs 50 per child for food grain transportation.
The plan was amended in September 2004, “To give a prepared midday meal of 300 calories and
8-12 grammes of protein to all students in grades I – V in government and aided schools, as well
as EGS/AIE centres”.
In 2007, "the plan was again amended to include kids in the upper primary school in 3479
educationally backward blocks" (class VI to VIII). This extension of the system reached around
1.7 primary school pupils. The effort has included all school students who have studied in
governmental, municipal, and governmental elementary and secondary schools, as well as
EGS/AIE centres in every area of the country, including Madarsa and Maqtabs funded by Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, from 2008/09, i.e. 1 April 2008. (SSA). The caloric composition of the midday
meal in primary schools was set at a minimum of 700 calories and 20 grammes of protein per kid
every day at school, with 150 grammes of cereal grains (rice/whatever)."In 2009, major
modification was done in midday meal scheme to implement the scheme in more proactive manner
in all school running under government.
Some major decision was taken to increase the standard of food in midday meal to ensure nutritious
and balanced diet per student the amount of standard food material was increased i.e vegetable 65
gm to 70 gm, dal / pulses 25gm to 30 gm but they lowering the supply of oil from 10-7.5 gm,
The payment for cooks and assistants was fixed Rs.0.40 per kid per day labour and other
administrative expenses included in the cooking costs. In many situations, the honorarium was so
low that finding work to prepare the meal made it extremely difficult. From December 1, 2009, a
supplementary provision was made to pay Rs-1000 for each cook-cum-helper in the MDMS. The
cook-cum-helper is paid an honorarium at the amount mentioned above. However, several states
pay more than Rs.1000/- as an honorarium to cook-cum-assistants through their state funds.

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Significant Achievements of Midday Meal Program

Several studies can help, increasing student participation, increasing socioeconomic equality, and
improving gender parity. The majority of the children and parents liked the MDMs' installation.
MDMS contributes to improving the educational and health status of kids in rural areas.
According to “Professor Amartya Sen's Pratichi Research Team in West Bengal, the mid-day meal
has enhanced school enrollment and attendance. In females and children in the SC/ST categories,
the increase has been faster”.
The “PROBE (Public Report on Basic Education) Report” found that “84 per cent of families
stated that their children receive a prepared mid-day meal in school and that youngsters enjoy a
diverse menu”.
In schools, good habits such as hand cleaning before and after meals are instilled.
MDM has had a critical role to reduce the dropout rate of girl students, according to the “National
Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development Indore's”, MDMS in Madhya Pradesh.
Children's academic achievement has also improved. The plan has made a substantial contribution
to achieving social justice for all members of society.
The Centre for Environment and Food Security performed a “performance evaluation on food
security initiatives in Orissa and Uttar Pradesh in 2011. In comparison to Uttar Pradesh, MDM's
performance is better in Orissa. 86.7 per cent of Orissa students fell into the second-best category
of MDM, whereas 51.8 per cent of children in Uttar Pradesh had a regular but insufficient and
inadequate lunch at school”.
According to research performed, “Mid-Day Meals has created a platform for students from a
variety of social and economic backgrounds to have meals together, making social fairness simpler
to attain. Instructors and students have also reported that the programme has forced them to spend
their attention on tasks related to it rather than teaching and learning activities, resulting in lost
study time”.

Midday Meal Program : Challenges

The Midday Meal Program was approved by the Supreme Court in 2002. Many Indian
governments have accepted it, and as a result, pupils attending state-run or state-assisted schools
are entitled to free meals. The noon meal programme serves almost 120 million kids across the
country, ensuring that each student receives nutritional meals. Despite the fact that the noon meal
programme is a fantastic programme, it has certain obstacles in terms of execution and food
quality.
Some of the most serious issues with the Mid-Day Meal Program are listed below.
The government is just interested in statistics, such as how many schools it can cover and feed.
They are careless about the quality of MDMS meals. Political parties that use MDMS for political
advantage place a lower priority on understanding the ground realities of MDMS food quality in
country schools (in backward region). They never check to see if the programme is working well
or if the children who are intended to consume it are pleased or dissatisfied.
The majority of students who attend village government schools are impoverished, in some cases
midday meal is the only meal for some student those are coming from very poor family
background. In some rural area schools no one there to check the quality of food which is serving
to students in school. The callous attitude may be observed in this case in Bihar, when 23 children
died on July 16, 2013, after eating their midday meal. According to the forensic results, it was a
poisoning case since the oil used for cooking had previously been used to store pesticides. There
have been several unreported incidents of diarrhoea and poor health among students who ate this

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lunch. As a result, parents and children concerned about their safety have refused to eat these noon
meals. The MDMS standards stipulate that the meal is of excellent quality and healthy, delicious,
and digestible and that it should change from day to day to guarantee menu diversity. During the
preparation and presentation of the meal, high standards of sanitation and cleanliness are required,
and openness in accounting would be available to public scrutiny.
The CAG's Mid Day Meal performance audit report 2015 showed financial mismanagement on
the part of the HRD ministry and that states diverted cash worth 123.29 crores earmarked for the
plan. In Karnataka, “ISKCON, which provided Mid Day Meals to students in 304 schools in two
taluks of Bellary district, used 1.04 lakh kg less rice than the permitted requirements in cooking
MDM” as per audit. The standards also state that the lunch should be served every day consistently
and that all supplies should be delivered on time to each school. Food supplies are redirected,
supplies are reduced, waste due to miss management and corruption.
In Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh, the flagship Mid Day Meal Scheme are
plagued by widespread caste and gender prejudice. As evidenced by the recent event in Madhya
Pradesh. In some areas, higher caste student decline to consume food prepared by SC/ST women.
The MDMS is meant to function in accordance with the guidelines to treat each students equally.
It is also anticipated to take advantage of the chance to instil a sense of equality and sharing among
youngsters from all social backgrounds.
The researchers performed a survey in a university study named Midday Meals Discrimination
Caste (MDM). The survey showed that although 99 per cent of schools have MDMS facilities, and
97% supply prepared meals on most days, food is given just around 11 per cent of communities,
while in 2 per cent, it is exceedingly rare. 38 per cent of the instances did not follow the specified
menu, and food quality was reported to be poor. The site has additional repercussions for SC
children attending school because they often encounter harassment when travelling towns that
prevent them from taking part in school, negatively affecting their participation in the MDMS.

Conclusion
The Mid-Day Meal Program was established in 1995 to provide free lunches to 12 million pupils
in elementary and high schools. The plan's purpose is to reduce hunger and improve education
while also improving nutritional status and increasing child participation and retention rates.
Despite the efforts, the method failed to provide the desired outcome. The effort seeks to protect
children in classrooms from hunger, boost school enrolment and attendance, and improve kid
sociability. The MDMS' long-term objective is to deploy targeted treatments to alleviate India's
hidden malnutrition problem. Despite the program's success, child hunger continues to be a severe
problem in the country. The government should remove the loopholes in the mid-day meal
programme so that future generations' lives are not sacrificed to appease the avarice of a few. The
mid-day meal programme has a lot of potential, which can be realised with more important center-
state coordination and oversight of the Scheme's implementation.

Reference
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(2007). Mid Day Meal Scheme: Understanding Critical Issues with Reference to Ahmedabad City.

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