No school in the world can attract a child with an empty stomach. Over the years, our educational planners and administrators have missed this crucial point while announcing time-bound schemes to eradicate illiteracy. The latest project — the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) — seeks to ensure that every child in the 6-14 age group is either in a school, education guarantee centre or a 'back to school camp,' by 2003. From recent experience, it is obvious that the scheme can survive and succeed only if it acknowledges and gives due weight to the inextricable link between pangs of hunger and a desire to learn. The positive, though patchy, impact of the mid-day meal scheme proves the point. The mid-day meal scheme has managed to arrest dropouts from and attract new kids to school. But its value has been undermined by shoddy implementation. - HARD LESSON TO DIGEST, Sunday Observer, 02/04/2000, /eldoc/n21_/02apr01so1.pdf

That midday meal improves the participation of children in schools and that it improves the nutritional standards and health of the children are well known and that it produces a variety of externalities in term of equity. Hence it is indeed a welcome measure that while according to the current scheme a meal is provided only to primary school children, and at best in some cases it is extended to upper primary school children, the CMP promises to provide it to primary and secondary school children. In recent years the allocations to the midday meal scheme have not been in consonance with the increasing enrolment. From 1998-99 onwards, in particular, the number of children covered by the scheme marginally increased; but the allocation of re-sources has declined quite steeply (even in current prices). The number of children covered by the scheme increased from approximately three crores in 1995-96 to about 10 crores in 2002-03; but the allocation has declined from about Rs 1,600 crore in 1998-99 to less than Rs 10 crore in 2002-03, indicating the non-seriousness of the government.   - Education in the UPA Government Common Minimum Programme, JANDHYALA B G TILAK, Economic & Political Weekly, 23/10/2004, /eldoc/n00_/231004EPW4717.pdf

‘‘We’re told that chairs are on the way,’’ says Ambika, who has a touching faith in government schemes. ‘‘They work,’’ she smiles, giving you the example of the all-new mid-day meals under SSA.This, however, is one scheme Ambika and her colleagues find hard to digest. ‘‘It’s a big drain on our time and patience,’’ Ambika pulls a face, describing interminable afternoons spent serving pulao or khichdi to unwilling children, many of whom prefer to bring their own tuck boxes.

Interestingly, here, too, woman power has come to the rescue. Take the case of the Kathleeghat school, where the local mahila mandal has pitched in with utensils and a local maid who cooks the food for a paltry Rs 100 a month.

NONETHLESS, the teachers were present in full strength at all the schools this team visited, though almost everywhere they rued their low numbers. You may think three teachers for 11 students at Kathleeghat is on the higher side, but they let you know that it isn’t a cakewalk, for they have to teach classes I through V.Most teachers felt they would be able to teach better if the government were to allot one class to a teacher. And this, they contend, can be possible if the government were to combine a couple of schools instead of opening new ones. Frequent transfers once every three years are also a grouse.- Class Palace, Manraj Grewal, Indian Express, 30/01/2005, N20 /eldoc/n20_/30jan05IE1.html

The mid-day meal, meant to be a major incentive for retaining prima-ry school children, is still not properly distributed especially in the far flung areas. For example, in G-block Sultanpuri MCD school, mid-day meal was distributed on just four days in October. In adjacent F-block school, the mid-day meal was distributed on just nine days in October and eleven days in August. The importance of mid-day meal in retaining school students is reflected in the remark made by Pradeep Kumar, a school teacher of B-l Sultanpuri primary school. "The students inquire before classes start whether biscuits will be distributed that day. If the answer is 'no,' most of them don't turn up," the school teacher said.- PRIMARY LESSONS FOR MCD SCHOOLS, ARUNA P SHARMA, Hindustan Times, 05/11/2000, /eldoc/n21_/05nov00ht1.pdf

Asked about the extension of the midday meal scheme to Class X, Mr. Reddy ( the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, R. Ramalinga Reddy. At a press conference ) said the proposal is before the Government. An additional Rs. 70 crores will be required to cover 17 lakh students of both government and aided high schools under the scheme.There are no kitchens for the midday meal scheme in 18,000 government schools. The Minister sought permission from the Government to utilise Rs. 67 crores reimbursed by the Centre for implementation of the midday meal programme this year. The amount will be utilised for construction of kitchens in the next financial year.- Many government schools lack drinking water, Hindu, 03/03/2005, /eldoc/n21_/03mar05H1.html

Midday Meal Scheme

The estimates committee of the Maharashtra legislative assembly has unearthed a nexus between unscrupulous government officials and contractors which de-prives school students of their nutrition under the Centrally-sponsored Midday Meal Scheme (MMS).
The committee's report, which laid the large-scale fraud thread-bare, was submitted to the House during the recently concluded bud-get session by the committee's chairman Prasad Tanpure. The report said, "The committee sadly notes how a socially relevant scheme has been moth-eaten by corruption and fraud, thereby wasting state and Central fundings." The MMS supplies superfine variety rice worth around Rs 300 crore to Maharashtra along with a grant of Rs 50 per quintal for transportation of the rice to schools across the state. Launched in 1995-96 by the Centre to reduce the number of school dropouts, students from the 1st to 5th standards and having 80 per cent attendance is entitled to receive three kg of rice per month under the scheme. It is applicable to schools run by the government, local bodies and aided institutions. However, the committee's finding has shown that most students were unable to obtain additional nutrition since the rice meant for them vanished midway. The committee recorded its shock when it was told by the civil  supplies department and the school  education department "that no de-tailed information about the frauds committed in 1996-97,1997-98 and  1998-99 were available.
...Describing another case, the committee said the president of Pune zilla parishad had complained in writing to the Pune district col-lector about the fact that rice allo-cated under the scheme was found to be full of rat droppings, glass fragments and stones.- Panel says nexus between officials and contractors eats away meal scheme, Dilip Chaware, Times of India, 28/04/2001, /eldoc/n21_/28apr01toi1.pdf

Complaints of misuse of funds and material in such programmes meant for the poor and underprivileged are not uncommon. But an uncaring and callously heartless attitude towards the health of children is much more baffling and perplexing if the reports which seek to link the illness of school children and the quality of food or the shoddy manner of implementation were to bear scrutiny. The need for legislative vigil and official alertness in avoiding such grave pitfalls would become all the more crucial. - Food for serious thought : Midday meal problems, N C Gundu Rao, Deccan Herald, 08/07/2003, /eldoc/n21_/08jul03dch2.htm

- Five years to cook food, as two lakh students wait, Statesman, 17/03/2003, /eldoc/Education/170303.pdf
- 1,200 Pondy school students taken ill, S Nadarajan, Hindu, 06/09/2002, /eldoc/Education/060902.pdf
- UP teachers find SC order on meal for students unpalatable, Manjari Mishra, Times of India, 02/09/2002, /eldoc/Education/020902.pdf
 - Stocks run out in Orissa kids miss mid-day meal, Subrata Nagchoudhry, Indian Express,  /eldoc/n21_/05sep01ie1.pdf

- UNTOUCHABLE LUNCH?, PARVATHI MENON, Frontline, 01/08/2003, /eldoc/f46_/01aug03frn15.htm