What’s ailing India’s midday meal scheme

It is almost noon and children at an upper primary school in Sanwali village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district spread a dusty red carpet on the corridors. Their stolen glances at an adjacent wall indicate what comes next. “Tehri aur ubla hua garam doodh (rice cooked with vegetables along with warm milk),” says the writings on the wall, listing the day’s menu for the students.

After the children finish eating, they roll up the carpet and the cook and helpers clean the cooking vessels. Keeping a hawk-eye on the proceedings is school incharge Jyoti Verma. She is responsible for ensuring the quality of the midday meals in the school, served as part of the Centre’s Midday Meal (MDM) Scheme.

Verma’s task has recently become more challenging after reports of adulteration and mismanagement in what is arguably the world’s largest school feeding programme. A lot of the problems emanate from the fact that MDM scheme lacks a robust monitoring system.

The scheme guarantees one meal to all children in government and aided schools and madarsas supported under Samagra Shiksha (an overarching programme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development). Students up to Class VIII are guaranteed one nutritional meal at least 200 days in a year.

The government started the scheme to ensure children get nutritional food in schools and to keep dropout rate low. State governments, which implement the scheme, set indicative menus using locally available and culturally acceptable items. Some state governments, like Uttar Pradesh, get the gram pradhans to implement the scheme, while some like Chhattisgarh and Telangana use self-help groups to ensure smooth rollout.

MDM guidelines stipulate the meals should meet certain dietary stipulations. Children in Class I-V should get 450 calorie per day with 12 gm protein while those in the upper primary should get 700 calories including 20 gm protein. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry have even extended the scheme to Class IX and X. It now covers 11 crore students across 11.34 lakh schools.

However, shoddy implementation has marred the ambitious programme. There have been reports that children were fed substandard or adulterated food. In September, a video showed children in a school in Mirzapur being served chapati and salt. In November, there were reports from Sonbhadra that one litre of milk was allegedly diluted with a bucket of water and fed to 81 children. Though the scheme might have benefitted children and reduced the dropout rate, a glaring issue has been the lack of monitoring of the MDM scheme.

There are provisions for regular social audit, field visits and inspections but these are seldom carried out. Field visit reports are not available after FY14 and monitoring institutions’ reports are not available after FY15 even on the scheme’s website. Expert groups from premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology and Tata Institute of Social Sciences used to visit several schools in each district every year and submit their reports. “As of date, we do not have these eyes and ears on the ground,” says an HRD ministry official, adding the monitoring activity was functional only from 2006 to 2014. “There is a definite need for more robust third-party evaluation and review.”

Contracts with these institutes were not renewed after 2015. Officials could not explain why. “There was no particular reason. The contracts were not renewed and no questions were asked,” says the HRD official. Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre agrees that shortfalls exist. “The scheme is running in lakhs of schools and reaching crores of children per day. We are not saying nothing wrong has ever happened. But the gravity of any incident should be presented in the right perspective. The food quality is good most of the times but no one reports that. Sometimes, no one reports even if something goes bad,” he says. But the government also says the scheme has come a long way since its launch in 1995. “Earlier, the objective of MDM was just to feed children. Gradually, we have also added nutritional standards,” says Dhotre.

Last year, the government introduced kitchen gardens at schools. Children were roped in to grow vegetables on the premises. “Some 2.5 lakh schools have already set up these gardens,” says an official in the HRD ministry. The school in Sanwali village had one but stray cows wreaked havoc on their garden, says school in-charge Verma. “Farmers locked stray cows on the school premises for four days and the animals ate these plants. We had to operate the school with at least 60 cows on campus on those four days.”

Another issue revolves around the salary of the cooks and helpers involved in the scheme. Schools can appoint cooks and helpers depending on the number of students. The Centre pays Rs 600 and state Rs 400 (60:40 funding ratio) for each cook-cumhelp, though some states pay more. But even the paltry Rs 1,000 has not been paid in several cases. Some 25 lakh cook-cum-helpers are employed across India through MDM and 90% of them are women.

Verma’s school in Sanwali has hired Santosh, Suman, Anita and Mithilesh to cook and clean the dishes. While winding up his work after 1 pm, Santosh says, “Today’s job was easier as we had to just make and serve tehri. But when chapattis are made, we start at 8 am and end at 3 pm. The salary we get should be at least Rs 5,000.” The four go into huddle before claiming that they have not been paid for five months. Requesting anonymity, a district coordinator in Bulandshahr says the money has been received and payment will be made soon. Even the minister says this payment is inadequate. “The honorarium should be more,” adds Dhotre.

The Scheme in Numbers

Centralised Kitchens

While the scheme gives a one-time grant of Rs 1-3 lakh to schools to set up kitchens, many districts depend on “centralised kitchens” — food is cooked at one place in the district and distributed to the schools. In Mathura, for example, the MDM food contract has been outsourced to an NGO that prepares food for 1.67 lakh children at one place and supplies to 2,077 schools. Only four schools in the district have kitchens on premises. “There are provisions for procuring meals from centralised kitchens in urban areas where schools have no space for a kitchen.

But this may not be the best practice,” says the HRD ministry official. “Big cauldrons are used to cook large quantities of food. Insects or other such things can fall into the vessel and cause health problems.” Last week, there were reports of an illegal midday meal kitchen cropping up in Pune. There were also reports of a school in Chilukanagar in Andhra Pradesh serving leftovers. The cook apparently reheated and served food that was brought to the school from a puja the previous night. These incidents highlight the dangers of schools serving food not made on premises.

Despite the issues in MDM, the government is planning to expand it to include breakfast. The draft education policy recently made a recommendation to this effect. Minister Dhotre says this can be done with private participation. “The government has to work within budget constraints. Individuals who can afford to should come forward.” The Gujarat government already has something on these lines — Tithi Bhojan, a community participation programme that provides meal or additional food items to schoolchildren on special or festive occasions. Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and Haryana, among others, have adopted similar schemes.

Recently, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant advocated introducing millets in midday meals to increase the nutritional value. However, no programme will have legs unless there is adequate monitoring. And the MDM has a huge hole on this front. “There is no doubt that the monitoring system should be improved,” says Dhotre. “But schools are under the control of state governments and so we can’t interfere too much. But if we get a complaint, we immediately seek a report from the state concerned.”

Midday meal scheme needs better monitoring system: Sanjay Dhotre
Sanjay Dhotre, minister of state for human resources development, communications and electronics & information technology, says private participation is required to take the midday meal scheme to the next level. In an interview with ET, he says the scheme has come a long way from just focusing on feeding children from poor families. Edited excerpts:

What steps is the Centre taking in view of the recent allegations of adulterated or poor-quality food being supplied under Midday Meal (MDM) Scheme at some schools in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh?
One must understand that the scheme is running in so many schools and reaching crores of children everyday. We are not saying that nothing wrong has ever happened, but the gravity of any incident should be understood. Many times, the quality of food is good, still no one reports about it. In some other cases, even if things are bad, no one reports about it. There must be complete objectivity.

Is MDM scheme able to meet its objectives?
I think the government has come a long way as far as MDM is concerned. Earlier its objective was just ‘pet bharo (fill the stomach)’. Gradually, we have also added nutritional standards for the food being served — such a minimum fat and protein content for primary and junior levels. Now we have introduced a system of kitchen garden in which vegetables are being grown on school premises with active participation of the children. This way, children also learn about nutrition and imbibe other skills.

Don’t you feel the honorarium of Rs 1,000 being given to cook-cum-helpers is too low?
Yes, I can’t agree more on this. Some states do increase the pay for cooks and helpers.

Cooks and helpers in a Bulandshahr school have complained of not receiving even that paltry sum for the last five months.
Our office will check that issue and resolve it if found correct.

What are the other changes needed in MDM?
More than changes by the government, I think there should be more private participation to improve the scheme. In a village, for example, individuals who can afford to must contribute. The government has to work within the constraints of the budget. I remember when I was a schoolkid, students from other districts used to come to our village for Class VIII and X exams and my father used to arrange lunch for all the students. Children of parents who come forward to help will also have the feeling of ownership. Some of these initiatives include opening of digital classes at the behest of individuals in several states.

Are there plans to include one more meal such as breakfast in government schools?
I can’t comment on that right now. But yes, we may relook at the type of food items. For example, more dry items that have a lower chance of adulteration can be introduced such as eggs, fruits or some other precooked item.

How can the monitoring of MDM be made more robust?
We have school monitoring committees but the system has to improve. Otherwise all the good work may go waste. Since schools are under the control of state governments, we can’t interfere much. But if we receive any complain we write to them immediately and seek a report. Now we have introduced a dashboard on our website. Anyone who knows of any wrongdoing or has any complaint can write directly on the website and it will be addressed promptly.