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Mid-Day-Meal (MDM) Scheme

Context: Government to provide Monetary Assistance through DBT under MDM Scheme.

Details

• The Union Minister for Education has approved the proposal to provide monetary assistance to 11.8 Crore students through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of the cooking cost component of the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, to all eligible children, as a special welfare measure.
• Schools have been closed because of the pandemic and the resultant lockdowns imposed. This has affected the nutritional intake of many students from poor economic backgrounds who depended on the mid-day meal provided to them in their schools for food and nutrition.
• This scheme had also kept many school children from dropping out.
• The current measure to provide monetary assistance is a one-time welfare measure for children studying in classes I to VIII in about 11.20 lakh government and government-aided schools across India.
• The Central Government will provide additional funds of about Rs 1200 crore to State Governments and UT Administrations for this purpose.

Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)

Mid Day Meal Scheme was started in India from 15th August 1995 under the name of ‘National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE)’. In October 2007, NP-NSPE was renamed as ‘National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools,’ which is popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Recently, the Vice President of India has proposed the inclusion of milk in mid-day meals of children. Hence, it is important to know the importance of the scheme for the IAS Exam.

What is a mid-day meal?
It is one meal that is provided to all children enrolled in government schools, government-aided schools, local body schools, special training centres (STC), madrasas and maktabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

What is the objective of MDMS?
The main objectives of the MDM scheme are:

1. To increase the enrolment of the children belonging to disadvantaged sections in the schools.
2. Leading enrolment to increased attendance in the schools.
3. To retain children studying in classes 1-8.
4. To provide nutritional support to the children of the elementary stage in drought-affected areas.

Salient Features of Midday Meal Scheme

• It is the world’s largest school meal programme aimed to attain the goal of universalization of primary education.
• The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) is the authorized body to implement the scheme.
• It is a centrally sponsored scheme hence cost is shared between the centre and the states. (Centre’s share – 60 percent.)
• Tamil Nadu is the first state to implement the midday meal scheme.
• In 2001, MDMS became a cooked midday meal scheme under which each eligible child was provided with a prepared midday meal for a minimum of 200 days:
  • Energy intake – 300 calories
  • Protein intake – 8 to 12 grams
• Till 2002, the scheme was only designed for government, government-aided and local body schools. Later, children studying in Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE) centres too were included under the scheme.
• In 2004, MDMS was revised:
  • Central assistance provided for cooking cost
  • Transport subsidy included for all states (Max. of Rs 100 per quintal for special category states and Rs. 75 per quintal for other states.)
  • Management, monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.
  • Provision to serve midday meals during summer vacation to the children of drought-affected areas was also added.
• In 2006, the MDMS was again revised:
  • Cooking cost was enhanced to Rs 1.80 per child/school day for States in the North Eastern Region and Rs 1.50 per child/school day for other States and UTs.
  • Nutritional norm was revised – Energy intake was increased from 300 calories to 450 calories and protein intake was increased from 8-12 grams to 12 grams.
• In 2007, class 6-8 children studying in 3,479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBBs) were included in the scheme.
• SSA-supported madrasas and maktabs were included in this scheme in 2008.
• Apart from the calories and food intake, for micronutrients (tablets and deworming medicines), each child is entitled to receive the amount provided for in the school health programme of the National Rural Health Mission.

MDM Rules, 2015
Midday Meal Rules 2015 are notified on 30th September 2015 under National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.

• Under the MDM rules, schools are empowered to utilize other funds for midday meals in case MDM funds get exhausted.
• On occasions where schools and other required bodies are unable to provide cooked meals to children; they are to provide food allowances to beneficiaries.
• Accredited labs to take on the monthly testing of meals on a random basis.
• Under MDM rules 2015, if children of any school don’t get food for 3 consecutive school days or 5 days in a month, the concerned state government has to fix the responsibility on a person or an agency.

Salient Features of MDM Rules, 2015:

• Each child from class 1-8 within the age group of six to fourteen years is eligible for a cooked nutritious meal every day except school holidays; with the following nutritional requirements:
  

• The schools procure AGMARK quality items for preparation of midday meals.The meals are to be served in the school premises only.

• Each school should have a hygienic cooking infrastructure to cook midday meals in a hygienic manner.

• The School Management Committee (SMCs) play a vital role in the monitoring of MDMS. SMSc are mandated under the right to free and compulsory education act, 2009 or Right to Education Act

• The headmasters or headmistress are empowered to utilize the school funds on the account of midday meal fund exhaustion. However, the same has to be reimbursed to the midday meal fund as soon as the school is credited with the MDM fund.

• The Food and Drugs Administration Department of the State may collect samples to ensure the nutritive value and quality of the meals.

• Food allowance to be provided to the children whenever cooked meals are not provided due to unforeseen circumstances in the manner stated below:
  • Quantity of Food grains as per entitlement of the child; and
  • Cooking cost prevailing in the State.

How is the Midday Meal Scheme implemented?

It is implemented using one of the three models:

• Decentralized model – Preparing meals on the site by local cooks, Self-help groups etc.
• Centralized model – In the place of local on-site cooks, under this model, an external organization cooks food and delivers it to the schools.
• International assistance – Various international charity organizations aid government schools.

Criticism of the Midday Meal Scheme
There are several loopholes that are a point of discussion:

• Despite such integrated child development schemes, India faces severe issues like child stunting, child mortality, child wasting and undernourishment. The same is reflected with India’s rank of 94 in Global Hunger Index 2020.
• Caste-based discrimination mars the objective of MDMS -The 2008 Report by the National Campaign on Dalit Rights to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also highlights that midday meals are usually served in upper-caste localities and that during times of caste tensions, Dalit children are denied the meal to assert the dominance of these upper caste communities.
• The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 reported 39 percent of children to be chronically undernourished.
• Quality of food is often debated where various media reports mention the health of children deteriorating with the food provided under the midday meals.
• Linking Aadhar to midday meal scheme has its own demerits of limiting the children’s access to the MDMS due to many not having aadhar cards.

National AI Portal (INDIAai)

Context: National AI Portal (INDIAai) celebrates its first anniversary on May 28.

About the National AI Portal:

• The portal was launched in May 2020.
• It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and NASSCOM.
• It serves as a central hub for AI related news, learning, articles, events and activities, etc., in India and beyond.
• The website aims to be the trusted content powerhouse in the backdrop of India’s journey to global prominence in Artificial Intelligence.
• The portal focuses on creating and nurturing a unified AI ecosystem for driving excellence and leadership in India’s AI journey, to foster economic growth and improve lives through it.