PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

PROJECT SUBMISSION

CRITICISM OF MID DAY MEAL SCHEME

Submitted by

Jayant Sharma (PRN-17010223090)

B.A. LLB (2017-22)

Division- D

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

Symbiosis International (deemed University), PUNE

In

August, 2019

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Priyamvada Mishra

Assistant Professor
Abstract-
Literacy rate of children in India is marginally very low due to various reasons. Most scholars
and social scientists attempt to find out reason of low literacy. One of the core reasons was
malnutrition among underprivileged children. Government of India has implemented Midday
Meal Scheme in India, so they designed the Midday Meal Scheme for school to get better the
nutritional status of school-age children nationwide. The objective of this programme was to
give boost to universalization of primary education and to impact the nutritional intake of
students in primary classes. This paper wills analysis the criticism of Mid day meal scheme
and also talks about suggestions.

Introduction-

Over the last 15 years, India has posted un-precedent economic growth rates . Only
China has grown faster. India has emerged as one of the most important rising global
powers , but it also has one-third of the world’s undernourished children and one of
the highest rates of child under nutrition in the World. Under nutrition causes 35%
of under-5 child deaths, impairs learning outcomes, increases the likelihood of being
poor and is linked to illness or death during pregnancy. The future of India lies in
the health of her children. The latest Human Development Report shows that 47 per
cent children are underweight. Over 34 per cent of Indians live on less than Rs 40 a
day. The mid-day meal (MDM) scheme is thus a necessity. It is an investment the country
makes in the health of its children. The Mid Day Meal is the world’s largest school
feeding programme reaching out to about 12 crore children in over 12.65 lakhs
schools/EGS centres across the country. In response to this pressure, and to the court
orders, all state governments have initiated mid-day meal programmes. Today, with
more than 100 million children covered, India’s mid-day meal programme is by far
the largest nutrition programme in the world.

On 28 November 2001, the Supreme Court directed state governments to introduce

cooked mid-day meals in all government and government-assisted primary schools
within six months . This landmark order was one of the first achievements of the
right to food campaign. The order was followed by organised public pressure for the
introduction of cooked mid-day meals in primary schools, e.g. in the form of a
country-wide "day of action on mid-day meals" in April 2002. The quality of mid-day
meals, however, varies a great deal between different states. Some states, notably in
southern India, have reasonably good mid-day meal programmes . Others initially
introduced ramshackle mid-day meals on a shoestring budget, mainly to the Supreme
Court. The campaign focuses not only on the implementation of Supreme Court orders
but also on quality issues . The Mid-day Meal Programme promises to provide each child
one third of the daily nutrient requirement in the form of cooked meal to combat his/her food
and nutritional deficiencies. The Mid-day meal programme is the India’s second largest food
security programme. Many children reach school with an empty stomach in the morning,
since a good early morning breakfast is not a part of the household routine. Mid-day meal
could thus be a means for not only promoting school enrolment but also better learning in
schools.

Literature Review-

Policy initiatives in developing countries have long focused on improving the levels of
educational attainment and nutritional outcomes of its vulnerable population, specially
school-going children. Such policy interventions which promote catch-up growth could lead
to improvement in mental and physical well-being as well as a variety of other non-health
outcomes of these children (Behrman, 1996).
The existing literature on public transfers to children, school-feeding programmes
specifically, have focused on its impact on school participation, child health, educational
attainment and cognitive ability as well as reducing gender disparities among children.
School feeding programmes are likely to increase school enrolment and overall attendance of
primary school children. In a study conducted in Malawi by the World Food Programme
showed that a small, pilot, school feeding program over a three-month period led to a 5 %
increase in school enrolment rates and up to 36 % improvement in attendance.
He also observe that provision of mid-day meals increased enrolment of girls but not of boys
in primary schools. A school feeding program which involved provision of fortified wheat
biscuits to primary school children in chronically food insecure areas of Bangladesh by the
Government and WFP raised school enrolment by 14.2% (Ahmed, 2004). Similarly, Afridi
(2011) concludes that there is a large and significant increase in the attendance level and rates
of girls in lower grades and a positive, but insignificant impact on first grade boys and no
visible improvement in overall enrolment rates due to the provision of cooked mid-day meals
in the Chindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.

Ahmed's (2004) path-breaking study of the impact of the School Feeding programme in
Bangladesh on child nutrition showed a 4.3 % increase from the average BMI of primary
school children in control area. Afridi (2010) finds that for as low a cost as 3 cents per child
per school day, the Mid-day Meal scheme reduced the daily protein deficiency of a primary
school student by 100%, the calorie deficiency by almost 30% and the daily iron deficiency
by nearly 10 and evidences for its substantial effect on reducing hunger at school and protein-
energy malnutrition at least in the short run. However, Clay and Stokke (2000) consider food-
based interventions to have little measurable impact on nutritional status, morbidity or
mortality levels except in crisis situations as poor health status of children in developing
countries owe their due share to poor and inadequate access to safe drinking water,
immunization, health facilities, etc. as well. Early-childhood interventions have a significant
effect on long-term educational attainment and cognitive ability as well. The findings indicate
that targeting of school meals to undernourished children should achieve greater impact in
terms of improving children’s cognitive ability as nutritional status which influence learning
and educational attainment can be improved by school feeding programmes. Participation in
School Feeding program in Bangladesh reportedly increased test scores by 15.7 percent
points and interestingly, participating students do especially well in mathematics—they score
28.5 percent higher in mathematics than do their counterpart students in the control group
(Ahmed, 2004) . However, the lack of scientific rigour in measuring educational outcomes
and the relatively low influence on experimental conditions limit the evaluation of the Mid-
day Meal Scheme participants on their cognitive abilities. He also argue that mid-day meals
help to undermine caste prejudices, by teaching children to sit together and share a common
meal. They also foster gender equity, by reducing the gender gap in school participation,
providing an important source of female and Dalit employment in rural areas, and liberating
working women from the burden of having to feed their children at home during the day.

On 16 July 2013, 23 primary school children in the Gandamal school (Saran district,Bihar)
died after consuming an adulterated mid-day meal served at the school premises. Lack of
proper storage facility for the food supplies required for the preparation of Mid-day Meals,
poor implementation by the school authorities, negligence of private sector and NGO units in
preparation of mid-day meals and substandard nutritive quality of the cooked mid-day meal
have been major issues raised after the tragedy. (Express news desk)

Dead rats found in Mid-day Meal, 9 kids hospitalised in Capital city of India, which is Delhi.
Nine students of a government school in Delhi were hospitalized on Thursday after
consuming mid – day meal in which dead rats were alleged found. The incident took place
around 4 PM on Thursday at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Delhi.
“There was aloo puri on the menu today. While the food was being served, two rats found
their way into the sabzi given to some children from classes VI – VIII. Teachers found the
rats and raised an alarm. Some of these students began to feel sick and were eventually taken
to the hospital. (Express news desk).

Justification/Validation of topic-

The future of any nation depends upon the present of its children. Educated and healthy
children can build a strong and powerful nation. To achieve this twin objective of educated
and healthy children the government of India initiated a national program of nutritional
support to primary education known as mid-day meal scheme. This scheme was launched by
the Indian Government in August of 1995 to boost enrollment, retention, and attendance rate
of children, while also improving nutrition and health outcomes.

In 2001, the Supreme Court mandated that all public schools provide cooked meals. To
promote compliance, schools are required to publicly display information on the meals and to
expect periodic visits by State Government officials, and it is estimated that approximately 25
per cent of schools have been inspected (Government of India). However, analysis suggests a
high degree of non-compliance, as a large number of children in public schools did not
receive the meal. Nutrition and Health are pre-requisites for human resource development.
Our planners have been aware of these vital inputs it in article of the constitution. “The State
shall regard raising the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people and improvement
in public health among its primary duties.” Nutrition is directly linked to human resource
development, productivity and ultimately to the nation’s growth. Malnutrition on the other
hand is a complex phenomenon. It is both the cause and effect of poverty and ill health: and
follows a cyclical, inter-generational pattern. It is inextricably linked with illiteracy,
especially female illiteracy, lack of safe drinking water, sanitation, ignorance, lack of
awareness and ill health. It creates its own cycle within the large cycle of poverty.
Malnutrition adversely affects Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE). Even if a
malnourished child does attend school, he/she finds it difficult to concentrate on and
participate in the learning activities in school. Unable to cope, the child would very often
drop out of school. The MDMS was started with two major objectives firstly to enhance the
child’s nutrition level secondly to provide the basic education. Thus, the MDMS was
introduced basically to improve the overall development of the primary school children’s
education. Therefore, it has varied objectives like. To increase the nutritional level of the
school Government of Indian children, to enhanced the educational attainment of the
children, to retain the children in the school for a long period of time. To develop the process
of socialization, etc. Apart from the education, the nutritional aspects of MDMS have several
dimensions including elimination of classroom hunger, the growth of school children’s
health.

Criticism-
Mid-day Meal as a Credence Good

Food-products/ mid-day meals are also classified as credence goods, where quality of food in
terms of nutrition and safety is not known to consumers and often to producers, even long
after the consumption of the product. Thus, in the presence of imperfect and asymmetric
information, market institutions are likely to not deliver efficient outcomes in the case of
credence goods such as mid-day meal.
Thus, nutritional deficiencies in mid day meal and carcinogenic effects of mild
contaminations or adulteration of food grains and/or cooking oil would show up in the young
population with a lag of at least a few years. Hence, the poor implementation of the Mid-day
Meal Scheme in the so-called BIMARU states with poor emphasis on quality and safety
standards run the risk of stunted, underweight and wasted children as against its primary aim
of improving their nutritional levels. Potential hazards may arise as a result of furtive
replacement of high-quality food grains by the FCI with low-quality or adulterated foodgrains
by.unscrupulous.intermediaries.

Inefficient utilisation and poor infrastructure

The Annual Statement of allocation and off take of food grains under the Mid-day Meal
scheme throws light on consistent underutilisation of food grains with almost 4-5 lakh tonnes
of rice and wheat being wasted every year. This results in excess buffer stock of food grains
at the Food Corporation of India godowns where they are contaminated and eventually
wasted, resulting in invaluable losses. The delay in cash payments of food grains from the
Food Corporation of India to the respective schools are often a case of dispute between the
school authorities and FCI agents.
While official guidelines call for different committees and officers to monitor the scheme
periodically, checks are sporadic. This is in addition to the existence of poor drinking water
facilities, lack of proper storage facilities and delays in the payment of cooks/helpers,
inadequate availability of fuel wood and lunch plates. Also a cause of concern is the purchase
of vegetables, cooking oil and other inputs by the school authorities. Lack of quality
safeguards and tardy response to the 'Right to Food' concept has resulted in a meager
allocation of funds per child and a correspondingly low quality of food inputs. Presence of
toxins and hazardous chemicals like uric acid were observed in various samples of Mid-day
Meals prepared in a sample school in Ahmedabad.

Caste Discrimination in MDM

Racism seems to be a universal phenomenon that transcends geography and culture. Children
from SC and ST groups are made sit always from upper castes; in some cases, they were not
given food or they were served leftover food. Depict discrimination against SC and ST cooks
and throwing always food when cooked by women of these groups. All these and others
depict the hegemony of better of sections, and their continuous efforts to disable the policy
structures. Head Mistress of Disili primary school, Odisha, Madhusmita says “if Dam
(sweeper-ST) cooks the food, upper caste children and teachers never join the meal”.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Mutual Cooperation of MID DAY MEAL SCHEME through PPP

The MDM Scheme was initially confined to primary and elementary schools in the slum
areas or what we call “jhuggi-jhopri-hutment colonies” but with the arrival of supreme
court’s order on 28 November 2001 on the universal supply of cooked food in primary
schools and hence the local municipal departments of various states and the state government
took charge and amended the policy guidelines of National Programme of Nutritional
Support to Primary Education (NP-NPSE).

This order of Supreme Court led to the mutual cooperation of mid day meal scheme through
public-private partnership by entering into contract with various NGOs operating in the state.
In the mutal consent it was decided that MDMS will be extended to all the students enrolled
in primary and aided primary schools through the centralized kitchens operated by NGOs
(Non-Governmental Organizations).
For example, in the Delhi NCR, the NDMC has allocated 20,000 students to the ISKON Food
Relief Foundation and 10,000 students to Manjeet caterers. The Department of Education has
agreement with 17 NGOs to supply cooked food under the MDMS to around 1,49,000
students in its primary and upper primary schools currently.

MID DAY MEAL SCHEME and Education

Education plays a vital and important role in fulfilling the basic need of a common man.
Education is a process through which a child is made capable to acquire skills to face the
challenges in life to survive and to make a struggle for existence. Four important factors are
identified for achieving the goal of education for all. These are access to education,
Enrolment of children, Retention of the enrolled children and Achievement.

Government of India keeps on launching various schemes that were implemented in the
primary education sector to reach the portion of population that is most disadvantaged and
needed to be strengthen. For Education for all, Government introduced flagship programme
of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. However despite that, a few children are still deprived of Primary
Education due to inability of their parents to send their kids to school, as if they send their
children to school , they incur extra financial burden, which their children would have cure
by doing labour. So make forceful appeal to their parents to let their children in schools,
government introduce the pittance for students who has more than 85% of attendance. This
scheme fulfill Enrolment of children objective. Now as a sign of incentive for students to
come school regularly, Government Launched a scheme of National Programme of
nutritional support to primary education also known as Mid-Day-Meal Programme. Under
this scheme, students of primary classes were to be provided Nutritious Meal for one time.

In MDM programme, a total of 11crore students are benefited. This scheme is grand success.
There are two sides of every coin. There is lot of improvement to be done in this scheme.

Build Teacher-Student Relationship

The teachers of the schools interviewed claimed that the school meals had an effect on the
school attendance. Some younger siblings of the children were being “sent to the school for
having meals.” The teacher in three schools said that the mid-day meals scheme not only
boosted daily attendance among his students, but also helped to keep them in class for the
duration of the school day. The teachers said that student attendance had increased noticeably
following the introduction of the mid-day meals because "the meals we provided here were
so much better than what the children were getting at home." One teacher told us that some of
the students were also attending the school just for having mid-day meals and returned home
after having them. Teachers in five out of eleven schools also reported a surge in daily
attendance, which all of them attributed mainly to the school meal program.

Teachers in all schools said that the children’s academic performance had improved because
they no longer got hungry during the school day. This time there was delay in delivery of new
supplies even then the schools had enough food grains in storage to provide meals for three-
four days. The students were never asked to help the cook with food preparation, and the
meal programme was not burdensome for the instructors or disruptive to teaching and
learning activities. The firewood was sometimes taken from the adjoining areas and
community members also contributed it sometimes.

Conclusion-

The Mid-day Meal Scheme, a flagship programme of the Government of India aimed at
improving educational attainment and alleviating classroom hunger among primary school
students enrolled in Government, local body or Government-aided schools. Its role in
materialising the 'Right to Food' has been significant owing to its ability to diminish
classroom hunger, reduce gender disparities and improve educational attainment. The
existence of an 'intra-household flypaper effect' ensured benefits accruing to proper targeting
but major revamps are necessary to realise its full potential.
Following the Bihar Tragedy and its nature of Mid-day meals as a credence good, this study
proposed quality infrastructure, varied school menu and efficient monitoring of cash
payments, food grain offtake, utilisation etc. by the Steering committees to maximise the
nutritional benefit to students. Realising the potential of Mid-day Meal Schemes in mitigating
malnutrition across South Asia, this paper also analysed the MDM scheme in a South Asian
perspective and recommends strong interregional trade and cooperation including the
SAARC Food Bank to ensure food and nutritional security along with self-sufficiency in
staple foods.
The present study was limited by the lack of accurate data on the Mid-day Meal scheme's
nutritional benefits and hopes that new research shall validate the above findings. However,
universalisation of primary education and combating malnutrition continue to be the two
daunting challenges before South Asian economies and this paper unanimously concludes
that there is an urgent need to improve nutritional security of primary school children and a
successful revamp of the Mid-day Meal Scheme is the panacea to meeting the above
Millennium.Development.Goals.

Thus we can conclude that mid-day meal programme (MDM) has had a positive impact in
some selective cases (e.g., enhancing enrolment, attendance and lowering retention and drop
out of students) which are essential for achieving the higher level of academic performance of
students particularly belongs to BPL level students residing in the rural areas of upper
primary schools. Furthermore, mid-day meal program has some other benefits like removal of
classroom hunger, social and gender equality and formation of good habits of students (like
washing their own hands and utensils before meal ) other than academic achievement in
school. But in order to get satisfactory outcomes, mid-day meal program should be
incorporated with the ongoing health awareness programs of Government.
Bibliography-
Articles-
1. Behrman, J.R., 1996. “The Impact of Health and Nutrition on Education.” World Bank
Research Observer, 11(1), pp. 23-37.

2. Afridi, F., 2011. The impact of school meals on school participation: evidence from rural
India. Journal of Development Studies, 47(11), pp.1636-1656.

3. Ahmed, A.U., 2004. Impact of feeding children in school: Evidence from Bangladesh.
Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

4. Afridi, F., 2010. Child welfare programs and child nutrition: Evidence from a mandated school
meal program in India. Journal of development Economics, 92(2), pp.152-165.

5. Express News Desk, 2016. Bihar Mid Day Meal tragedy: Everything you need to know. Indian
Express

6. Express News Desk, 2017. Dead rats found in Mid-day Meal, 9 kids hospitalised in Delhi.
Indian Express