Mid-day meal fiasco: Mismanagement feeds into key programme

Govt officials agree the formal norms are often ignored, in both implementation and monitoring; resources a big issue

The future of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM), instrumental in the success of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan by bringing children to school, looks threatened. First, 25 students died in Chhapra, Bihar, after eating a contaminated meal served in their government school; public anger against MDM is high in the state and angry parents are demanding its scrapping. And, in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, 105 girls fell ill after having an MDM.

This is a central government-funded (predominantly) scheme, feeding an estimated 106.8 million children daily in 1.21 million schools across the country. And, it is ironic that a scheme which formally lists ‘community participation’ as “key to the successful implementation” is now being perceived suspiciously.

The tragedy in Bihar on Tuesday took place in a makeshift kitchen of a state government school that was functioning in a community hall, where the kitchen was being operated by school authorities.

While 90 per cent of the children under this scheme are fed through school- based kitchens, the rest are catered to by non-government organisations (NGOs) and trusts. Some of these trusts that have contracts in several states include the Bangalore-based Akshaya Patra, the Hyderabad-based Naandi Foundation, and the Delhi-based Ekta Shakti Foundation.

Govt speak
A senior central government official who did not wish to be named explained that in the guidelines, NGOs are barred from serving meals in rural areas. Hot cooked meals are to be prepared in school kitchens through self-help groups or locals employed by school management committees (SMCs). It is only in urban areas where space is a constraint that outside NGOs can be roped in.

“But we find that state governments, which are responsible for implementing the scheme, are increasingly giving out contracts to NGOs. Employing of contractors is a 100 per cent violation of the MDM guidelines, especially in rural areas,” said the official.  

The UP government has contracted the job of serving MDMs both in rural and urban areas in the districts of Lucknow, Kannauj, Varanasi and Mathura to the Akshaya Patra Foundation. More than half the schools that serve MDMs in Gujarat and Rajasthan are served by the Naandi Foundation and Akshaya Patra.  

The Union human resource development ministry has announced a monitoring committee to look into the quality of food supplied. As the official explains, the reason behind better implementation of the scheme in southern states, for instance, is large-scale community participation. “Parents and village elders through SMCs should be periodically testing and monitoring the quality of food being served, cooked, checking on hygienic conditions, etc.” In most states, the periodic reviews that are mandatory seldom take place. That apart, the government and the central monitoring mechanisms have also been lax. Repeated incidents of children falling ill due to dead rats, lizards in the meals, etc, have been reported with alarming frequency across the country, with no reaction from the authorities.

The situation in the national capital, Delhi, isn’t much better. According to a recent study, 83 per cent of samples collected from MDMs in Delhi schools in 2012-13 were found deficient in calorie and nutrition value.

At present, both the Centre and the state chip in with funds in the ratio of 75:25. While Rs 3.49 is allocated for each child’s meal in a day in primary classes, it is Rs 5 for upper primary children.

Though inadequate, they’re a vast improvement from the Rs 1.68 a head for each meal paid as late as 2009 for feeding children in the primary classes.  

 
NGO speak
Ekta Shakti Foundation which provides Mid Day Meals in 250 schools in Delhi and in across 1300 schools in Bihar rejects the government claim of providing adequate funding. The NGO is head byAnil Aggarwal of Aggarwal’s and now Shree Maakhan brand.

Patanjali Shukla  from the Foundation says, “We get about only 50% of the costs that we incur per meal per child. We spend about 7 rupees as pulses, refined oil cannot be met through the government’s three rupees. We have centralized kitchens and the rest of the costs we have bear on our own.”   Other NGOs seek donations to meet the shortfall.

Ekta Foundation states that unable to contend with the public anger in Bihar where MDM is being seen as “poison food” the NGO is on the verge of pulling out from four districts of Begusarai, Gaya, Vaishali, Nalanda and Patna.     

The tragedy that occurred in Bihar on Tuesday took place in a makeshift kitchen of thye state government school that was functioning in a community hall where the kitchen was being operated by school authorities.