Ensuring adequate budgetary provisions towards assistance for cooking cost and establishing systems for timely flow of funds towards all components of the program, namely cooking costs, infrastructure, procurement of kitchen devices, etc.

Context or scope of the problem

Policy Alternatives

o SMAART Approach to strengthen monitoring of Mid-Day meal program

Policy recommendations

Appendices

I. Mid-Day Meal Program

• Scheme Eligibility criteria (illustrated as a flow chart):
• In 1925, a Mid-Day Meal Program was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation.
• By mid 1980s, three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UT of Pondicherry had universalized a cooked Mid-Day Meal Program with their own resources for children studying at the primary stage.
• By 1990-91, the number of States implementing the mid-day meal program with their own resources on a universal or a large scale had increased to twelve states.
• On August 15 1995, The National Program of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme initially in 2408 blocks in the country.
• By the year 1997-98, the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country.
• In 2002, extended to cover not only children in classes I -V of Government, Government aided and local body schools, but also children studying in EGS and AIE centers.
• In October 2007, the scheme has been further revised to cover children in upper primary (classes VI to VIII) initially in 3479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBBs)

Scheme description

Central Government will provide the following assistance to State Governments/UT Administrations:
• Supply of free food grains (wheat/rice) @100 grams per child per School Day from the nearest FCI godown
• Transportation cost of food grains from nearest FCI godown to Primary School subject to the following ceiling:
o Rs.100 per Quintal for 11 special category States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, and
o Rs.75 per quintal for all other States and UTs
• Assistance for cooked Mid-Day Meal during summer vacations to schoolchildren in areas declared by State Governments as “drought-affected”.
• Cooking cost assistance at the following rates
o States in Northeastern Region: – @INR. 1.80 per child per school day, provided the State Govt. contributes a minimum of 20 paisa
o For Other States & UTs: – @INR. 1.50 per child per school day provided the State Govt. /UT Administration. Contributes a minimum of 50 paisa
• Provide assistance to construct kitchen-cum-store in a phased manner up to a maximum of INR. 60,000 per unit. States need to pursue convergence with other development programs for this purpose.
• Provide assistance for provisioning and replacement of kitchen devices at an average cost of INR. 5000 per school. Expenditures can be incurred on the items listed below;
o Cooking devices (Stove, Chulha, etc.)
o Containers for storage of food grains and other ingredients
o Utensils for cooking and serving.
• Management, Monitoring & Evaluation (MME) assistance to States/ UTs for at the rate of 1.8% of total assistance on;
o Free food grains
o Transport cost
o Cooking cost

The honorarium for cooks and helpers _____________________
• One cook- cum-helper for schools up to 25 students.
• Two cooks-cum-helpers for schools with 26 to 100 students.
• One additional cook-cum-helper for every addition of up to 100 students.

Implementation Plan

• Ensuring adequate budgetary provisions towards assistance for cooking cost and establishing systems for timely flow of funds towards all components of the program, namely cooking costs, infrastructure, procurement of kitchen devices, etc.
• Formulating State Norms of expenditure under the different components of the scheme, which will be not less than the minimum contribution prescribed under the scheme, as amended from time to time.
• Formulating safety specifications for construction of kitchen cum-store.
• Establishing systems for continuous and uninterrupted flow of food grains to all eligible schools, EGS/ AIE Centers from FCI.
• Formulating guidelines that would promote and facilitate peoples’ participation in the program including criteria for identifying and associating genuine voluntary agencies and civil society organizations.