Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Objectives and Features

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• About Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• Objectives of Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• Features of Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• Calorie Intake for Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• Implementation and Funding for Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• PM POSHAN Scheme
• About NAFED
• News Summary

 

Why in News?

• The Union Ministry of Education has written to State governments to procure pulses (chana dal) for the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) from NAFED.

 

About Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was started in India on 15^th August 1995 as ‘National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE)’.
• It was renamed as ‘National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools’ in October 2007, also known as the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme.
• Under the scheme, hot cooked meal per day is provided to all children (studying in Class I to VIII) enrolled in government schools, local body schools, government-aided schools, special training centres (STC), maktabs and madrasas supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

 

Objectives of Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• To increase the enrolment in the schools of the children who belong to disadvantaged sections of the society.
• To increase the attendance of the children in government and government-aided schools.
• To retain the children studying in class I to VIII.
• To give nutritional support to the children studying in the elementary stage, especially in the drought-affected areas.

·   To address hunger and malnutrition and improve socialisation among castes.

 

Features of Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• Every school should have a hygienic cooking infrastructure for hygienically cooked mid-day meals.
• The mid-day meals are to be served only on the school premises on all working days of the school.
• The headmaster or headmistress is entitled to utilise the school funds on account of mid-day meal fund exhaustion.
• Quality items with AGMARK are procured for cooking the mid-day meals in the schools.
  • AGMARK is a certification mark employed on agricultural products in India, assuring that they conform to a set of standards approved by the Ministry of Agricultural & Farmers Welfare.
• Two or three adult members taste the cooked meals from the school management committee.
• The Food and Drugs Administration Department of the State can collect samples for ensuring the quality and nutritional value of the meals.
• Food allowance is provided to the children when the cooked meals cannot be provided because of unforeseen circumstances in the following manner:
  • Quantity of the food grains according to the entitlement of a child, and

o   Cooking cost prevailing in the respective state.

 

Calorie Intake for Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• The calories intake prescribed per child per school day is as follows:

Image Caption: Calorie Intake

 

Implementation and Funding for Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• Each State/UT has to set up State Steering-cum Monitoring Committees (SSMCs) at the State, District and Block level to oversee the implementation of this scheme, including establishing a mechanism to maintain the quality and nutritional standards of the meals.
• This is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
  • Hence, the cost is shared between the Centre (60%) and States (40%).
• Nodal Ministry –  Ministry of Education

 

PM POSHAN Scheme

• In September 2021, Mid-Day Meal Scheme was renamed as Pradhan Mantri POSHAN Scheme.
• Major Changes introduced to the scheme are –
  • The scheme is proposed to be extended to students studying in pre-primary or Bal Vatikas of Government and Government-aided primary schools in addition to all the 11.80 crore children from elementary classes covered under the Mid-Day Meal scheme.
  • The concept of ‘TithiBhojan’ will be encouraged extensively.
    • TithiBhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals.
  • Government is promoting development of School Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first-hand experience with nature and gardening.
    • The harvest of these gardens will be used in the scheme to provide additional micro nutrients.
  • Social Audit of the scheme is made mandatory in all the districts.
  • Special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of Anemia.
  • Cooking competitions will be encouraged at all levels right from village level to national level to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus based on locally available ingredients and vegetables.
  • Involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme will be encouraged.
  • Use of locally grown traditional food items for a fillip to local economic growth will be encouraged.
  • Field visits for progress monitoring and inspections will be facilitated for students of eminent Universities/Institutions.

 

About NAFED

• National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) was established on the auspicious day of Gandhi Jayanti on 2^nd October 1958.
• It is registered under the Multi State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002.
• NAFED is now one of the largest procurement as well as marketing agencies for agricultural products in India.
• Objectives –
  • To facilitate, coordinate and promote the marketing and trading activities of the cooperative institutions, partners and associates in agricultural, other commodities, articles and goods;
  • To undertake purchase, sale and supply of agricultural, marketing and processing requisites, such as manure, seeds, fertilizer, agricultural implements and machinery, etc.;
  • To act as warehouseman under the Warehousing Act and own and construct its own godowns and cold storages;
• Agricultural farmers are the main members of NAFED, who have the authority to say in the form of members of the General Body in the working of NAFED.

 

News Summary

• The Union Ministry of Education has written to State governments to procure pulses (chana dal) for the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) from NAFED.
• However, major states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal has rejected the Union Ministry’s recommendation.
• West Bengal government has argued that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the chana supplied by NAFED was of extremely inferior quality, mixed with dust and gravel.
• Uttar Pradesh government has argued that the state has plenty of local supply and hence in need to procure pulses from NAFED.

 

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Q1)  Which states are the biggest producer of Pulses in India?

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka are the top-producing states of pulses in India.

 

Q2) What is Balvatika Programme?

The Balvatika programme is envisaged as a one-year programme before Grade 1 which is meant to prepare children with cognitive and linguistic Competencies that are prerequisites for learning to read, write and develop number sense through a play-based approach.

 

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Source: Buy mid-day meal pulses from Nafed, Centre tells states; UP, Bengal say no | NAFED