Centre to transfer Mid-day meal cooking cost directly to students' accounts

The one-time Covid relief transfer will cost Rs 1,200 crore; activists say amount too meagre

The Centre has decided to transfer its share of the cooking cost component in the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme for students of classes 1 to 8 directly into their bank accounts as a one-time Covid relief.

This has been done as several governments run and government aided schools across the country are closed due to the pandemic for the last several months which has denied the children their daily hot-cooked meals as provided under the MDM scheme.

“This decision will help safeguard the nutritional levels of children and aid in protecting their immunity during the challenging pandemic times,” an official